Search Each Library Individually

[Locutus64 124]

3 hours ago, TobyTentakel said:

I fully agree to two of the proposed extensions:

- add an option to search only in active (or user selected) libraries

- start searching (optionally) only when pressing enter in the search button

For people with several big libraries, the search is mostly unusable at the moment. I have >20.000 movies and >120.000 albums with several million songs and the search does only work if I completely paste the search term from the clipboard and even then takes several minutes.

This should have been addressed YESRS ago along with when being in settings and doing a search Emby should ONLY be searching in settings and not media.

3 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi, we'll look at improving this. Thanks for the feedback.

It's called fixing it not improving it.

[Music100 33]

I'm voicing my support again to implement these handlings.   

Improving search features would go far to improve the useability of emby and enhance the basic user experience.   This is particularly the case when dealing with large libraries.  I've asked about this previously and my belief in the necessity of these features has only strengthened after another year.

Cheers.

[Locutus64 124]

On 3/24/2021 at 6:36 AM, ebr said:

Just FYI, in Android TV, Fire TV and Roku, if you search from within a library, the results are limited to that library.

 

Shame the parent app doesn't have this like it should, and when one searches within settings not one result has anything to do with settings. There was a statement from @Lukeback in 2017 about more filters being added in the future and now it's 2024 and the search is still a joke.

[Locutus64 124]

@Lukeyou are expected to reply along with any other dev that deals with search in Emby.

[Luke 39842]

Hi, scoped library search is certainly possible for future updates. Thanks.

[Music100 33]

The discussion about searching individual libraries has been going on for some years.  These are my views as to why this is still a vital feature to improve:

Emby’s strength lies in managing diverse, extensive media collections. However, its current search function retrieves results from all libraries at once, regardless of the content type. This all-encompassing search approach, while useful in some cases, often hinders users who know exactly what they’re looking for. Adding the ability to limit searches to a specific library would vastly improve efficiency and user satisfaction.

1. Streamlined Search in Large, Multi-Type Libraries

   In collections containing varied media—such as films, music, interviews, and more—it's often impractical to search through irrelevant results. For example, when looking for a particular soundtrack in a large library, the user may also see results from unrelated media types like movies or interviews. This creates unnecessary clutter and requires users to manually filter results, slowing down their process. Searching by library would allow users to target only the media they want to find, drastically improving search relevance.

2. Simplified Media Format Management

   Many users maintain separate libraries based on media quality or type, such as an older collection of standard-quality audio files and a newer library of high-resolution formats. Without the ability to limit searches to a particular library, users must sift through multiple versions of the same content, even when they know which library contains the desired media. Allowing searches to focus on specific libraries would help users find exactly what they need, without the frustration of comparing file specifications manually.

3. Alignment with Standard Operating Systems

   On commonly used systems like Windows and macOS, users can limit searches to specific folders or expand them to encompass the whole system. This approach is intuitive and familiar, allowing for efficient file management. Emby should follow suit by enabling users to choose whether to search across all libraries or narrow their search to a single one, mirroring these standard operating system practices. This would provide users with more control over their media management experience while maintaining flexibility.

4. Catering to Diverse User Needs

   Emby serves users with a wide range of media collections, from audiophiles with meticulously organized music libraries to film buffs with large video collections. Different users have different expectations when it comes to searching for content. An audiobook enthusiast, for instance, might want to search only within their audiobooks library, while a podcast lover may prefer to search exclusively within their podcast collection. Adding library-specific search capabilities would ensure Emby meets the unique needs of its broad user base.

5. Improved Performance and Speed

   Searching all libraries at once inherently takes longer than narrowing the search to a single library. This is particularly true for users with large collections, where searching across many libraries can slow down the process considerably. By giving users the option to search a specific library, Emby could significantly reduce search times, improving the overall responsiveness of the software and enhancing user satisfaction.

---

Implementing search-by-library functionality would elevate Emby’s performance, offering users greater precision, speed, and control in managing their media collections. This feature would benefit both casual users and those with extensive, multi-format libraries, making Emby more efficient and enjoyable to use.

Cheers.

[CummingCowGirl 23]

On 3/24/2021 at 6:36 AM, ebr said:

Just FYI, in Android TV, Fire TV and Roku, if you search from within a library, the results are limited to that library.

Interesting how far less used apps have the search function correct and the desktop versions do not.

