Reference
Search
Last updated November 10, 2026
Search starts from whatever you remember. Describe what was in the frame, drop in a reference photo, or type a name, and Grain looks through what it has learned about every photo and video in your library.
Three ways in
You rarely remember a filename. You remember a boat at dusk, a frame that looked like this one, or the camera you had that summer. Each of those is a way into the same search field.
Describe it
- A subject, a scene or a mood: "sailing at dusk"
- Works for photos and footage
- No tagging needed first
Show it
- Drop a reference image on the search field
- Or choose Search Similar… on a result
Name it
- File and folder names
- Camera, lens and other details, offered as suggestions
All three end the same way: a gallery of results you can browse, enlarge, filter and select like any other view.
Describe what you're looking for
While Grain catalogs a folder, its Visual Analysis pass looks at each photo and video on your Mac and records what's in them. A search compares your words with that, so you get work that matches the idea, not just the words in its name. Nothing has to be tagged first.
Search improves as analysis completes, so you can start on a new drive right away and let it catch up. In footage, the same field also finds what was said once a video is transcribed. See search footage by what was said, and for writing good descriptions, search by description.
Start from a picture
Sometimes the clearest description is a photo. Drop one reference image on the search field and Grain finds visually related work in your library. It searches your own catalog, not the web.
From any result, Control-click and choose Search Similar… to search from that frame instead. The reference sits in the search field as an image chip. Filters and sorting still apply around it, and removing the chip lets you change direction.
Names, details and suggestions
As you type, Grain suggests matches from the details it already knows. Type "Leica" and it offers Camera: LEICA Q2. Folder suggestions show their parent path, so two folders called "Selects" are easy to tell apart.
Choose a collection from the suggestions to search inside it. It becomes a removable Collection filter: change the collection from the chip's menu, or remove just that filter and keep the rest of your search.
Where a search looks
A search looks in the view you're in. Open a source or a collection and press ⌘F to search there, or open All Media to search everything.
One source
- A single drive or folder
- When you know where the shoot lives
A collection
- A selection you've already gathered
- Pick it from the suggestions
All Media
- Every source together
- Photos and footage side by side
A drive that's unplugged can still be searched. Turn on View → Include Disconnected Sources to bring its catalog details and cached previews into results. Search photos on external drives covers how that works.
Shortcuts
| Keys | What they do |
|---|---|
| ⌘F | Search the current view |
| Return | Commit what you've typed as the search |
| Space | Enlarge the selected result |
Every shortcut in Grain is on one page: keyboard shortcuts.
What stays on your Mac
Grain's analysis runs on your Mac, and a reference-image search looks through your catalog, not the public web. If you connect an agent and ask it to search for you, what it reads goes to that assistant's provider under its own policies. How Grain handles your files has the details.
Every control, at a glance
- Natural-language photo and video search
- Find relevant work without tagging every file first. Describe a subject, scene, or mood in the search field. Grain compares your description with the indexed visual content of your library.
- Reverse image search
- Use a photograph as the starting point for your next selection. Drop a single reference image onto the search field to find visually related media in your indexed library. This searches your catalog, rather than the public web.
- Search similar
- Explore other frames related to a result you like. Choose Search Similar… from an asset’s context menu. The reference appears as a removable image chip in search.
- Refine an image search
- Keep the visual direction while narrowing the selection. Use filters and sorting with your image query. Remove its reference chip when you want to change the search.
- Search file and folder names
- Find work using the details you already remember. Text search and suggestions can match file and folder information, alongside visual search. Folder suggestions include their parent path for context.
- Choose where to search
- Keep a search focused on the right part of your archive. Choose media destinations, collections, or sources from search controls. The active scope determines which indexed assets are eligible.
- Collections in search
- Search within a saved selection. Choose a collection suggestion to add a removable Collection filter. Change the collection from its chip menu, or remove just that filter.
- Jump straight to search
- Keep browsing and searching on the keyboard. Press Command-F to focus search, type your request, and press Return to commit it.