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[park]

The tag action window is great for quickly tagging files, and it is easy to customize and setup. For example you can set it up to show all the tags with values.

This got me thinking. Wouldn't it be great if you could do the same with search. The search window could show all the values of selected/visible files, and you could filter the view "on the fly". The current wizard is fine, if you go there with a clear intention. Panes are great if you have set up all the tags you want to filter by in advance. But there is no solution to filter based on all of your tags "on the fly". Also, when you just want to filter by rating, or file type, to quickly find a file, it's tiring to have to go into the wizard and search out those tags.

If anyone uses Adobe Bridge, then you probably know what I am describing when i say "Search action window".

[marko]

Also, when you just want to filter by rating, or file type, to quickly find a file, it's tiring to have to go into the wizard and search out those tags.

A long time ago, I set ft as a keyword for the [file type] field, and r is the default keyword for the [rating] field.

This means that in situations like you describe, you don't bother with the wizard at all, you just type directly in the search bar:

ft=flac will show only flac files.
r=[] will show non rated files
r=4,5 will show files rated 4 and 5 stars

This approach works very well, and is quick, and to that end, I set some keywords for the most commonly used fields.

aaa= will search on [album artist (auto)]
mt= will search on [media type]
fnp= will search on [filename (path)]
fnn= will search on [filename (name)]

and so on. Take five or ten minutes to go through the library fields setting keywords for them. It's a one-time-only task that will speed up searching via the search bar ten-fold.

-marko.

[hit_ny]

If anyone uses Adobe Bridge, then you probably know what I am describing when i say "Search action window".

Never seen Bridge so not sure what you mean  ?

is it any better than marko's suggestion

[park]

Here is what I meant:



In the bottom left you can see a bunch of filters to narrow down the list. In the list of photos I have tagged all photos to be either 2 or 3 star, and in the filter pane, just those ratings show up to give you a one click way to filter the list. It's like a mix between MC's quickies, and drop down panes.

[hit_ny]

This got me thinking. Wouldn't it be great if you could do the same with search. The search window could show all the values of selected/visible files, and you could filter the view "on the fly".

Are you referring to further filtering the query when you say 'on the fly' ?

So in the search box drop down menu there could be an extra option

Wizard
Text
--------
View Results --->Field---><Only shows fields contained by items in search >
                                        ..
                                        Ratings---->2
                                                      |_>3 like your example shown above

and so on ?

Then if you wanted to further filter in the subset, all you would do is select one of those items.

It's little quicker than going back to the wizard and doing it all in there.

But it allows a different focus to the way you work.

Do you Prefer to work with a bigger subset and gradually refine 'on the fly' as you go along, or

Only work with a fixed subset for now and then do something else later with a different query.

[glynor]

Just thought I'd say I think this is a fantastic idea, Park.  Adobe Lightroom also has a bunch of intuitive and easy to use "quick filters" arrayed both in one of the side panels and along the bottom of the app.

I think if MC had an Action Window that had a few of these types of slick button-type searches (ala Lightroom and Bridge) it would be superb.

So, what marko suggested is certainly "a way to do it with what we have now", but I think Park is saying that it would be great to have an AW that would give us a "better and easier way to do it".  Stuff like this:


Lightroom's Default "Quick Filters"


Lightroom with a Ratings less than or equal to 3 stars filter.

These filters just quickly filter whatever view you happen to be looking at in an easy-to-use and intuitive way.  The only thing I don't like about the way Adobe does it in Lightroom is that they're always there at the bottom of the window (and sometimes it is too easy to accidentally filter a view and not realize it).  Tucking them into a Filter Action Window that you can open when you want (and have closed when you don't) seems like the perfect solution.

As far as typing these searches into the search bar... Of course we can do it now, but typing:

r=4,5

Is not the same as clicking a set of stars and highlighting some of them, and flipping a greater-than/less-than sign in a visual and intuitive way.  Not to say Marko's suggestion is bad, it just isn't the same thing.

This type of system could be very intuitive if there was an Action Window specifically designed with a few pre-defined filter controls for commonly used filters.  It would certainly not replace the regular Search bar or advanced search capabilities, but it would make it much more accessible.

[hit_ny]

Looking for some insight into how ppl work with images.

I'm a bit confused as to whether you are working with tagged files or not.

If so the filters make things easier, but then won't viewschemes get you that much easily. Also you are constrained by whatever filters that are offered, as accessible as they are.

with custom tags how would you realistically incorporate all the choices into a few clickable filters ?

Panes are great if you have set up all the tags you want to filter by in advance. But there is no solution to filter based on all of your tags "on the fly". Also, when you just want to filter by rating, or file type, to quickly find a file, it's tiring to have to go into the wizard and search out those tags.

