Filtering and Searching

Blazing fast searches and powerful filters are one of the main features of IMatch.

Finding, not Searching

IMatch automatically organizes your files by many 'things', from metadata like date & time, keywords, location or camera model to workflow-related topics like 'files without headline' or 'missing copyright notice'. This avoids many of the search tasks typically required in other applications.

The Timeline View

To quickly find images based on the day they were created, use the Timeline View:

A screen shot of the Timeline View in IMatch.

The Timeline View (screen shot taken on a German Windows installation).

This View automatically organizes your files by date and time, making it super-easy to look at images taken at a specific day, during a week or months.

IMatch Standard Categories

Switch to the Category View to see these categories.

These categories group your files and images by technical metadata like ISO, lens used or camera model. The is also a category which uses the location data in your files to group them by country, city and location.

A screen shot of the Category View in IMatch, with the IMatch Standard Categories set highlighted.

IMatch Workflow Categories

These categories organize your files by attributes like 'Files without keywords' or 'Unrated Files' or 'Files updated today'.
The main purpose for these categories is to help you quickly identify files which need some work because of missing metadata, missing GPS coordinates or rating. These categories are also helpful for quality control.

A screen shot of the Category View in IMatch, with the IMatch Workflow Categories set highlighted.

IMatch Collections

IMatch automatically maintains several dynamic collections which group your files by things like rating and label or bookmarks and flags you have assigned. There are also collections which organize your files based on the date they were added, modified or viewed. An easy way to see which files you've worked on today, yesterday or last week.

A screen shot of the IMatch Collection View.

Special collections are available for File Relations, to quickly identify and locate masters and versions.
The Annotations collections organize your files based on the vector Annotations you have added to them, including Face Annotations.

Search and Filter Features

Click on any of these topics for more information:

The File Window Search Bar

Right in the toolbar above the File Window you can access the built-in search engine in IMatch. This is the most frequently used search feature in IMatch. It is simple to use, but very powerful and super-fast. It searches 50,000 files in less than one second.

The File Window search bar with a search text that finds all TIF files.

Searching for all files with the .tif extension in the current File Window.

The Search Bar works in all Views, which means you can easily search one or more folders, an entire disk, all files in your database, all files in one or more categories or collections...

Searching for Duplicate or Visually Similar Files

IMatch gives you features to search for duplicate files, visually similar files, files with specific colors or texture. With the Sketch Match feature you can draw a sketch of the images you're looking for and let IMatch find the best matches.

The Filter Panel

The filter panel enables you to filter the contents displayed in file windows by over 50 criteria. Whether you want to see only files with a rating better than ***, all files with a red label, files contained in specific categories or with certain keywords, filters are the way to go.

The Filter Panel can be combined with the File Window Search Bar to filter search results (or search in filter results).

The Command Palette

The Command Palette allows you to search for folders, categories, events and persons and to quickly navigate to them.