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Can Photos smart album do "OR" criteria or keyword "Contains"?

Migrating to Apple Photos from iPhoto. Am I just missing it or do the following 2 capabilities of Smart Albums not exist in Photos anymore, the way they did in iPhoto:


  • ability to do an "or" for the criteria - like, "Best photos" are ones with keyword of 4 stars OR 5 stars
  • ability to search Keyword not by "is" but by "contains" (like, keyword contains a substring)



MacBook Pro 16″

Posted on Dec 26, 2023 6:14 AM

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3 replies

Dec 26, 2023 8:28 AM in response to Michael Levin

You can do OR or And ("ANY" or "ALL") conditions, but not both. You also cannot use a Smart Album to refer to other Smart Albums to avoid infinite loops.


You can certainly do "Any"-- "Keyword" "is" 4star" , "Keyword" "is" 5star"


"Keyword" "is" means included.


Because I do this often, I have a keyword "4or5Star" so that I can use it with an AND/ALL


For me, favorites can be 3, 4, or 5 star


You can also use keyword filters, which I do a lot. Adding keyword shortcuts makes those keywords useable in the "Fliter by" list at the top right.

Add keywords in Photos on Mac - Apple Support



Dec 27, 2023 7:13 AM in response to Michael Levin

For keyword, the only choice is to use one of your existing keywords listed in Keyword Manager. Keywords can be phrases, but I usually leave out spaces. So ChristmasTree, for instance, might be keyword for me.


But, for instance, "Text" "is" can be an included phrase. This is pretty powerful, and it will include categories, as well. If you do "Text" "is" tree, you get pictures with trees in them, pictures with "tree" in the title, etc. So you often get lots of results unless you narrow the search with other parameters.

Can Photos smart album do "OR" criteria or keyword "Contains"?

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