Smart folder not working properly (solved)
I've been using smart folders since 2017 (when I bought C1) with just a couple of quirks that I know how to work around, but today I've run into a strange problem.
As you can see in the former screenshot, I have a smart folder whose search criterium is 'keywords contains diary-item-2024-02-28'. Only 14 images appear, but I do know that there are 17 with that keyword. For instance, image 20240228-0133 is missing, but it does have the keyword (see the latter screenshot).
C1 16.3.4.5, but also 16.3.8.23 that I just upgraded to, macOS Ventura 13.6.6.
Any clue?
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I recommend opening a support case. There have been other reports of smart albums not always showing all the variants they should be finding.
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I agree — my approach is first to post to the forum to check about some silly error I could be making, and if no feedback to open a support case.
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I'd say no, as you can see in the former screenshot: it shows the smart folder configuration and the search box in the bottom right, which is clear. I don't think there can be other settings elsewhere... right?
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Yes, same result. Indeed the problem was discovered by using an Applescript that queries the catalog and produces some files with the list of images.
Thanks for the comment — it allowed me to make further checks. At this point probably it's not something trivial. I'm going to call the support.
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I'm going to provide a few more context.
Up to now I've used smart albums for e.g. filtering by rate, piece of equipment, keywords associated to a subject; and regular albums for final picks, e.g. photos to print, to publish to a book, to publish to the web. This because the final selection is always manual and a regular album is the most natural tool for manual picks: you pick the photo and drag it to the album.
For a number of reasons (mostly for interoperability with other applications, e.g. PhotoSupreme used for caloguing), from now on I'm working with an alternative approach: whenever I'd have used a regular album I'm now creating a specific keyword and using a smart album. Manual picks are tagged with that keyword. Same approach with PhotoSupreme and so tagging and untagging once keeps the collections in sync in both applications.
So I started re-doing the 19 collections of photos published this year — my process uses an Applescript that queries C1 and produces text files with the list of related photo names for each collection. These files are kept in a Git repository, so they can be compared and versioned. After regenerating the files with the smart albums I expected of course that they would stay the same as they were with regular albums; instead, 7 out of 19 have a few missing items.
Pretty strange, eh?
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Now you are introducing scripting. Could be additional issue in the script query where the script itself is producing the wrong output?
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That 's why I posted the screenshots: to demonstrate that the UI is doing wrong.
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OTOH my doubt was about the fact that the keyword was imported from XMP — but the other screenshot demonstrates that it has been correctly ingested.
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Thanks for the suggestion. Done, still wrong outcome (14 items instead of 17).
BUT — your hint suggested me another test — if I go to the "All" collection and enter diary-item-2024-02-28 in the search box at the bottom right corner, I get the expected 17 items. See new screenshot attached.
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Further strange discover! If at this point create a smart album ('Untitled smart album 2') out of the search result, I get it working (17 items). Note that the search criterium is 'any contains 'diary-item-2024-02-28'.
This is inconsistent with the smart album I created at the previous step out of the 'Advanced search' ('Untitled smart album'), in spite of having the very same criterium:
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BTW, C1 has become almost unresponsive now (CPU load is low).
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Running a script to inspect the album rules in XML format, they look like they are the same (as expected):
use scripting additions
tell application "Capture One"
tell front document
set _album1 to some collection whose name is "Untitled smart album"
log rules of _album1 as text
set _album2 to some collection whose name is "Untitled smart album 2"
log rules of _album2 as text
end tell
end tell(*<?xml version="1.0"?><MatchOperator Kind="AND"><MatchOperator Kind="AND"><Condition Enabled="YES"><Key>_textSearch</Key><Operator>6</Operator><Criterion>diary-item-2024-02-28</Criterion></Condition></MatchOperator></MatchOperator>*)
(*<?xml version="1.0"?><MatchOperator Kind="AND"><MatchOperator Kind="AND"><Condition Enabled="YES"><Key>_textSearch</Key><Operator>6</Operator><Criterion>diary-item-2024-02-28</Criterion></Condition></MatchOperator></MatchOperator>*)0 -
Ok, final (?) surprise: if I move both test smart albums in another folder... they both work. If you look at my previous screenshots, they were created in two different places. So I tried to move the original smart albums in a new place in the 'User collections' hierarchy (under the root)... and it worked. Putting it back to the original place, it breaks again.
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Is there a project in the parent hierarchy where it fails to find the correct number? projects limit scope of search.
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Yes, there is a project. But in which way the scope of search is limited?
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So, the project was there by error, since I only use groups. I replaced the Project node with a simple Group and everything now works.
So you solved my problem.
I'd be curious, though, to understand how Project works because it's not clear to me.
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When a smart album is contained within a project, the scope of the search is limited to the albums contained within that project.
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Ok, this at last makes sense for the behaviour I experienced.
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