Custom Search and Filter Expressions

Mylio Photos’ search modifiers and advanced search expressions can help you locate specific photos by narrowing down the search results.

Search Modifiers

When a single word, such as sunset, is entered into the search field, the results will display any media that contains precisely that word in the filename, description, title, or keywords. It also searches named people and words found by optical character recognition (OCR).

You can make your search more specific by using search modifiers. The most commonly used are AND, OR, IN, NOT, “ ” and ( ). They can be used in several ways and combinations to indicate what you want to be included or excluded in your search.

*TIP: Adding an asterisk * at the end of a word looks for words that start with the same letters. For example, a search for sun* will show results for filenames, descriptions, titles, or keywords that have a word that starts with “sun”, such as sun, sunlight, sunsetting, etc.

Common Search Modifier Descriptions

Modifier	Description
AND	Finds results that have both words. For example, sunset and beach will find photos with the words sunset and beach in the filename, description, title, keywords, people, or using OCR text recognition.
OR	Finds results that have either word. For example, sunset or beach will find photos with the words sunset or beach in the filename, description, title, keywords, people, or using OCR text recognition.
IN	Specifies searching within places, folders, or albums. For example, sunset in California will find photos containing the word “sunset” where the image is geotagged in California (place) or is part of a folder or album named California.
NOT	Excludes words from search results. For example, sunset not beach, will find photos with the word sunset that DO NOT have the word beach.
“ “	Quotation marks can be used to search for an exact phrase. For example, a search for sunset beach will look for the individual words sunset and beach. A search for “sunset beach” will search for the phrase as entered between the quotation marks.

Combining modifiers can make for powerful searches and help you find the photo you want. For example, entering Sarah and Madelaine in Alaska will return images where both Sarah and Madeline are in the photo, and the picture is geotagged with a location in Alaska. You can try this specific search if you have installed the Sample Library.

*TIP: Using the AND modifier is a great way to find photos with two or more specific people in the image. For example, try entering Sarah and Madelaine with the Sample Library installed.

*NOTE: Search terms and modifiers are NOT case-sensitive. For example, you can enter a search with sunset and beach or Sunset AND Beach and get the same results.

Advanced Search Expressions

If you haven’t found the media you’re looking for with common search modifiers, you may want to try using advanced search expressions in Mylio Photos. Entering a word into Mylio Photos’ search field is an expression. Expressions can be grouped or modified to customize your search results.

Common Expressions

1. ( ) – Parentheses let you group search expressions. For example: (sunset not beach) in California will find photos that contain the word “sunset”, exclude pictures that have the word “beach” and only show those that are in a place, folder, or album named California.

2. expression1 expression2 – Two expressions (words) specified one after the other imply an AND. For example, sunset beach will find photos with the words sunset and beach anywhere in the filename, caption, title, keywords, people, or using OCR text recognition.

*TIP: Placing quotation marks “ “ around a phrase tells Mylio Photos to look for that exact phrase. For example, searching sunset beach will locate media with the words sunset and beach. If you search “sunset beach” Mylio will look for media that match the exact phrase.

3. AND – Finds results that have both words. For example, sunset and beach will find photos with the words sunset and beach in the filename, caption, title, keywords, people, or using OCR text recognition. AND expressions can also be input as && and & (e.g. sunset & beach).

4. OR – Finds results that have either word. For example, sunset or beach will find photos that have either the words “sunset” or “beach” in the filename, caption, title, keywords, people, or using OCR text recognition. OR expressions can also be input as | and ||. (e.g. sunset | beach)

5. IN – Specifies searching within places, folders, or albums. For example, sunset in California will find photos containing the word “sunset” in a place, folder, or album named “California”.

6. NOT – Excludes words from search results. For example, sunset not beach will find photos with the word “sunset” that DO NOT have the word “beach”. NOT expressions can also be input as -. (e.g. sunset - beach)

7. Term-or-Value

*NOTE: Search modifiers are not case-sensitive. For example, you can enter a search with sunset and beach, sunset AND beach, or sunset & beach and get the same results.

*NOTE: Expressions are interpreted by Mylio Photos in the 1-7 order above.

Term-or-Value Expressions

Term-or-value expressions let you narrow your search to a specific type. Term is the type of item you’re looking for, and value is the name of the item you want to find. Here are a couple of examples:

• album: Animals – “Album” is the term, and “Animals” is the value. This search would display Albums with the name Animals.
• -make: Canon – “NOT make” is the term (- is short for NOT) and “Canon” is the value. The search would display all photos not taken by a Canon camera.

Scroll down to view the complete list of possible term-or-value expressions that can be used in Mylio Photos’ search.

Using Strings to Customize Your Search

A search string combines characters and words that make up a search query and can be further used to customize a search. In Mylio Photos, you can use punctuation (apostrophes, quotation marks, parentheses, and asterisks) to modify your search.

