Perform complex criteria filtering in iPhoto 5 albums

Dec 08, '05 06:48:00AM

Contributed by: valx

I have not found this documented anywhere, and I stumbled upon it by accident. I'm still not sure if it is a "feature" or a bug. The following works with Smart Albums as well as standard albums.

Select an album in iPhoto. In the lower right corner of the main window, type some search text in the search field. Now select the album again and type Command-I. A Smart Album criteria window opens (even if you have selected a standard album) with the criteria 'Any text contains [your search text]' and 'Roll contains [your search text].' You can change and add all the criteria you like to filter the photos in the current album. Click 'OK' in the criteria window to see the results.

When you are done, click the "x" in the lower right corner search field. This will return the album back to normal. If you again select the album and type Command-I, you can see the album is back to its original state. A standard album will be a standard album, and a Smart Album will contain its original criteria.

[robg adds: I think this would fall in the 'bug' category, but at the moment, you can use this trick to do some interesting searching within an album...]

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