The Explore drawer

The Explore drawer groups refinements into Keywords, Date, Gear and Rating & Status tabs. Choosing another tab keeps every active filter.

Press ⌘F or click Browse’s search field to open it. Click Filters beside the magnifying glass to close it. After manual closing, the drawer stays closed when the field is focused, across windows and launches, until reopened with Filters.

Escape. With the field focused, esc clears the search refinements and leaves the field. Another press closes the drawer. Switching modes hides the drawer and search strip but preserves the query.

Keywords. Your authored keywords appear first. Choosing one requires that exact keyword on the photograph; several chosen keywords must all be present. Detected terms follow in SUBJECTS, PEOPLE, LIGHT, COMPOSITION and TEXT groups. Each group shows its twelve most common words, with an overflow chip for the rest.

The count beside a word reflects the result of adding it to current filters. Words matching one photograph are omitted from the drawer but remain searchable by typing. The drawer also includes lower-confidence detections omitted from typed searches.

Rows use the selected collection’s vocabulary. Adding filters keeps words in place; zero-result words dim and move to the end. Rows wrap in narrow windows.

Date. The overview shows capture-date density across the collection. Drag the overview window to navigate without changing the date filter; its handles resize the visible period. Month, Year, Fit collection and the previous/next buttons control navigation. Drag across the detail timeline to select dates, move an existing range by dragging inside it, or resize it with the handles. The grid updates on release. Use visible dates applies the entire visible period; Show selected dates returns to a filter outside the current view. Set From, Through, or both directly for precise boundaries. The Through day is included. This month and This year fill both dates. Clear removes the date range. Changing one boundary beyond the other moves the other to the same day. Photographs without a capture date do not appear under a date range.

Rating & Status. Choose Any, Unrated, or a minimum star rating. Choose Kept, Rejected, and Unreviewed independently; selecting several includes any of those statuses. Unrated describes stars, while Unreviewed describes the verdict. The controls reflect the Kept and rating shortcuts in the control band.

Gear. Under Shot with, click a camera card to filter by that camera and show its lenses on a focal-length scale. Dot position represents focal length; dot area represents matching photograph count. Counts and dot sizes update with other filters.

The scale is logarithmic and uses actual focal lengths, not 35 mm equivalents. For example, 28 to 35 mm and 90 to 112 mm occupy similar distances. Camera crop factors are not stored.

Different EXIF names for the same lens are grouped into one dot. Clicking it includes every spelling. Hover for the full name. Lens names without a readable focal length appear as chips beside the scale.

Combining filters. Kept and the minimum rating appear in the control band. Other refinements add labelled chips above the grid; use a chip’s ✕ to remove it.

• Detected words combine with AND: backlit and wide require both.
• Authored keywords combine with AND.
• Several cameras combine with OR: a photograph can match either camera.
• Several lenses also combine with OR.
• Several statuses combine with OR.
• Keyword, date, gear, rating and status groups narrow one another.

Chips wrap to remain visible, and the status bar lists the filters. The drawer floats over the photographs below the search strip. Opening, closing and switching tabs keep the photograph layout and scroll position unchanged.

All counts come from local data. Newly analysed words may not appear until the collection or library contents change and counts refresh.