Searching is very quick if you know the syntax.

It's the 'on the fly' that i dont get so much , maybe because i don't work with images much.

[glynor]

with custom tags how would you realistically incorporate all the choices into a few clickable filters ?

You don't get it because you're missing the point.

The ideas was NOT to try to incorporate ALL of the choices... Only a few, good, commonly used ones.  Sure, you could do all of it with panes and custom searches in the search box, and that's all fine and good if you want to find which picture, video, or song has a specific keyword or whatever...

However, consider this scenario:

You come back from a photo shoot, with 850 images.  Download them and assign them all to a new "album" (which is how I categorize my projects in MC).  Then you go through that album in thumbnail mode, assigning ratings, editing in Photoshop, and whatnot.  Now, say you're 1/2-way through and you just want to quickly see all of the Ratings >= 3 stars (filter out the crap) to see how many good shots you have thus far, and to make sure your "standards" haven't drifted over time (mine often do -- I become a more and more harsh critic as I go)... Sure, you could use a search and type in the "code" manually, but in Lightroom it is mindnumbingly simple and intuitive and lightning quick.

It is just a feature that most "photo browser" focused applications have.... Quick, intuitive, icon-based filters.  Not trying to be everything to everyone (that's the job of the search box and panes).  Just trying to be most things for most people in an intuitive and eye-catching way.

Those are examples using photos as the "media type", but I could use the same thing with my Audio files and video files (especially if said AW auto-changed the displayed "quick filters" based on what media types were present in the current view).

[hit_ny]

Ahh yes, much clearer now, had a suspicion this would be an images only thing, for one you can tell instantly how good or not a pic is. So yeah, twitchy fingers looking for that filter.

What would common filters be ?

all i can decipher from your lightroom grab are the stars with the <, ones that need more PS work maybe.

[glynor]

Certainly not just Image-specific.  That's just what gave Park the idea, so it is where he (and I) was coming from...

I'd use it in the exact same way (more often, in fact) for both video and audio clips.  I do a lot of B-roll shooting, and I catalog the video in MC.  It'd be nice to quickly and easily subfilter to different ratings of video clips, after searching for People=someguy or Place=someplace or whatever.

I'd also like to see this style of "quick filters" for other things that aren't always so easy to subfilter using the search box or panes.  Stuff like:

1. Duration <>= TypedDuration (with 3min default)
2. File Size <>= TypedSize
3. Dimensions <>= Preset Sizes or Typed Sizes (presets different depending on Images vs. Video, for Video I'd like SD vs. 720p vs 1080p)
4. Intensity range similar to ratings (same goes for other "analyzed" tags)
5. A slick "calendar" style slider similar to what was available in Photoshop Elements would be super cool for subfiltering on a date range.

The idea is that since these items would be pre-defined, the UI could be customized to go with the quirks of just those particular tags.  Can you do all of these things by typing esoteric commands into the search box?  Yes, of course.  Can you do it with a slick slider control and easy-to-use widgets?  Not at all.

[hit_ny]

A  calendar is solely needed for sure, a friend showed me lightroom some time back, that's the std to beat for images.

I believe MC is only a version iteration from getting there, that is if the moving pictures fans don't pull it their way.

[glynor]

I believe MC is only a version iteration from getting there, that is if the moving pictures fans don't pull it their way.

Agreed, though I want the moving picture stuff too.   Not that I'm greedy or anything... Really.  I swear.    

[park]

Glynor is spot on when saying that it would be good to have a visual way to filter things like ratings.
It would also be good if you could put some of your custom tags in the action window too though. Basically I would want to put tag in there that onyl has a handful of values. For example, in my music viewschemes I have a pane called "Type" which only has 4 possible values (Album, EP, Podcast, Single). In video viewschemes "Type" again only has 4 values (Feature, Short, Home video, TV). It seems almost a waste to use all that valuable horizontal space making a pane just for "Rating" or "Type", espcially since the number of values in those panes decrease as you filter in the other panes. An action window for some "broad strokes" kinds of searches would free up a lot of space in the main viewschemes.

Another example I can think of, for audio viewschemes, would be "Sub Genre". It might be a massive list at the beginning of your browsing, but as soon as you choose a genre, the list wittles to a handful of values. It would be cool to have that in the action window instead of giving a whole pane over to it. I guess that "Sub-anything" type tags would all be good down there for the same reason.

[hit_ny]

I believe MC is only a version iteration from getting there, that is if the moving pictures fans don't pull it their way.

A little correction here, i was referring to the Mac program, Aperture and not light room