Table of Contents
Advanced search
31. July 2026
Table of Contents
Overview
How to create advanced search queries in Fotostation.
Advanced search
If you would like to perform more advanced searches, such as searching for a string in a specific metadata field or searching for specific file attributes (size, last edited, and so on), you can use Advanced Search. This option is accessed either by selecting Search on the toolbar or using the shortcut Ctrl-F (Command-F on Mac).
The Search dialog opens. You can combine up to four searches (i.e., strings of one or more words) by using the AND, OR, and NOT operators shown as checkboxes underneath the search text field. For each of these four searches, you can specify whether you want to search in all metadata fields or in a specific field.
If you insert two or more words into the search field, you will search for files containing this exact combination of characters in this exact order. For example, if you enter Homer Simpson in the search field will only return files with this exact string in any of the metadata fields. Files with the string Homer Jay Simpson will not match the search string and will not be shown. Also, note that the search is case-insensitive, so searching for Homer Simpson or homer simpson returns the same files.
Wildcard characters
When creating searches, you can use the * (asterisk) to match any number of characters (including zero).
For example, shoe* will match shoe, shoes, shoestring, and so on.
When used with Index Manager, Fotostation can also use several other wildcard characters.
Reusing metadata in searches
There are two dropdown lists on the right-hand side of the search text field. The first list lets you access previously entered searches. From the second dropdown list, you can choose Field is empty, which inserts XNOWORD into the text field. This option is used when you want to find files in which a specific metadata field is empty. This option can, of course, be combined with other searches.
If you have chosen to search in Keywords or another field that has predefined metadata (QuickLists) associated with it, the dropdown list will let you choose from any of the keywords in the QuickList file. If you use linked lists, the search dialog will be populated with all the associated fields and their respective content.
Searching by image attributes
Note that you must select the arrow on the left-hand side of the Image Attributes label to show the advanced image options. Accessing an Index Manager archive gives you access to even more specific search options. For more information about these options, see Searching in Index Manager archives.
The image attributes are:
Date attributes
Select the required date option from the dropdown list. For most of these options, you must enter one or two dates into the text field. To do this, select the dropdown button on the right-hand side of the field and select a date from the calendar that opens.
Size attributes
Select the required size option from the dropdown list. For most of these options, you must enter one or two numbers into the text field. Please note the difference between file size and image size. File size is the amount of storage space a file occupies when it is stored on the hard disk. The file will normally contain the image together with the metadata. The image size refers to the size of the uncompressed image, for example, when performing high-resolution editing.
Color attributes
Select the required color space from the dropdown list.
The options are Don’t Care, Grayscale, RGB/Lab, CMYK, and Not Grayscale.
File type attributes
Select the file type to include in the search. Note that the search is performed on the file extension, so if files have the wrong extension, the search results are affected. For example, a PDF file with a .jpg extension will not be found when searching for Adobe PDF. It will, however, be found in an Image search. Since some of these choices involve multiple file formats, we recommend consulting the appendix for a complete list of supported formats.
The file type options are Don’t Care, Images, Movies, Adobe PDF, Audio, and Office docs.
Orientation attributes
Select the file’s orientation to search for files with a specific orientation. Note that this option only applies to image files. If the image doesn’t have an orientation (i.e., it is a square where the height is equal to the width), then it will not be included in the search if you select Portrait or Landscape.
History attributes
Fotostation keeps a log of certain events, i.e., processes that have been applied to images or other files in the archive. The historical event in question must be enabled before you can search for it. Also, Fotostation only logs special events performed within the program. Processes applied in external applications are not logged. Up to 10 historical events are saved per file. To view a file’s history log, right-click its thumbnail and choose History from the context menu or select History in the Text Panel.
Text attributes
This option relates only to content in the Caption field (#120). Select the amount of text that you would like to be included in your search. The options are:
- Don’t Care: All files, independent of the amount of text, will be included in the search.
- No Text: Only files that don’t have any text (i.e., metadata) inserted will be included in the search.
- None or Very Small Text: Only files with no text or very little text inserted (caption with 1-10 characters) will be included in the search.
- Normal Text: Only files with a normal amount of text (more than 10 characters) will be included in the search.
Storage attributes
Specify whether you are searching for online or offline files, or whether this is irrelevant (Don’t Care, Online Files, and Offline Files).