Filter photos by a metadata value

Overview

Find Existing narrows the current selection to the files that have a chosen metadata field set to one of the values you pick. It is read-only — it never writes metadata or moves files; it only changes which files are selected.

Pick a field from the dropdown. The dropdown groups every filterable field under category submenus (General, Creator Contact, Location, Editorial, Rights & Licensing, Technical, Classification & AI, Scientific — Taxonomy, Scientific — Observation, and Archive); open a category and choose a field by name. The label above the dropdown reads 'Filter by:' in this mode.

Archyv scans the selected folders, then lists every value it found for that field so you can pick one or more — search the list to narrow it, then continue to keep the matching files. Fields that use a fixed vocabulary (such as Country, the IPTC editorial codes, the Rights & Licensing statuses, and the Darwin Core taxonomy fields) skip the scan and offer their full list of values directly, so you can choose values before any file has been tagged.

The four date filters — Date Created, Date/Time Original, Modify Date, and Metadata Date — read their dates the same way Metadata Review and the Metadata Editor do. Date Created uses a photo's own Date Created when it has one, and otherwise falls back to the capture time the camera recorded when the shutter fired, so camera-original RAW files — which usually carry only that capture time — are still grouped by the day they were taken. Because the dates are read the same way everywhere, the values you pick here match what Metadata Review and the Metadata Editor show.

Scanning covers the whole folder hierarchy, and cloud files are read within a built-in timeout — large or slow-syncing files may need to finish downloading first.

When to Use

Reach for Find Existing when a collection is too large to sift by hand and you want to keep only the files that carry a particular value. It turns a metadata question into a selection: curate a delivery of just the five-star images, gather everything by one photographer, or pull together every file shot in a given country. Because it only selects — it never writes metadata or moves files — it is the safe way to build a precise selection before handing it to another Archyv process such as renaming, attribution, or transfer.

Requirements

Select the folder(s) to scan in the left Folder Navigator panel; the scan includes every subfolder
Choose a field from the 'Filter by:' dropdown, where fields are grouped under the ten category submenus
Supported formats: common images (JPEG, PNG, TIFF, HEIC, and more), RAW files from major camera brands, and video (MP4, MOV, M4V, and more)
Cloud files are read within a built-in timeout; large or slow-syncing files may need to finish downloading first
For most fields the value picker lists what your folder actually contains, so the files should carry the matching EXIF / IPTC / XMP metadata for values to appear
Photographer reads Artist, By-line, Creator, XPAuthor, Owner Name, and the QuickTime Author atom used by MP4/MOV files; Camera reads Make and Model
The date filters (Date Created, Date/Time Original, Modify Date, Metadata Date) read their dates the same way Metadata Review and the Metadata Editor do, so the dates you filter on match what those windows show; Date Created uses a photo's own Date Created when present and otherwise the camera's capture time, so camera-original RAW files are still grouped by the day they were taken
Location reads the text fields — City, Sub-location, State, and Country — not the numeric coordinates; GPS Coordinates is a separate presence check on latitude and longitude, where a 0,0 coordinate — the placeholder a device writes when GPS was off — counts as missing
Keywords reads IPTC Keywords and the XMP subject and keyword fields, including the Darwin Core taxonomy written by Species Tagging and any video sidecars
Rating reads the star rating, where a stored 0 shows as 'Unrated'; Scientific — Taxonomy and Scientific — Observation fields read Darwin Core metadata
File Type, File Extension, and Size (under General) need no metadata — they read directly from the file itself
Many fields offer their full standard list in the card as soon as you choose the field, without scanning the folder, so the folder need not already contain the values: the IPTC editorial codes (Category, Subject Code, Scene Code, Label, Digital Source Type), the Rights & Licensing statuses (Model Release Status, Property Release Status, Data Mining), Country and Country Code, the Darwin Core taxonomy fields (Life Stage, Sex, Vitality, Establishment Means, Reproductive Condition, Kingdom, Taxon Rank), and a searchable Media Topic list
Rating and State are exceptions — both have a fixed vocabulary in the Metadata Editor, but Find Existing gives them a search box and scans the folder instead, so the folder must carry the metadata for values to appear

How to Use

Select the folder(s) to scan in the left Folder Navigator panel; the scan includes every subfolder
Open the 'Filter by:' dropdown and choose a field by name — fields are grouped under category submenus
For a field with a fixed standard list — Country, Country Code, the IPTC codes, the Darwin Core taxonomy fields and Media Topic — that list appears in the card as soon as you choose the field, with a search box above it. Tick one or more values and click 'Start' to keep only the files that match them; you can pick values whether or not the current folder contains them
For every other field, type a value in the search box if you already know it — or leave it empty
Click 'Start' with nothing typed or ticked and Archyv scans the folder(s), collects every value it finds for that field, and lists them in a value picker with a count beside each — select one or more, using the search box to narrow a long list
Click 'Continue Scan' to keep only the files whose value matches your selection
The matching files are selected in place in the left Folder Navigator panel, ready for another Archyv process such as renaming, attribution, or transfer
Use 'Refresh' to clear the selection and try a different field or folder

Tips & Important Notes

This process replaces the current selection — it is folder-based, not additive
The selection stays until you run again, click 'Refresh', or change it yourself
Large folders take time to scan, and cloud files are read within a built-in timeout — large or slow-syncing files may need to finish downloading first
Rights Status appears in the dropdown as two ready-to-run entries — 'Rights Status: Marked' selects the files flagged as rights-marked, and 'Rights Status: Unmarked' selects those flagged as unmarked; to find files with no rights status at all, use Find Missing
File Type sorts files into coarse classes by extension (Images, Videos, Audio, Documents, Other); File Extension matches the exact extension (jpg, cr3, mov, and so on); Size groups files into ranges (< 1 MB, 1 - 5 MB, 5 - 10 MB, 10 - 50 MB, 50 - 100 MB, 100 - 500 MB, 500 MB - 1 GB, > 1 GB) so you can pick a band
When a field is scanned, an 'Unknown' value in the picker selects files that have no usable value for it — whether the field is missing or present but blank; fixed-vocabulary fields list their standard values instead and have no 'Unknown' entry. To select specifically for files without the field, use Find Missing