Improved AIM Search Options

[Stephen Dwyer]

Background:  I'm going to assume that the Alamy people monitor these discussions so I wanted to offer them a suggested improvement in their AIM arear. I often post images that use the same description and key words as an existing posted image perhaps months later making it difficult to scroll through lots of images to find the original. To solve this I open a second AIM page, search and find the image and copy everything over. This is slow and means that I need to highlight the ten key words on the new image

 

Suggestion:  Dear Alamy can you please improve the search feature to allow searching on a key word or phrase and include a tick box in the search to also show all images "not on sale"

 

Result:

• This would allow me to highlight one image from the search and one from the not on sale group and copy everything more quickly and easily; and
• This would increase my productivity and get my images posted and on sale more quickly thereby benefiting us both

 

Suggestions from the Crowd are of course welcome...

[Harry Harrison]

In a similar vein I've often wanted a lightbox feature in AIM to do more or less the same thing, in order to usefully gather similar images together, old and new, with the aim of improving the captions and keywords on the whole group. I suppose with your example you could just put the basic caption and/or keywords in so that your new images will come up in your search that will include your earlier 'on sale' ones. The search in AIM is quite strange, it is basically the same search as on the public site so as with that it will normally need the server update for changes made in AIM to register. However some changes can be made in AIM and the search will react to them immediately, I've never got around to try and work out what is going on.

 

You may know that there is a different section of the forum ostensibly for suggestions like this:

https://discussion.alamy.com/forum/11-alamy/

 

"Give us your suggestions and ideas for Alamy here. We promise to read everything posted if you promise to keep all posts constructive, deal? "

 

I don't think it makes much difference though, I don't remember them positively responding to any suggestions over there.

 

 

Edited November 16 by Harry Harrison

[Avpics]

There's a section for suggestions: https://discussion.alamy.com/forum/11-alamy/

Edited November 16 by Avpics

[Mr Standfast]

6 hours ago, Harry Harrison said:

 

"Give us your suggestions and ideas for Alamy here. We promise to read everything posted if you promise to keep all posts constructive, deal? "

 

I don't think it makes much difference though, I don't remember them positively responding to any suggestions over there.

 

 

 

I think there were some changes to the help pages, a slow a steady improvement.  Discoverability? not so much.

 

Cheers.

[wiskerke]

On 16/11/2024 at 06:19, Stephen Dwyer said:

Background:  I'm going to assume that the Alamy people monitor these discussions so I wanted to offer them a suggested improvement in their AIM arear. I often post images that use the same description and key words as an existing posted image perhaps months later making it difficult to scroll through lots of images to find the original. To solve this I open a second AIM page, search and find the image and copy everything over. This is slow and means that I need to highlight the ten key words on the new image

 

Suggestion:  Dear Alamy can you please improve the search feature to allow searching on a key word or phrase and include a tick box in the search to also show all images "not on sale"

 

Result:

• This would allow me to highlight one image from the search and one from the not on sale group and copy everything more quickly and easily; and
• This would increase my productivity and get my images posted and on sale more quickly thereby benefiting us both

 

Suggestions from the Crowd are of course welcome...

 

I don't get your problem.

 

Put the Alamy ref # of the new image or images (in that case ref # 1 or ref # 2 or ref # 3 or and so on) in the search box. Now add one or more keywords that are in the images you want to copy the keywords from. Don't forget that or. Hit enter.

Now proceed as normal with batch processing like described in the manual on page 19 and 20.

 

Btw I don't use this method, but prefer an intermediate text document in a text editor.

After completing my text edit I copy/paste the whole list in the Add new tags box. Make sure the different keywords or phrases are divided by a comma, colon: or semicolon;

I keep all or most of these documents for further reference. Sometimes I add keywords that I have found, but not used and similarly keep keywords here that I have removed in AIM.

And I add a thumbnail. In case of multiple images with largely the same keywords this helps to keep track of the differences. Usually but not always I keep these together in a larger document.

Would a database be more user friendly? Meh we have one and it's AIM. Besides with some documents being around 20Mb the database would be quite unwieldy.

I do keep keywords in Excel sheets though. We have that (AoA) on Alamy too, but limited to the rolling year. Often too limiting for me.

 

wim

[Jeffrey Isaac Greenberg]

FYI, Alamy offers Excel doc. template;

which can be "populated" & merged with
online images, on sale or not on sale,
usually within couple days;

[M.Chapman]

On 17/11/2024 at 16:06, wiskerke said:

Put the Alamy ref # of the new image or images (in that case ref # 1 or ref # 2 or ref # 3 or and so on) in the search box. Now add one or more keywords that are in the images you want to copy the keywords from. Don't forget that or. Hit enter.

Mmmm... this doesn't work for me. Maybe I'm doing something wrong? If I put a "new" (i.e. not yet on sale) image ref in the search box, the new image appears. But as soon as I add or with a keyword from an existing "on sale" image the "new" image disappears from the results and I only get "on sale" images with the keyword. I tried a couple of browsers with the same result. It's as if AIM can't combine the results from searches in 2 databases at once (ie. the database of images already on sale, and the database of images not yet on sale).

 

Am I missing something?

 

Mark

[wiskerke]

1 hour ago, M.Chapman said:

Mmmm... this doesn't work for me. Maybe I'm doing something wrong? If I put a "new" (i.e. not yet on sale) image ref in the search box, the new image appears. But as soon as I add or with a keyword from an existing "on sale" image the "new" image disappears from the results and I only get "on sale" images with the keyword. I tried a couple of browsers with the same result. It's as if AIM can't combine the results from searches in 2 databases at once (ie. the database of images already on sale, and the database of images not yet on sale).

 

Am I missing something?

 

Mark

That is weird. Sorry I don't have any images in the pipeline right now.

So someone else may be able to test this.

 

wim

[Betty LaRue]

If I have a new picture of an American Robin, I can do a search of my images in AIM for American Robin. I’ll get quite a few. I pick one, then copy the keywords I want. Then I go back to my newly uploaded image and insert them in the usual way. I can do it this way if I failed this second way for whatever reason which is:

I keyword my images in Bridge and apply the template I’ve set up for American Robin that has appropriate tags & scientific name. Of course I take out or put in words for specificity.  If I didn't do templates in Bridge, I could do it the first way.