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How My Library search works

What fields are searched, how matching is done, and persisting results in the URL.

Search is the fastest way to find an old image when you know roughly what was in it. We match against multiple fields, so your query doesn't need to be exact.

1

What fields are searched

  • Image name (substring match)
  • Alt text (substring match across the primary alt text)
  • Image URL (substring match)
  • Brand and Product (when set)
2

Case-insensitive, substring match

Sony matches *sony*, *SONY*, and any word containing *sony*. The query is matched as a single substring, so multi-word searches need to appear in that exact order in one of the searched fields.

3

Combine with filters

Search and filters compose with AND. Search "red" + filter Spanish = only Spanish-translated images mentioning "red" anywhere.

4

Search persists in the URL

Type a query and the URL updates with ?search=.... Refresh, share the URL, or bookmark it. The same view comes back.

5

When to use search vs filter

Search: free-form, content-based (anything in the alt text or name). Filter: structured attributes (date, type, length, language). Use both together for surgical lookups.

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