# Search Photos media by file name | Shortcuts Library

> This shortcut helps to search photos/videos in the Photos app by file name.

## What this shortcut does

I. INTRODUCTION
While the built-in search functionality of the iOS Photos app is quite powerful—allowing users to find images and videos based on content understood by AI (such as a video showing a person singing or a picture of a dog), text appearing within the photo/video, location, people, and more—it lacks one key feature: the ability to search by the file name. My shortcut, "Search Photos media by file name", fills this gap, enabling you to search and locate your media files in the Photos app using the actual file names.
II. HOW TO USE
1)
Enter Keywords to Search
Run the shortcut and enter one or more keywords into the input text box. If entering multiple keywords, separate them with a new line.
Important:
The search function is case-sensitive. This means you must type the keyword matching the exact upper and lower case letters as they appear in the file name for accurate results. For example, if the file you need to find is named
Holiday_Trip2023.jpg
:
Typing
holiday
or
trip2023
will show an alert:
"No Results Found"
Typing
Holiday
or
Trip2023
will successfully show the file in the search result.
2) If results are found, the shortcut gives you these choices:
View the results immediately in a Quick Look window.
Skip viewing and go directly to the save options
Or you can just exit the shortcut now.
If you choose Quick Look, the first matching file will be shown. If more than one result is found, tap the “three lines” icon in the top-left corner of the Quick Look window to browse other files.
3) After that (or if you skip Quick Look), if you want to save the results to an album for easy access later, you can choose:
Save the results to the default album “Search Photos by File Name” (the shortcut will create it if it does not already exist).
Save the results to an existing album.
Create a new album and save the results there.
Exit without saving.
Note:
When saving to the album “Search Photos by File Name”, results from previous searches are automatically removed from this album (they are not deleted from the Photos library), so the album always shows only the latest search results.
*Example of entering multiple keywords:
WHY YOU MAY NEED THIS SHORTCUT
Many of the shortcuts and apps I use are designed to save media with specific, meaningful names instead of default names (like 'IMG_759.jpg'). For example:
YouTube Download:
This shortcut saves YouTube videos with their video titles as the file name in the Photos app. Download it here:
YouTube Download Shortcut
Instagram Download:
This one saves Instagram images/videos with the Instagram account names (and the published date of that Instagram post) as the file names within the Photos app. Download it here:
Instagram Download Shortcut
Apps like Intel Unison also preserve original file names when transferring files from a PC to an iPhone, ensuring they remain searchable in the Photos app.
Here's my personal experience that illustrates the shortcut's usefulness: I had downloaded so many Instagram reels using the Instagram Download shortcut, and then I deleted the Instagram app because watching too many Reels wastes my time. One day, I wanted to revisit a particularly memorable Instagram video, but scrolling through thousands of files seemed daunting. That's why I created the 'Search Photos media by file name' shortcut. With it, I was able to quickly locate the video because I remembered part of the Instagram account name, which was included in the file name. This shortcut has been a real time-saver for me.

## Compatibility

iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch

## Required apps



[View this page](https://shortcutlibrary.app/shortcuts/search-photos-media-by-file-name)

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