Digital Camera Master

You desperately need the photo you took three years ago of the wild turkeys in that field near Woodacre. You can picture it in your mind, but you can’t find it on your computer. It’s time to put Picasa’s search tool to work.

Indicated by a magnifying glass icon, Picasa’s search box lives in the Library View’s upper-right corner. To start a search, type a word in the box. As you type, Picasa looks for a match in the photo file’s properties.

Picasa’s search tool also uses text from features like collection names and label names. So when you enter search terms, Picasa compares them to a fairly broad number of properties, including:

• Filenames
• Captions
• Folder, Label, and Collection names
• Picture color
• Camera details
• Dates
• Keywords

Picasa’s search tool is always available in Library View. Enter one or more words, and you see thumbnails of matching photos in the Lightbox. After you’re through with the search, click the Eject button (line and triangle) next to the search box and you return to the normal Library view.

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Tip: If you want to narrow the search, leave a space and type another word. For example, if you type turkey and Woodacre, Picasa looks for photo files that have both words in the filename, keywords, captions, and so on. See below for more advice on making the search tool smarter.
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As you search, Picasa reports details, listing how many pictures matched the search, how many albums ( folders and labels) are shown, and how long it takes your computer to complete the search. With today’s computers, it doesn’t take longPicasa reports in hundredths and thousandths of a second.

To clear the Search text box, click the X button on the right. Entering new text starts a brand new search. When you’re done, exit the search tool by clicking the Exit Search button above the Star button, or by clicking the Eject button next to the Search text box.

Refining your search

Because Picasa uses such a broad range of properties for its searches, your results may include too many photos. For example, you may wish you could search for “baby” only when it appears in keywords, not captions or folder names. Unfortunately, Picasa doesn’t give you a way to limit searches to certain properties. With experience, you can find ways to increase the odds of finding the photos you want (and filter out the photos you don’t). Here are some techniques to help you refine your searches:

• Enter one or more words in the Search text box. The Search text box is always in the upper-right corner of the Library View window. You can enter more than one word but be aware that Picasa doesn’t search for phrases. The search tool considers each word separately and finds photos whose properties contain both words.
• Have a Keyword strategy. Keywords are a powerful ally when you search, and they work even better if you develop a strategy that matches your photo library. For example, if you’re a wedding photographer, you may want to use the couple’s last names and first initial as keywords: jonesb and smithj. (Picasa doesn’t let you use spaces or punctuation in keywords.) If you collect car photos, you might use keywords like chevycorvette and porscheboxster. Meaningful, distinctive keywords are the goal.
• Use the Date Range slider to target more recent photos. Drag the Date Range slider control from All to Newest, and you reduce the number of photos included in the search. As you drag, Picasa shows you the date range above the slider: “Pictures up to 9 weeks old,” for example. The slider only works one wayyou can’t exclude your newer photos and find only the older ones.
• Refine your search with the Star button. Click the Star button to the left of the Date Range slider, if you want to limit your search to starred photos. For example, if you use a star to tag your favorite photos, the search tool shows only your best shots.

When you’re searching for a particular image, you can speed up the process by limiting the search as much as possible. For example, if you’re looking for a photo you took last week, use Picasa’s Date Range slider to exclude older files from the search. The star button limits the search to photos that you’ve starred