ContextQMD
Back to Ente

Search and Discovery

docs/docs/photos/features/search-and-discovery/index.md

2.0.347.0 KB
Original Source

Search and Discovery

Ente provides multiple ways to search and discover your photos. From basic date and file name search to advanced AI-powered face recognition and natural language search, you can quickly find any photo in your library.

You can quickly access search using the keyboard shortcut:

  • Windows/Linux: Ctrl + K
  • Mac: Cmd + K

This focuses the search bar from anywhere in the app, letting you start searching immediately.

Search for photos by specific dates, months, or years. Simply type a date in the search bar:

  • "January 2024" - finds all photos from that month
  • "2023" - finds all photos from that year
  • Specific dates like "July 15, 2024"

Find photos by their original file names. Ente preserves file names from when you uploaded your photos, making it easy to find specific files.

Search for words in descriptions or captions you've added to photos. This makes it easy to find specific memories you've documented.

Learn more about adding descriptions to photos.

Search for albums by name or search within specific albums to narrow down results.

Find settings by searching for their names or related terms.

Map view

Explore your photos visually on an interactive map. Any photo with GPS location data will appear on the map, letting you see where your photos were taken around the world.

  • View all photos on a global map
  • Zoom into specific locations
  • View individual album photos on the map
  • All location data is end-to-end encrypted

Location tags

Create custom location labels to organize and find photos by place. Location tags let you:

  • Tag frequent places like "Home", "Office", or "Vacation"
  • Define a center point and radius for each location
  • Find photos within specific areas
  • Tag photos that don't have GPS data

Location tags work entirely on your device and are end-to-end encrypted.

Learn more: Map and location features

Ente's machine learning features run entirely on your device, providing powerful search capabilities while maintaining your privacy.

Face recognition

Search for photos by the people in them:

  • Automatically groups similar faces together
  • Name persons to search by name
  • Find all photos of specific people
  • Merge or split face groupings
  • Works completely offline after initial indexing

All face recognition happens on your device. Your photos and face data are never sent to Ente's servers.

Learn more: Face recognition

Search for photos using natural language descriptions of their content:

  • Find photos by objects: "car", "dog", "food"
  • Search by scenes: "beach", "mountain", "sunset"
  • Find by colors: "red flowers", "blue car"
  • Search activities: "birthday cake", "swimming"

Magic search uses on-device AI (CLIP) to understand the content of your photos. You can type natural language queries like "the red motorcycle next to a fountain" to find specific photos.

Learn more: Magic search

Enabling machine learning

Both face recognition and magic search require enabling machine learning:

On mobile:

Open Settings > Machine learning and enable Machine learning and/or Local indexing.

On desktop:

Open Settings > Preferences > Machine learning and enable Machine learning and/or Local indexing.

After enabling, the app will download and index your photos locally. This is faster over WiFi and on desktop computers.

Learn more: Machine learning overview

Discovery Features

Memories

Ente automatically creates collections of photos from past years on the same date, helping you rediscover memories.

People section

Browse all recognized faces and persons in your library. Name persons to organize and find photos of specific people quickly.

Places

Explore photos grouped by location clusters, making it easy to browse photos by where they were taken.

Search Tips

Combining search types

You can combine different search methods to narrow down results:

  • Search for a person's name and then filter by date
  • Use magic search within a specific album
  • Search location tags and then browse by date

Understanding search results

  • Search results include photos from all albums unless you're searching within a specific album
  • Archived photos appear in search results
  • Hidden photos do not appear in search results

Learn more in Albums and Organization FAQ.

Best practices

  • Enable ML early: If you're migrating a large library, enable machine learning before importing to avoid downloading photos twice
  • Use desktop for initial indexing: Desktop apps can index faster than mobile for large libraries
  • Add descriptions: Enhance search by adding descriptions to important photos
  • Name persons: Face recognition becomes more useful once you name important people
  • Create location tags: Tag frequent places to make them easy to find

Platform-specific features

  • Web (web.ente.io): Basic search (date, file name, description, album) - ML features not available
  • Mobile apps: All search features including ML (face recognition and magic search)
  • Desktop apps: All search features including ML (face recognition and magic search)

Note: Machine learning features (face recognition and magic search) only work on mobile and desktop apps, not on web.ente.io.

Privacy and Security

All search features in Ente maintain end-to-end encryption:

  • Your photos remain encrypted on Ente's servers
  • Location data, location tags, and face data are all encrypted
  • Machine learning runs entirely on your device
  • Search indexes are encrypted before syncing across devices
  • Ente's servers cannot see your photos, search queries, or search indexes

Learn more in Security and Privacy FAQ.