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Filenames Searchable or change keyword sort order

dwphotodwphoto Registered Users Posts: 20 Big grins
edited October 16, 2014 in SmugMug Feature Requests
I'd like to make the following requests:

1. that filenames be searchable without needing to convert them into keywords first

2. if 1 isn't possible, then the ability to change the sort order of the keyword list. The problem I have is that my filenames when converted to keywords give me heaps of numbers in the keyword list. These come before the words so you have to scroll down to get to the actual keywords (see screen shot - and this is only for a few test images. Pretty soon I will have thousands of numbers cluttering up the keyword list before any keywords are seen)

What are the chances of either of these ??

Thanks, Dean
keyword%20list-M.png

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    leftquarkleftquark Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 3,784 Many Grins
    edited October 14, 2014
    Dean,
    I'd like to make sure I understand the issue/request fully... are those numbers part of the filename (for example: IMG_3829)? I'd like to understand where the numbers are coming from.
    dGrin Afficionado
    Former SmugMug Product Team
    aaron AT aaronmphotography DOT com
    Website: http://www.aaronmphotography.com
    My SmugMug CSS Customizations website: http://www.aaronmphotography.com/Customizations
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    pilotdavepilotdave Registered Users Posts: 785 Major grins
    edited October 14, 2014
    leftquark wrote: »
    Dean,
    I'd like to make sure I understand the issue/request fully... are those numbers part of the filename (for example: IMG_3829)? I'd like to understand where the numbers are coming from.

    I can't speak for the original poster but I will point out again that the filename keywording "feature" is probably almost always misused and unnecessary. I bet a tiny percentage of users even know it exists and only a fraction of those might actually want it. This feature has destroyed smugmug's keyword database... It's absolutely full of junk. Try some random searches and just look at all the pictures that come up that have nothing to do with the search term. And since smugmug took away the ability to fix keywords globally (except with the use of smart galleries), it's really hard to get rid of these extraneous keywords. My recommendation is to remove the automatic filename keyword feature or at least disable it by default.

    Dave
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    dwphotodwphoto Registered Users Posts: 20 Big grins
    edited October 16, 2014
    leftquark wrote: »
    Dean,
    I'd like to make sure I understand the issue/request fully... are those numbers part of the filename (for example: IMG_3829)? I'd like to understand where the numbers are coming from.

    Yes, my filename structure looks like this : dwp_141016_1234. The dwp relates to me, middle number is the date in reverse order and the 1234 is the number taken from the original image file (e.g. IMG_1234)
    This method gives me unique filenames and is suggested the digital asset managment bible- the DAM book by Peter Krogh.

    The site I'm setting up is a private library (not indexed by google or searched by SM). The problem then is how to retrieve an image from the library by it's filename. The only way I can see that happening at the moment is by turning filenames into keywords. This works but results in the massive list of numbers in my keyword list. These would never be searched from the keyword list, just entered into the search bar when someone wants that particular image.

    Does that make sense ?

    By the way, I'm also keywording files as per normal so they are searchable via certain terms, however the issue I'm describing is solely about retrieving images via the filename
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    dwphotodwphoto Registered Users Posts: 20 Big grins
    edited October 16, 2014
    pilotdave wrote: »
    I can't speak for the original poster but I will point out again that the filename keywording "feature" is probably almost always misused and unnecessary. I bet a tiny percentage of users even know it exists and only a fraction of those might actually want it. This feature has destroyed smugmug's keyword database... It's absolutely full of junk. Try some random searches and just look at all the pictures that come up that have nothing to do with the search term. And since smugmug took away the ability to fix keywords globally (except with the use of smart galleries), it's really hard to get rid of these extraneous keywords. My recommendation is to remove the automatic filename keyword feature or at least disable it by default.

    Dave


    Do you know how I can retrieve images from my library via their filename without first converting that filename into a keyword ?
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    pilotdavepilotdave Registered Users Posts: 785 Major grins
    edited October 16, 2014
    dwphoto wrote: »
    Do you know how I can retrieve images from my library via their filename without first converting that filename into a keyword ?

    If you use Lightroom, there's an addon that lets you add filenames to captions. I think that's a better solution than adding them to keywords. Keywords aren't meant to be unique to a single photo. They should be used repeatedly, otherwise you end up with nothing but trash in your keyword list.

    My site is organized by date anyway, so once I have a filename (which includes the date taken like yours), it's easy for me to find the file. If my site wasn't organized by date, I'd do what I suggested above and use captions to include the filename.

    Just one thing about your file naming scheme... I see no reason to use the original file number in your filename. That will likely eventually cause an annoyance... the original file number will reach 9999 and then revert back to 0000. You'd need to take 10k pictures in a day to run into repeated filenames so that's not likely an issue, but at some point you'll be looking at an alphabetical or numerical list of images and they'll seem out of order compared to sorted by time taken. In other words, image 0002 will appear before image 9995 even though it was taken later. I recommend just naming them in sequential order. Every day starts worth 0001 and goes from there. It'll save you a headache later on.

    Dave
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