The quick way to get started with Excire Search 2024 - with our tutorials
Quick set-up
After downloading the Excire Search plug-in by using the download link included in the confirmation E-Mail, you need to first install Excire Search. As macOS user you first unzip the downloaded ZIP file and mount the corresponding disk image (DMG file).
Then you only need to start the installation program, which will guide you through the installation process. Windows users only need to start the downloaded EXE file and follow the instructions provided by the installer.
Login and Activation
After successful installation, you will find the „Excire Search“ entry with the „License“ section in the Lightroom plug-in manager (File→Plug-in Manager). There, press the button labeled „Manage license“. In the dialog that appears, you can then log in and activate your Excire Search version. You can find out how to do this here.
Initialization
Before you can search in your Lightroom catalog with Excire Search, you must initialize all photos in your catalog. You can start the corresponding user dialog by selecting the "Initialize photos" menu item under Library→Plug-in Extras→Excire Search or the shortcut keys ⌥⌘N (macOS) and Ctrl+Alt+N (Windows). In the corresponding dialog, you can select whether you want to initialize all photos in your catalog or only the photos in the current filmstrip. You can also specify whether your maximum computer performance should be used for initialization. Deactivating this option makes it easier to use your computer for other tasks in parallel with initialization. If you want to transfer the aesthetic values and keywords of your photos to your Lightroom Classic catalog after the analysis, simply activate the corresponding option. However, this can also be done retrospectively. You can find the corresponding functions under "Library→Plug-in Extras→Excire Search".
Since the first initialization of a complete Lightroom catalog takes a little time, we recommend that you carry it out overnight or in stages. Please note that the initialization of 10,000 photos on a current computer takes about one hour. However, the initialization can be interrupted and continued at any time. Newly added photos must also be initialized as described.
Settings
In the Excire Search section of the Lightroom Plug-in Manager, a user can specify various parameters that influence the initialization:
1. Fast initialization: If this option is activated, editing settings of the photos in your Lightroom catalog are ignored to enable fast initialization. Moderate image editing will not cause any problems. Note, however, that heavy image cropping and extreme color changes will affect the determination of the dominant image color and image content: Excire has been taught that a sky is blue and if you now colour it green, this can lead to landscapes in photos no longer being recognized.
2. Prefer smart previews in initialization: If you activate this option, smart previews are preferred during initialization instead of the original photos. This can be useful if you have created Smart Previews for the photos in your Lightroom catalog that are stored on a local SSD and if access to your original photos is slow.
3. For stacks, only initialize the top photo: This option should be set especially if you are a time series photographer and/or organize your photos in batches that contain many similar photos. In this case, only the top photo of a stack is initialized.
4. Import: Here you can specify whether new photos should be automatically analyzed after they are imported and how long you want to wait before doing so. You can also specify whether you want to automatically transfer the aesthetic values and keywords of your photos to your Lightroom catalog.
5. Keyword Transfer: Here you can select whether the keywords or even the corresponding keyword hierarchy should also be exported when exporting photos.
Furthermore, a user can set the keyword language and, if necessary, restore the keyboard shortcuts (only under macOS).
