searching database for file names

[TKO]

My most common "filter" (search) is to search multiple directories for part of a file name. Typically, I need to search every directory at and below the directory I am in.

For example, right now I have have photos from a week long national sporting event, organized in folders per day, about 5000 photos per day, 16,000 photos total. I wish to search all the subfolders for a given file name.

I know I have to set the scope to show everything I'm searching, but I don't want to show all 16,000 photos. My workaround is to use Windows explorer to search, then navigate in iMatch to the right directory, then repeat the search in Imatch to find the photo not that I'm in the right directory.

Yes, I can do this in Imatch alone, but it takes a while. Navigate to the top directory, set "never pause", set "show hierarchy" and "show all levels", set the file name filter you want, find the image, then set the pause and hierarchy setting back to normal once you've done whatever you want with the image. And, you are still not in the image's directory!

Also, "cntr-F", the find command, take me to a window I don't really understand (yes, I've read the help.) If I type in part of a file name I can see in the window, select "search everywhere," I get no results. The only way I can "find" the file I can see is to use "regular expressions" or "find file name," but then I'm only searching the current scope. Some times the search causes Imatch to go gray and hang for minutes (with no way to cancel), then I get a bunch of files that don't appear to have the search term, so I don't like to use this search mode.

I have about 350,000 files indexed on a solid state drive and 16 GB of RAM.

Suggestion: The search function at the top left (between commands and view) could have an  option to do a Window style search of file names, from the current directory and below. Maybe even just a call to the Windows search engine. That would save me a lot of time. I don't see the "filter" panel as a true search, but maybe I'm missing something. Yes, the Windows search engine might return files that aren't indexed in Imatch, but most of the time it would be fine.

[Mario]

Click Pause.
Click on Database Node.
Enter search string.
Un-pause.