Since Pierre is a man of very few words, especially in the Changelog, there are some notes there that may undersell what some of the new features are, so I thought I would do a post to describe some of them in a bit more detail.
The major enhancements in 1.9.6, which then drive some other new capabilities, are:
- Comprehensive Camera Metadata Support through Exiftool, including Makernotes
- Advanced Search grouping and multiple boolean operators
- Smart Albums
Based on those new capabilities, several other improvements have been made:
- New searchable field: Exiftoolvalue
- Using Exiftool fields in Labels has been improved
- Items in the search dialog can be moved and re-ordered with drag and drop
- There is an option to automatically dismiss the search dialog on Browse
- Collections
- Album Improvements
- Bonus: Show files in subfolders now works in the Favorites pane
Full Exiftool metadata support
XnViewMP can now process and store ALL data accessible using exiftool, including makernotes, and all this data is instantly searchable. This is a real game-changer for metadata support in XnViewMP.
In Settings:Catalog there is an option "Store Exiftool Fields". If you check this, and then click the "Update metadata" button, XnViewMP will scan all the files in your catalog, and cache in the database all the exiftool information. This process is multithreaded and is quite fast, although the total time will depend on the size of your library and the speed of your system. Once this box is checked, if you browse to a never-before-browsed folder or import new images, all their metadata will be automatically imported, so clicking the "Update Metadata" button is only necessary when you first enable the feature.
It doesn't matter what camera your images were taken with. If exiftool supports your camera (the support is very comprehensive) then it will automatically be supported in XnViewMP.
All this new data will also be instantly searchable; simply check "Search in Catalog only" in the search dialog. In the Search dialog, there is a new searchable field: "Exiftool Value". Simply add this item to your Search, and you will be presented with two fields, with a changeable operator in between. In the first field, enter the name of the field as shown by exiftool, without spaces. In the second field, enter the value you're searching for. The default operator is "contains" but you can change it.
So for example, to search the field "White Balance 2" you could enter:
Exiftool Value ____whitebalance2_____ contains _____manual_____
This would find all files where the "White Balance 2" field contains the word manual. Field names and values are case insensitive. The field name support wildcards, so you could enter "white*" to match against all fields starting with "white", which would look at fields including "White Balance", "White Balance 2", "White Balance Temperature" and so on.
Sometimes, camera metadata contains fields with duplicate names. For example, there is a standard Exif Field named "Exposure Mode" but some manufacturers also have a separate "Exposure Mode" field in MakerNotes that contains different data. XnViewMP allows you to disambiguate these fields. Simply preface the field name with the exiftool reporting group, like this:
makernotes:exposureprogram
This will search the "Exposure Program" field in the Makernotes group, instead of the one in the Exif group. You can use "exif:", "makernotes:", or "composite:" The "file:" prefix is not needed, since XnViewMP supports all that data internally using fields selectable from the menu.
This metadata support is an incredibly powerful new feature, and it has extra significance in that it provides XnViewMP with a certain amount of future-proofing. New cameras come out all the time, and manufacturers change metadata formats. Exiftool is constantly updated to keep up with these changes. If there's a new version of Exiftool that supports your new camera, simply replace the version of exiftool that comes with XnViewMP with the updated exiftool, run "Update Metadata" again, and all the newly supported metadata will be added to the XnViewMP database.
Unfortunately there is no way at present to display the Exiftool fields like makernotes in a Details view, but "Lens Model" has been added.
Lastly, if you have this feature turned on, then using {Exiftool:} items in Labels will be instantaneous, since it will pull the information from the database, instead of using exiftool to re-read the information from the files every time you browse a folder.
Advanced Search grouping and multiple boolean operators
This new feature radically upgrades the Search dialog in XnView MP.
From the Search Dialog, click Add and select GROUP. You can add as many groups as you need.
Each group has its own internal boolean operator for matching within the group (he intra-group operator). The "Match All / Any" buttons in the top-right corner of the Conditions area specify the boolean operator that applies BETWEEN groups (the inter-group operator); All corresponds to AND, and Any corresponds to OR.
This allows you to build complex searches that were previously impossible, for example:
(Exif:FocalLength=300mm AND Exif:F-Number=4) AND (Exif:Maker=Nikon OR Exif:Maker=Canon)
This would show you the 300mm f/4 images in your catalog taken with Nikon or Canon cameras, but excluding Sony or Fuji cameras.
Each group can have as many items as necessary. Items can be dragged and dropped to move them between groups if necessary to make it easier to build your search.
Smart Albums
Smart Albums appear in the Catalog Pane. As in other image cataloging software, a Smart Album is an album with dynamic contents based on specified criteria. In essence, a smart album is a saved search. Any set of criteria you can conceive to make a search, you can save as a Smart Album. There is a new "Save as Smart Album" button on the Search dialog, or you can Right-Click on the Smart Album tree to Create a New Smart Album.
You can also create a Smart Album using the Catalog pane. Simple select multiple items in the Catalog Pane using Control-Click. Then you can Right-Click on one of those items and you'll have the option to "Create Smart Album from current filter". So you could, for example ctrl-click to select 4-star, 5-star, and Color:To Do, and then create a smart album that contains 4 and 5 star images with the To-Do (blue) color set.
You can right-click on a Smart Album to Edit it, Delete it, Rename it, etc.
Collections and Album improvements
You may be familiar with other software which has "Collections", or a set of Albums. This allows you, for example, to create a Collection for a particular client, and then have individual albums within that, each representing separate jobs or assignments. Or you might have a Collection "Holiday Photos" and within it separate albums for all the different travel holidays you've had over the years.
XnViewMP can now do this too. It's all done though the Albums tree. One Album can contain other Albums, just like collections. Modifying or deleting albums has also been made easier. Adding photos to new albums via right-click is also easier, since the Album list is now dynamic, with no need to restart the application. Create a new album, and you can immediately right-click on images and add them to the newly created album.
I think I've hit the major points.
Hopefully this will help people to make full use of the fantastic new capabilities in the app that Pierre has worked very hard to provide.