 

See @Music100's post

Edited November 11, 2024 by CummingCowGirl

[Music100 33]

I appreciate the work you’ve done with Emby, but I’d like to request an improvement to the search functionality. Currently, search applies to all libraries at once, with no option to limit it to a single library. This can be frustrating for users with large/diverse media collections, as it makes finding specific content more difficult, especially when multiple libraries contain similar items.

Adding the ability to search within a specific library would greatly enhance usability, making it easier to manage and locate content efficiently. I hope you’ll consider this for a future update.

Thank you for your time and for continuously improving Emby!

[CummingCowGirl 23]

13 hours ago, Music100 said:

I appreciate the work you’ve done with Emby, but I’d like to request an improvement to the search functionality. Currently, search applies to all libraries at once, with no option to limit it to a single library. This can be frustrating for users with large/diverse media collections, as it makes finding specific content more difficult, especially when multiple libraries contain similar items.

Adding the ability to search within a specific library would greatly enhance usability, making it easier to manage and locate content efficiently. I hope you’ll consider this for a future update.

Thank you for your time and for continuously improving Emby!

A lot of us have been begging for this for a very very very very very long time. This issue is twofold. The one you mentioned and when in settings and doing a search Emby searches the libraries instead of just what's in the settings.  The current default behavior should of never been the default behavior.

[visproduction 265]

How about putting a new magnifier button inside collection top filter button area (.itemsViewSettingsContainer) ?  This way, you don't have to make the top magnifier more intelligent to know which page you are on. A new search button, in this area, already knows what page it is on. 

Perhaps some simple logo that looks like your are digging down in your search more would be nice.

Here are some example ideas.
https://www.freeiconspng.com/img/45606

https://www.vexels.com/png-svg/preview/140724/magnifier-people-square-icon  (maybe put graphics for media posters behind a magnifier in a button)

https://pngtree.com/freepng/magnifier-increase-icon-web-button-vector_9549721.html  (Do something with just a + sign.  Works in all languages.)

Edited March 12 by visproduction

[Teredactle 26]

+1 on being able to search libraries independent of each other - if in a particular library, then it would be great for the search to return only results from that library, or just have a filter on the results to select the library.

TY

[Smitty018210 94]

Kinda surprised this hasn't made it's way into emby. +1 from too.

[CummingCowGirl 23]

23 hours ago, Smitty018210 said:

Kinda surprised this hasn't made it's way into emby. +1 from too.

Kinda surprises me that this feature that should of been implemented YEARS ago we still have to beg for.

[rbjtech 4950]

Can people give real life examples of how filtering the search BEFORE running it is any different to how it is now, when it filters the search results POST the request ?

Granted I don't have 100's of thousands of items - but on a search of about 60K items - it finds items in ALL the libraries in less than half a second - and then displays the results as 'Top results' but also gives me the option to narrow it down (with a single click)  if I know what library or media type it was more likely to be under.

In this example - I search for 'battle' 

.. but what I'm actually after - is not the 'common' finds - but a Song from Tiesto called Battleship Grey

.. so I click 'Songs' 

.. and there it is.

It's taken no less 'clicks' then if I were to select 'Songs' first and then do a search ?

Maybe on slow machines, it takes significantly longer to search everything first ?   Does anybody have a practical example to show ?

[TobyTentakel 24]

I have lots of files in the DB and a simple search can take several minutes on the server, often reaching a timeout. Since the search operation starts already when typing the first letter, the problem cascades.

[rbjtech 4950]

14 minutes ago, TobyTentakel said:

I have lots of files in the DB and a simple search can take several minutes on the server, often reaching a timeout. Since the search operation starts already when typing the first letter, the problem cascades.

How many media items ?

What hardware ?  cpu, memory etc

What db size vs db cache size (in Emby Server > Database)

If something is 'timing out' then this suggests your db is not 'in memory' .. a possibility on a very low powered machine with no memory to spare - hence the above questions.

It's this information which gives the Dev's things to think about on optimisation - please don't think i'm pushing back on this FR - I just think the request needs some real life examples to fully understand where it would 'help'

Maybe on 'slow' machines, the time it takes to 'accept' the search could be longer.  ie it waits for a full second before starting the search, as currently, it probably about a 10th of a second.   Dynamic on a fast machine yes, but hindering on a slow machine.  Maybe this could be set somewhere if you needed to change it ?

Edited April 23 by rbjtech

[TobyTentakel 24]

Around 2 million media items (problem also happens with a smaller DB with "only" around 1 million items).

