August 2019 • Macworld 45REVIEWto JPEGs or, with Raw images, to .xmp text files
on the side.
However, for search in Picktorial 4.0, the
developers don’t lean on macOS’s Spotlight.
Picktorial builds its own index, which results
in faster search and the ability to do more with
the data, such as create smart albums and sort
photos using multiple criteria, without maintaining a
central catalogue file. The Library sidebar includes
several pre-made searches, such as All Photos,
star rating levels (such as 2 stars and higher), All
Edited photos, and the like. There’s also a Search
field for typing keywords and other queries.
That field presents a lot of possibilities,
as Picktorial takes a text-based approach to
searching. If you know the language, you can
type it into the Search field. For example, let’s
say you want to locate all the photos with the
keyword ‘flower’ rated two stars or higher. You
have two options: click the pre-made 2-star-plus
search item and then type flower into the Search
field; or, type flower rating>=2 in the field. One
annoyance: if your query exceeds more than a
couple of terms, the Search field doesn’t expand
or wrap down to another line, so you won’t see
characters that run longer than the visible area.
According to the application’s documentation,
specific attributes are limited to text contained in
the photo name, keyword, camera name, camera
maker, and rating. The available syntax isn’t spelled
out, and my attempts to search for, say, all images
captured at f/2.8 proved unsuccessful. The search