Find and sort pictures by dimensions

[GGJstudios]

I've searched and haven't found solutions for 2 issues:

1. I need to sort photos in a folder by resolution, to eliminate ones below a certain size, such as 640x 480. Is there a way to do this in finder? Maybe a plug-in or add-on? Or any other program that would facilitate this?
   
   
2. Some of the photos in the folder have "(Custom)" in the file name, such as "1055243 (Custom).jpg". But when I search the folder for "Custom" or "*Custom*" I get no hits.... any ideas why?

 

[reclusivemonkey]

I've searched and haven't found solutions for 2 issues:

1. I need to sort photos in a folder by resolution, to eliminate ones below a certain size, such as 640x 480. Is there a way to do this in finder? Maybe a plug-in or add-on? Or any other program that would facilitate this?
   
   
2. Some of the photos in the folder have "(Custom)" in the file name, such as "1055243 (Custom).jpg". But when I search the folder for "Custom" or "*Custom*" I get no hits.... any ideas why?

You can use automator to look for photos of specific heights/widths. Check out the Photos section.

 

[GGJstudios]

You can use automator to look for photos of specific heights/widths. Check out the Photos section.

Thank you for your reply, but I don't necessarily know all the specific heights/widths. I just want to be able to sort in ascending or descending order of size (dimension size, not file size), like I could do in Windows Explorer.

 

[chocodup]

1- The Find function of Finder can help you : you can search for photos with some criteria based on height / width in pixel.
Example :
In Finder, navigate to the parent directory where your photos are stored :
- + F to activate the Find function
- click on your folder name to perform the search in it rather than in all your Mac
- click on the "+" button to add a criteria
- in the first listbox, select "other" to select new attributes for your criteria
- add a tick in the last column checkboxes for the attributes you find usefull (height in pixel / width in pixel for example) and validate
- now you can specify a criteria based on these newly available attributes using the 2 listboxes (example : height in pixel is less than 480 px)
- if you want to add other criteria, click as many times as needed on the "+" button

Tip : if you want to see the height/width in pixel of the found photos, use the icon view instead of the list view

2- I've never had such a problem using Finder search ... until I tried this :
I created some empty files using the kind of filename you have to deal with.
I tried to search for these files, but none was found.
Then I used non empty files for the search (same filenames as before) and it worked (searched pattern = "(Custom)")
Are you trying to search for empty files ?

Hope this helps a little...

 

[GGJstudios]

chocodup, thanks for your reply. I really appreciate anyone trying to help. Here's the problem. I don't want to build a complex search for a certain criteria.

I want to navigate to any folder that contains pictures or mp3s or other types, with or without other filetypes in the folder. I want to then be able to "show view options" and select columns with other file attributes, such as dimensions or date photo taken or, in the case of mp3s, bitrate. Such columns would be treated exactly the same way that "Name", "Size", "Kind", "Date Modified", etc. are treated in Finder. I could look at a file and glance across to see it's size, kind, date modified, dimensions, date photo taken, etc. I could click on any column heading to sort ascending or descending by that field. Then I could click-shift-click to select a range of files, based on any criteria I choose.

This functionality is native in Windows Explorer. With WE, while looking at any folder, you can add columns to the view, as illustrated in the attached screen captures.

If Finder doesn't have this capability, I'm looking for a program that can do this on the Mac OS. This is very basic file management that I use quite frequently for various projects, and I'd guess that many former Windows users would have the same need.

 

[chocodup]

I am a former Windows user too. I switched to Mac a few months ago.
I can understand that you find it more complex to build a search with criteria than clicking 3 times to show the dimensions and to sort them.
Like you, I would appreciate that at least some attributes such as metada could be displayed in the list view of Finder (perhaps in a later version...)

But I don't agree with you when you say :

This is very basic file management

Even if I find this feature useful to be integrated in the file browser, this is not a basic file browser/management feature: it is not based on file characteristics, but on pictures metadata.
=> This is more a picture management feature (I have no experience with this kind of tools in a Mac environment, I am an iPhoto basic user)

Moreover, the 2 methods (Windows Explorer and Finder) allow the same thing : to detect the pictures with specific charateristics.
Switching from Windows to Mac sometimes involves in changing our mind. I think this is the case here.
The solution exists wihtout the need of any 3rd app. It is a bit longer to be used than with Windows ( a few more clicks), but if you will use it once, I think it is not very important, and if you have to use it more often, you can "save" your search(es) using the "Smart Folder" feature.
From a certain point of view, the Finder Search feature is even more powerful than what allows WE : you can associate more criteria to display only the files you need (I know this is not what you are trying to do right now)

I know this is not the answer you were looking for, but this is my point of view : I would be happier if the list view could display more attributes (metadata) to sort my pictures files directly, but I am still happy with the current way it works.

What about your "(Custom)" search issue ?

 

[GGJstudios]

Thanks for your help. By "basic file management" I mean that with WE I can add columns for attributes that relate to many file types, not just photos:

For text files: Owner, Author, Title, Comments, Copyright, Pages, Subject
For mp3 files: Artist, Album Title, Bitrate, Year, Track Number, Genre, Duration
For image files: Camera Model, Date Picture Taken, Dimensions
For video files: Episode Name, Program Description
....and many more.

So WE allows me to manage files and folders easily, adding or removing columns as necessary to identify and sort files of many types.

As far as the search issue for files with "Custom" in the filename, I'm still having that issue. None of the files are zero bytes. Several hundred of the photos in this collection were resized in Windows, with the resized (smaller) photo being automatically renamed from something like "1078664.jpg" to "1078664 (Custom).jpg" So the same picture appears twice in the folder, once in the normal dimensions and once (Custom) in smaller dimensions. My intent is to filter out the smaller ones. In WE, I would simply search the folder for "Custom" and it would create search results containing those files, which I could then delete or move to another folder. When I try the same, searching the folder in Finder, I get zero hits, even though there are hundreds of files in the folder that meets that criteria.

 

[chocodup]

OK, I understand better your 2 issues now.

I still think Finder can help you. The problem is the Find function does not work for the folder containing your pictures.

If you can actually find files in other folders, the problem can come from Spotlight restrictions.
=> Have a look to your Spotlight settings in System Preferences/Spotlight
Check your folder (or any parent folder) is not in the Privacy list.

If it has not solve the Find issue :
- Did you make anything to avoid .DS_Store / .Spotlight-V100 files creation ? (for example, using BlueHarvest)
- Is your picture folder on an external drive / USB key ? If so, has Spotlight finished its indexation ?

 

[GGJstudios]

I haven't added any folder privacy restrictions to Spotlight. The issue appears whether I'm searching my Mac HD or an external drive. I'm re-indexing both drives now... will let you know if that works.

 

[rawdawg]

I'm trying to do this same thing now...

 

[shrfu31]

This helped me out a lot.

I know this is old, but thanks for the help!

 

[bldg13]

Adobe Bridge shows/sorts by dimensions.

 

[itaibd]

Hello
I know this is old post but i am looking for a way to filter in the search finder such term:
If image Width less than Height to find all those images with Width less than the height.

Any one know how this possible?
Many thanks!