PhotoLab for Mac -Instead of buying a DAM, why not use Finder?

If all you want to do is to add keywords and other useful tags for later searching, all you have to do is to use Finder tags…

Then you can use Spotlight search in Finder to retrieve files that match…

Capture d’écran 2020-12-29 à 13.15.37

If you want to preview the pictures from a search, simply swap to the thumbnail view…

Once you have created a search, you can save it. Then you have the equivalent of a project, which can be added to your Finder sidebar…

Or, if you wish, you can add the search to your Dock…

If you want to preview or compare selected images, just press the spacebar…

Why not, but how can you make sure that added data goes along when a file is copied or moved, e.g. from Mac to Win?

This only really works for a single Mac, as it relies on the Spotlight indexing on the computer where the files originally reside. But it may be useful for some.

It also “pollutes” any other use of tags on the same computer. For instance you may wish to simply tag “To do” on other file types that you need to do something with, and yet all your photographic keywords will be there with “To do” buried somewhere in the middle.

Indeed. It’s not a perfect solution but I minimise the effects of such pollution by targeting such tag searches to specific folders, like the Pictures folder for example, or I can add the required file type to the search before saving it.

Ça c’est une grosse abeille :honeybee: :joy:

@Joanna thank you for sharing…
I wonder how can you set quick look to display pictures side by side just by pressing the space bar ?
On Catalina I do have just one picture displayed then I need to clic on the “mosaics” icon to display all selected files (can be 2 or more) side by side.
PS: I found out I can display quick look in full screen by pressing CMD+ALT+Y. But I wished the window would use the full screen size just by pressing space.

Simply pressing Alt+space does the same thing :blush:

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Nice !
Thank you, this finger gymnastics is a bit easier :slightly_smiling_face:
And to switch to the Index Sheet we can press CMD+RETURN.

In a nutshell:

  1. Select 2 (or more) files to compare
  2. Press ALT+Space bar to have a full screen Quick Look
  3. CMD+Return to switch to the Index Sheet

And this is the one I was missing. Thank you.

Ah glad I can return the favor :grin:
I guess we might be able to create an  script and use one single shortcut for this.

The escape key works too… (Mojave here)

Esc only

  • closes Quick Look
  • go back from the Index Sheet to the single view

Trying to find a way to directly go to the Index Sheet (instead of clicking that button).