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TETENAL · Apr 30, 2005, 06:14 PM

Can Spotlight find iPhoto comments for anyone? I have iPhoto 4 and it doesn't work for me.

mdc · Apr 30, 2005, 06:16 PM

i have all my photos set using keywords (iphoto5). it is a bit of work, but every time i import photos i assign a keyword to the photo depending on who is in it (only my main friends).

if i spotlight search a friend's name, it shows all the photos in iphoto that are associated.

TETENAL · Apr 30, 2005, 06:25 PM

Originally Posted by mdc

i have all my photos set using keywords (iphoto5). it is a bit of work, but every time i import photos i assign a keyword to the photo depending on who is in it (only my main friends).

I have too.

Originally Posted by mdc

if i spotlight search a friend's name, it shows all the photos in iphoto that are associated.

It doesn't for me.

OptimusG4 · Apr 30, 2005, 07:56 PM

Doesn't this only work with iPhoto 5.0.2?

michaelb · Apr 30, 2005, 08:24 PM

Originally Posted by OptimusG4

Doesn't this only work with iPhoto 5.0.2?

I think you're right. It'd be good if there was an Apple knowledge base article to clarify this.

After I installed Tiger, I tried a few Spotlight searches for photos that I'd given titles to in iPhoto and was disappointed that they didn't come up. However, when automatic updates kicked in and took iPhoto up to 5.0.2, it nows appears they do.

iPhoto images that I'd titled within iPhoto now show up in Spotlight searches. When I click them in the results list they open in iPhoto.

However, in the Spotlight search results they're listed with their original camera names, eg, "DSCN0027.jpg", which means you have to click them to see if they're relevant. So it looks like iPhoto -> Spotlight integration still has room for improvement.

Despite these shortcomings, Spotlight is damn cool and extremely useful. I'm surprised the mainstream computer press aren't taking more notice and are instead seemingly putting it down as "Apple fanboy hype."

TETENAL · May 1, 2005, 11:15 AM

So is this confirmed that iPhoto 5 is required for Spotlight support?

JMII · May 20, 2005, 06:46 PM

Can anyone else confirm this?

If so I might have to buy iLife '05

Does it find photos by album and/or keyword?

- John

TETENAL · May 20, 2005, 06:57 PM

Originally Posted by JMII

If so I might have to buy iLife '05

I'm not getting iLife '05 because of that.

I added keywords to my photos using Photoshop Elements and the File info dialog therein. Spotlight finds those keywords just fine. Apparently this is a standard way to add keywords to images. Preview can read them as well. The stupid thing is that iPhoto does not see those keywords. Apparently they needed to do their own thing with the result that neither Spotlight nor other applications see the iPhoto comments and iPhoto doesn't see the standard comments in return.

I'll prefer to do without iPhoto now. I don't like being locked into proprietary solutions.

mdc · May 20, 2005, 08:23 PM

just incase anyone is in my position, i thought i'd post this fix i found on apple's discussions.

i bought an iMac and put my iphoto library onto it from my back up. all the keywords were there and they worked in iphoto, but spotlight would not find them.

* create a keyword that you will delete later
* select all your photos in your library
* get info them
* add them all into the keyword you just created
* wait a while (depending on how many images you have)
* quit iphoto when it is finished
* open iphoto
* select all your photos
* get info them
* remove them all from the temporary keyword
* delete the keyword
* quit iphoto

spotlight will now find them all.