Server:
Synology DS918+, Intel Celeron J3455 1.5 GHz / 4 Cores, Memory 8 GB
Running latest Emby as a native application (no Docker container), no other big/permanent apps running on the system

Size of DB file is around 2 GB, database cache size in Emby is also 2 GB, analysis row limit is 400.

[rbjtech 4950]

2 minutes ago, TobyTentakel said:

Around 2 million media items (problem also happens with a smaller DB with "only" around 1 million items).

Server:
Synology DS918+, Intel Celeron J3455 1.5 GHz / 4 Cores, Memory 8 GB
Running latest Emby as a native application (no Docker container), no other big/permanent apps running on the system

Size of DB file is around 2 GB, database cache size in Emby is also 2 GB, analysis row limit is 400.

ok wow.

So if possible, I would increase the cache size to a minimum of 2x the actual db size - as you need 'overhead' for the indexes and searches.

My db is 550MB and my db cache is 4GB. (my choice, I could probably get away with much less, but I have 64Gb available to Emby)

Granted with 'only' 8GB this is going to be tight - but with a 2GB DB and 2M items - personally I think you are asking a lot from your low powered NAS hardware - even if you could search by library to reduce to 'only' 1M records ..

Does increasing the cache help ?   Does your CPU max out while the query is running or is it I/O bound ?

[TobyTentakel 24]

Already had cache size at 4GB, no change.

CPU does not max out however.

To me it seemed more like an index was not properly utilized, but I haven't had time to investigate. But I remember I had similar problems with a large database when running an (admittedly rather old) Emby version on a powerful Windows server.

But it is only the search that is slow, browsing/accessing files is reasonably fast (unless done via Embycon, then the slowness increases drastically the more items a user has watched in the past, as reported in another post, hinting at another DB/index issue).

For now I do not access new music files via Emby, I just leave them on my NAS and access them directly, that is easier, until I find a proper solution.

[rbjtech 4950]

13 minutes ago, TobyTentakel said:

Already had cache size at 4GB, no change.

CPU does not max out however.

To me it seemed more like an index was not properly utilized, but I haven't had time to investigate. But I remember I had similar problems with a large database when running an (admittedly rather old) Emby version on a powerful Windows server.

But it is only the search that is slow, browsing/accessing files is reasonably fast (unless done via Embycon, then the slowness increases drastically the more items a user has watched in the past, as reported in another post, hinting at another DB/index issue).

For now I do not access new music files via Emby, I just leave them on my NAS and access them directly, that is easier, until I find a proper solution.

Thanks for the info.  Hopefully a Dev will follow up and possibly investigate where the bottleneck is as if the cpu is not at max, then it sounds to me like it doesn't have the index in memory - thus it needs to build it on 'slow' I/O .. but without the details, difficult to say and could well be a badly optimised or non-existent index that is the issue here. 

[Teredactle 26]

Filtering by library is helpful.

I have a library "Colouring Pages" where I have coloring pages/masks in JPG format - I want to use a key work like "sun" and then I want to see only the results from that coloring photos library when I click on PHOTOS.

But instead, I also have returned all the hits with "sun" in the photo name, from all my family photos.

Would be nice to only filter for the photos from the Colouring Pages library.

 

[softworkz 4534]

The Emby WMC UI supports searching per-library and per item-type.

It also doesn't block while entering search terms. It properly cancels the previous request and issues a new one when the search term is changed.

 

[rbjtech 4950]

7 hours ago, softworkz said:

It also doesn't block while entering search terms. It properly cancels the previous request and issues a new one when the search term is changed.

 

Thanks @softworkz- the above is key I think, as the search begins very quickly on other clients.   using a keyboard - probably not a big issue, but if you are navigating to find letters using a remote - then you probably shouldn't even 'start' the search until a reasonable pause and it's also great idea to cancel the current search if a new letter is added - I'm not sure if the current search does this as it returns very quickly for me anyway.

Edited April 24 by rbjtech

[CummingCowGirl 23]

@rbjtech you seem to miss the main point all together so once again one should be able to simply search within the particular library and not have to filter out what they don't want if they prefer not to. When one does a search in settings ONLY items in settings should come up and nothing else. Let's take it from a accessibility point of view shall we? I maintain both my roommates machine and mine. I'll give for me searching in one library and filtering is easy, but my roommates hands shake and a lot of times he can type in what he wants and hit enter, but trying to mouse to the filters can be a huge challenge. 

[ebr 15610]

I think the bottom line is that library and media type are not the same thing.  The folks with multiple libraries of the same media type are the ones that would appreciate this the most.