Find photographs and people

What you will do

Narrow a busy project to the photographs you need without removing anything from it. Choose the quickest filter for what you know: part of a filename, a tag you added, a creation date, or a person. If you often return to the same person, you can optionally give that person a name and correct which faces are associated with them.

Before you start

Sign in to Arams, create or open a project, and import the photographs you want to search by filename, tag, or date.

To search by person, enable Automatic face search in Settings > General before importing photographs with clearly visible faces. This feature sends photographs to the Retouch4me server to find faces, so enable it only when server processing is appropriate for those photographs. It is separate from the Analyze action.

Search by filename

1. In the left sidebar, expand Name search.
2. Select the large filename field. This enables the checkbox beside Name search.
3. Enter all or part of a filename.

Selecting the Name search field before typing activates the filter and leaves the matching photograph in the grid. Arams 1.10.2 · Windows · American English

The grid now shows only filenames containing your search text. Use the circular reset button in the filter bar when you want to return to the complete grid or start a different search.

Find a manually tagged photograph

Use a manual tag when you want to find a workflow-specific set again, such as a portfolio shortlist, a client choice, or photographs that need more work.

1. Select one photograph and open Details and Faces on the right.
2. Expand Metadata, then expand Tags if the tag field is hidden.
3. If the photograph does not have a suitable tag yet, enter one, such as portfolio, and press Enter.

Select a displayed tag under Tags to show photographs carrying that tag.

Add a tag in Metadata, then select the displayed tag to filter the grid. Arams 1.10.2 · Windows · American English

Photographs without the selected tag are hidden, not removed from the project.

Filter by creation date

1. Select Date of creation in the filter bar.
2. Enter the end of the period you need in the To field and press Enter.
3. Close the date panel.

When the date range excludes every photograph, Arams shows the active Date of creation filter and a Reset filters link. Arams 1.10.2 · Windows · American English

Use this filter when you know the relevant period but not the filenames or tags. The To value is inclusive, so photographs from that date remain in the grid. If the range ends too early, reopen Date of creation and extend it.

Find photographs of one person

Use this route when a face is a better clue than a filename or tag. When you enable Automatic face search, select I Agree if the server-processing notice appears. After importing, allow time for person clusters to appear; you do not need to run Analyze for this filter.

1. In the left sidebar, expand Persons under Smart filters.
2. Select the thumbnail for the person you want. Until you name a person, Arams uses generic labels such as Person 1.
3. Review the remaining photographs before selecting or delivering them.

Select a person cluster, then review the remaining photographs because face matching can include mistakes. Arams 1.10.2 · Windows · American English

Face matching can include the wrong photograph or miss one, especially with profiles, partially hidden faces, or changes in lighting. Treat a person cluster as a useful starting point rather than a final selection.

The following person-management procedures are optional. Use them only if a name will make later searches easier or if a cluster needs correction; they are not required for a one-time search.

Understand person membership

Automatic face search initially creates numbered clusters such as Person 1. Naming a detected face gives its existing identity cluster a name; it does not create a free-form group.

Person membership is different from grouping similar photographs. A person filter collects photographs containing faces associated with one identity, while a similar-photo group compares complete photographs. A group portrait can therefore appear in the results for more than one person through its separate faces.

Create and name a person

1. Select a photograph containing the person’s detected face.
2. Open Details and Faces, then expand Faces if its thumbnails are hidden.
3. Right-click the required face and select Tag a new person.
4. Enter a name and accept the dialog.
5. Expand Persons and select the new named tile.

Tag a new person names one identity cluster; the other face in the shared portrait remains separate. Arams 1.10.2 · Windows · American English

Naming one face names its existing identity cluster, so the filter may already contain other photographs. Review the result before using it for a selection.

Rename a person

1. Reset the active filter so all project photographs are visible.
2. Under Persons, right-click the named person tile.
3. Select Rename.
4. Replace the current name and accept the dialog.

Renaming the person to Maxine changes the label while the same three photographs remain in the filter. Arams 1.10.2 · Windows · American English

Renaming changes the identity label, not its photograph membership. It does not make Arams recheck whether every face belongs to that person.

Assign further faces to an existing person

Use this only when you recognize a detected face that is not associated with the named person.

1. Reset the filters and select the photograph containing that face.
2. Open Details and Faces and locate the required face thumbnail.
3. Right-click the face and enter the existing person’s name in the person search field.
4. Select the matching person row.
5. Select the named person under Persons to continue with that set of photographs.

Assigning the detected face labels it Maxine; the photograph was already part of this automatic cluster. Arams 1.10.2 · Windows · American English

If the photograph was already included through the automatic cluster, assigning its face may not visibly change the result.

Remove or correct a mistaken assignment

1. Reset the filters and select the photograph containing the wrongly assigned face.
2. Open Details and Faces and right-click that face.
3. Search for the currently assigned person.
4. Select that person’s row again to remove the assignment from the face.
5. Select the named person under Persons and review the corrected set.

Removing the mistaken assignment restores the three-photograph Maxine set while the other face in the shared portrait stays separate. Arams 1.10.2 · Windows · American English

Correcting person membership does not delete or edit the photograph; it only changes which person filter includes that face.

Return to a named person later

Named people and corrected face associations remain available when you return to a project. On a later visit, expand Persons and select the name to continue working with that set of photographs.

On a later visit, the saved name and its three-photograph set remain available; numbered automatic clusters stay separate. Arams 1.10.2 · Windows · American English

Check the result

You are finished when the grid shows the set you need under the active filename, manual tag, creation-date, or person filter. Filters only hide nonmatching photographs. Use the circular reset button in the filter bar to return to the complete grid.

If it does not work

• Typing a filename does not narrow the grid: select the filename field with the pointer before typing and confirm that the checkbox beside Name search is enabled.
• A manual tag is missing: select the photograph, open Details and Faces > Metadata > Tags, enter the tag, and press Enter.
• The date filter finds nothing: reopen Date of creation, inspect the To value, and extend the range. Use the filter-bar reset button if you are unsure which filters are active.
• Persons is empty: confirm that Automatic face search was enabled before you imported the photographs, then allow time for face search to finish. A project with no detectable faces may not produce a person cluster. Do not run Analyze just to populate this filter.
• A person cluster includes the wrong photograph or misses one: use the naming, assignment, and correction procedures above, or review the photographs manually. Do not rely on a generic person number as an identity.
• A named person contains the wrong face: correct that face from Details and Faces, then check the complete Persons filter result. Do not remove the source photograph merely to fix membership.
• Assigning a face appears to make no change: the photograph may already belong to the automatic cluster. Check the face label and the complete result for that person.
• A later search gives unexpected results: reset the previous filter first. Filename, tag, date, and person filters can otherwise narrow the grid together.

Related topics

• Import photos
• Filter photographs during culling
• Review detected faces
• Review groups of similar photographs
• Select and deselect photographs