Custom String Search Example

As an example, we’ll search for a photo that has the following caption:

The “quick” brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

Custom String	Description
fox dog	Two expressions (words) specified one after the other imply an AND. For example, a search for fox dog will find photos with the words “fox” and “dog” in the filename, caption, title, keywords, and people, or using OCR text recognition.
caption: fox	Using the explicit search term caption: limits the search to just captions and will search the whole word. It will not match “foxtrot”, “outfox”, or “outfoxed”.
caption: =’The “quick” brown fox jumps over the lazy dog’	The equals sign = tells Mylio Photos to search the caption exactly, including capitalization. Using an apostrophe ' before and after the caption allows the quotation marks in the caption to be included.
caption: ”The quick*”	Adding the asterisk * at the end of the string looks for captions that start with “The quick”.
caption: ”*lazy dog”	Adding the asterisk * at the start of the string looks for captions that end with “lazy dog”.
caption: *row*	Using an asterisk * before and after the letters “r”, “o”, and “w” in that order will look for words, including partial spellings, so the word “brown” would be included in the search results.
caption: *ju?ps*	Using a question mark ? in this way will search for captions that contain a word that starts with “ju” and any single letter, followed by “ps” so the word “jumps” would be included in the search results.
date: >2012 AND date: <2015	Using less than > and greater than < symbols are useful in specifying date ranges. When entering dates, they can be formatted as YYYY/MM/DD or MM/DD/YYYY (e.g. 2012/08/20 or 04/20/2014). You can also add a specific time using YYYY/MM/DDTHH:MM:SS (e.g. 2020/01/02T10:30:00).

Using Explicit Search Terms in Mylio Photos

Expand the list below to view all available explicit search terms that can be used in Mylio Photos.

Explicit Search Terms

Search Expression	Example	Description
album: text	album: Landscapes	Find text in Album names.
author: text	author: J.C. Figueroa	Find text in creator IPTC field.
cameras: text	cameras: canon	Find text in camera model field.
caption: text	caption: sunset	Find text in Caption fields.
categories: text	categories: travel	Find text in Categories.
category: text	category: family	Find text in a Category name.
color: text	color: yellow	Find files with specified color labels.
copyright: text	copyright: J.C. Figueroa	Find text in copyright IPTC field.
creator: text	creator: J.C. Figueroa	Find text in creator IPTC field.
date: date	date: 07/20/2021	Will Search the text in the Date Created field in the Info Tab. Dates can be entered as MM/DD/YYYY
description: text	description: sunset	Find text in Description fields.
edited: boolean	edited: true	Find edited or unedited images. Boolean can be entered as true, false, on, off, etc.
ext: file extension	ext: .nef	Find files with a specified extension (e.g. .dng, .jpg, .cr2, _display.jpg, etc.).
facecount: number	facecount: 2	Find photos with the specified number of faces detected.
file: text	file: IMG_2644	Find text in the filename field.
flagged: number	flagged: 1	Find media with Pick Flags 1, no Flags 0, or Reject Flags -1.
flash: boolean	flash: true	Find images with or without flash used.
folder: text	folder: scans	Find text in Folder names.
gpstagged: boolean	gpstagged: no	Find images with or without GPS location data. Boolean can be entered as true, false, on, off, etc.
importdate: date	importdate: 04/19/2022	Will search dates from the Import Date field. Dates can be entered as MM/DD/YYYY
iso: number	iso: 400	Find images captured with the specified ISO.
keyword: text	keyword: lake	Find text in the Keyword field.
label: text	label: yellow	Find files with specified color labels.
lens: text	lens: tamron	Find text in the lens field.
lostoriginals: boolean	lostoriginals: true	Will show lost originals in the Catalog. Boolean can be entered as true, false, on, off, etc.
make: text	make: nikon	Find text in camera make field.
model: text	model: 6D	Find text in camera model field.
ocr: text	ocr: ninja	Search only optical character recognition (OCR)
orphan: boolean	orphan: yes	Find photos in the catalog that do not have an assigned folder.
people: text	people: Sarah	Search for People’s names.
peoplecount: number	peoplecount: 2	Find photos with the specified number of people tagged.
place: text	place: alaska, place: "kitsap county", place: "madison street"	Search the text in the Places field.
rating: number	rating: 4	Find files with the specified star rating (1-5).
size: number	size: <5000	Find files based on the file size in bytes or optionally add greater than > or less than < symbols. (e.g., less than 5000 bytes or 50KB)
text: text	text: dolphins	Search for text in all fields (filename, caption, title, keyword, OCR, etc.).
title: text	title: lake	Search for text in the Title field.
unprotected: boolean	unprotected: true	Find files that need to sync to other devices. Boolean can be entered as true, false, on, off, etc.
unsupported: boolean	unsupported: yes	Find files Mylio Photos does not support. Boolean can be entered as true, false, on, off, etc.
video: boolean	video: true	Find only video files. Boolean can be entered as true, false, on, off, etc.

*TIP: Search expressions can also be used in their plural form. (e.g. album: or albums:, person: or people:, etc.)