Using the Quick Search Bar

You can use the Quick Search bar in Manage mode to quickly locate files or folders. You can use the Quick Search options or basic operators to refine or expand your search, and view the results in the File List pane.

Quick Search automatically searches in the following ACDSee Photo Studio 11 database fields: File name, Categories, Caption, Author, Notes, Keywords, and Named People. Quick Search also searches in the following IPTC fields: Keywords, Caption, Creator, Headline and Special Instructions.

To Run a Quick Search:

Do one of the following:

  1. In the Quick Search bar, type name:, followed by the name of the file you are searching for. ACDSee will return all files containing that name. For instance, if you search name: mark, ACDSee will return files such as mark.png and watermark.jpg, etc.
  2. In the Quick Search bar, type the keyword you want to search.
  3. Click on a metadata from the Organize or Properties pane and drag and drop it into the Quick Search bar.
  4. Click the pop-up menu beside the Quick Search field and select a previously entered search term.

If you have performed searches before, Quick Search displays the ten most recent searches. You also have the following search choices:

Menu

Result

Clear Recent

Clears the list of recent search terms you used.

Saved Searches

Allows you to select a saved search or save a new search. This is useful if you use the same search terms often. These are also displayed in the Saved Searches section of the Organize pane.

Case Sensitive

Displays search results matching the text. If you typed in Cat, the results displays files with Cat in its file name. It also searches in the following ACDSee Photo Studio database fields: File name, Categories, Description, Author, Notes and Keywords. And in the following IPTC fields: Keywords, Description, Creator, Headline and Special Instructions.

Exact Matches Only

Displays search results matching exactly what you type in the Quick Search field. When enabled, search results will not include similar or related results—only exact matches.

Search Selected Folders Only

Searches only in selected folders. To select a folder, press the Command or Shift keys.

Note: You can select multiple folders at once with the Easy-Select indicators.

Include Subfolders

Searches the selected folder and its subfolders.

Database Search

Searches only in the ACDSee database containing information about files explicitly indexed by ACDSee. Searches only in the database fields described above.

Spotlight Search

Searches the Spotlight database for files on your computer. When enabled, your search will not include results from the ACDSee database, unless your files happen to be in both the Spotlight and ACDSee database.

Note: You cannot search using a specific metadata property in the Spotlight database.

Quick Search Operators

You can type the following operators to further refine or expand your searches in the Quick Search bar.

Operator

Result

Examples

and

Searches for all items containing both the search term before and after the operator. Those items that only contain one of the terms are excluded. The Quick Search bar treats spaces between words as "and" operators.

Cat and Kittens returns items that include both Cat and Kittens.

or

Searches for all items containing one or the other of the search elements. When you search for two search terms of the same type, (e.g. "Rating":"4", "Rating":"5"), "OR" will automatically be added between them, since an image cannot be two ratings at once. However, if you hold down CTRL while adding two different types of search terms to the Quick Search bar, "OR" will be added, (e.g. "Rating":"4" OR "category":"Friends").

Cat or Dog returns items containing Cat or Dog but not necessarily both. 

not

Searches for all items containing the first search term, and then displays only those items that don't also contain the second search term.

not Cat excludes all items with Cat in the search.

When dragging more than one keyword from the Keyword section into the Quick Search Bar, it will automatically apply the search operator OR between search terms. To change to a different search operator, replace OR by typing AND, or NOT in it's place in the Quick Search Bar.

Saving Your Search

You can save complex searches in order to preserve time in the future. These will be kept in the Saved Searches group of the Organize pane. In this area, you can select a search to run again, or delete unwanted searches. You can also use the Saved Searches area to create a saved search from scratch, which will function like a smart folder that you can click to see a specific combination of files all at once at any time.

To Save a Search:

  1. In Manage mode, enter a keyword, or drag properties from the Properties pane or Organize pane into the search field.
  2. Click the down arrow in the Quick Search bar and select Saved Searches | Save.
  3. Enter a name for your saved search.
  4. Click Save.

To Create a Saved Search from Scratch:

  1. In the Saved Searches section of the Organize pane, click the plus (+) icon.
  2. In the Saved Search dialog, in the Search for items that match field, drag metadata properties from the Organize pane. If you have a file selected in the File List pane, you can also drag properties from the Properties pane. Use this method to make your search as complex or as general as you desire. Use the operators "and", "or", or "not" to control your search parameters, as described in the Quick Search Operators section above.
  3. Enter a name for your search.
  4. Do one of the following:
    • Press Save to save your search.
    • Press Save and Run to save and carry out your search.
    • Press Cancel.

Deleting Your Saved Searches

To Delete a Saved Search:

  1. Click on the magnifying glass icon beside Quick Search.
  2. Select Saved Searches and navigate to the search you want to delete.
  3. Click on the X button located beside the saved search to delete it.

See also: