ImageKit DAM provides a powerful search functionality that lets you quickly find the right assets. Most of the time, search autocomplete is enough to find the right asset, but for more complex searches, you can use the advanced search functionality.
To make it even easier, ImageKit DAM also provides AI-powered visual search that allows you to search for images based on their visual content and helps you find similar images.
Search autocomplete
Search autocomplete helps you find the right assets quickly, even if you don't remember the exact name. The search bar will show suggestions based on the asset name and tag names as you type. You can click on any suggestion to navigate to that asset directly. Search results are also highlighted, when possible, to help you understand why a particular asset was suggested.
For example, search results showing files & folders that have blog
in their name:
In the example below, the search query is red sports car
, but the results also include assets with these words appearing, entirely or partly, in any order in the name. This allows you to find the right asset even if you don't remember the exact name.
Search results showing assets with one or more tags matching the search query, i.e., building
:
The match is case insensitive, and the search results are sorted based on the relevance of the search query.
You can narrow search results by using quick filters Folders
, Files
, Collections
, and Tags
.
The toggle at the top, "Include files with matching tags," allows you to control whether the search results should include files with matching tags.
Advanced searching
Click on the filter icon in the search bar to access the advanced search mode. This mode allows you to create complex search queries to find the exact file(s) you are looking for.
The advanced search mode allows searching based on -
- Name
- Tags
- File size
- Dimensions (applicable for images)
- Format
- Private images
- Transparency (applicable for images)
- First upload date
- Last modified date
For example, let's say you want to find a file -
- That was uploaded within the last month.
- And has either the
banner
or thesummer-collection
tag set. - And the dimension is larger than
1024x768
.
You can set these filters in the advanced search UI to get all files that match the above search criteria.
Grouping of multiple search queries
You can also create more complex queries by combining multiple search parameters and changing how they are grouped.
There are two places where you can add a new search query -
- Clicking on the
+
icon next to an existing filter lets you combine other search parameters in the same filter. - Clicking on
+ Add Filter
link lets you add another filter in parallel to the existing one. This new filter can be combined either to narrow (and
operator) or to expand (or
operator) the results from other search filters.
Visual Search
This feature is only available in custom enterprise pricing plans. For more information, please contact the support team or your ImageKit Customer Success Manager.
Visual search allows you to search for similar images based on visual content. Instead of relying on text-based keywords or metadata, you can search based on visual elements like colors, shapes, textures, and any other information derived from the image.
By searching visually rather than by name or metadata, you can:
- Easily locate images without needing to remember the tags or names of the files.
- Search for similar images in your media library.
- Identify duplicates in your media library with ease.
- Discover images in your media library through visual characteristics.
- Group visually similar images together for better organization.
- Enhance the discoverability of your assets.
You can perform a visual search from the dashboard either by text or by image.
Searching by Text
You can type in a word or a phrase to find images that visually match it.
For example, you can type in summer dresses
; all the images related to summer dresses
will be retrieved from your media library.
Searching by Image
You can find matches based on the image you upload.
For example, uploading the image from this URL will retrieve images related to a woman wearing a red shirt with sunglasses.
Searching by Image URL
You can find matches based on the image URL you provide.
For example, entering this URL in the input box will retrieve images related to a scenic view of a beach with a house.
Finding similar images
Visual Search lets you easily and quickly identify duplicate assets or find similar images in your media library.
You can do this directly from the File details page in the Media Library.
Use the "Find similar" button to execute a visual search using the image URL.
The search results will include all images that match the context of the image you are trying to find similar ones to. Any duplicate files will appear at the start of the search results.
Limitations of Visual Search
- Visual search is compatible only with the following image formats: JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, AVIF, and SVG.
- Images exceeding 25MB will not be included in the search results.
- For the "Search by Image" feature, images larger than 10MB cannot be uploaded; however, you can search for images up to 25MB using the image URL.
- Visual search results will not include file versions.
- The "Find Similar" operation for files already uploaded to the Media Library is unavailable for file versions.