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Search is Broken/Useless, Never Finds Anything, Duplicates for Same File, Failed Geotags. (Large Library) #5343

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opened 2026-02-05 11:22:04 +03:00 by OVERLORD · 5 comments
OVERLORD commented 2026-02-05 11:22:04 +03:00
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Originally created by @MikNolhan on GitHub (Feb 9, 2025).

The bug

I am not sure what is going on here, search has never been good, but is it awful and entirely useless now. I search for something as simple as "dog" and I am presented with 30 or so photos of thousands. I search for "cinnamon roll" and i get photos of a dog, and not of any of the cinnamon roll photos I have taken, even those from just a few days prior. I search for "cat" and get even less when there are several hundred. Why is this so terrible? I search photos of "Ventura County", and I get photos of downtown Los Angeles skyline. Can I replace the search with something a bit better here? Immich is one of the best photo products I have seen, but the search is terrible. I am near the point of running an instance of PhotoPrism just for search. Immich seems to get worse or more outdated every update. I am glad the rest is better and better every update, and that this is FOSS. It really is amazing, but search is critical with a huge library, and trying to find photos is near impossible without a search feature.

Then there is the issue of duplicate items that are the exact same file

Does anyone else have such awful experience with search?

The OS that Immich Server is running on

Debian

Version of Immich Server

v1.125.7

Version of Immich Mobile App

v1.125.7

Platform with the issue

  • Server
  • Web
  • Mobile

Your docker-compose.yml content

NA

Your .env content

NA

Reproduction steps

Perform said searches. See screenshots.
"Dog"
Image

"Tiger"
Image

"Cinnamon Roll"
Image

"Walrus" (Notice the other 'Dog' Photos)
Image

"Japan" (Comes up with Photos that Are in Chinese and have Geotags to Thailand, as well as Los Angeles.
Image

Three of the Below Items Are Pointing To The Same File
Image

"China"
Image

"Hawaii"
Image

All of these should have several hundred photos (except Walrus or Tiger).

Relevant log output

NA

Additional information

If you need any info let me know, but not sure what else here, the screenshots are pretty obvious of the issue. Thumbnails have been generated, all the maintenance tasks have been run. Not sure what is happening. If anyone has any other software than can better search in the meantime while this is resolved please let me know. I have no plans to leave immich, but I need to be able to search, and as you can see, that is not at all possible.

Originally created by @MikNolhan on GitHub (Feb 9, 2025). ### The bug I am not sure what is going on here, search has never been good, but is it awful and entirely useless now. I search for something as simple as "dog" and I am presented with 30 or so photos of thousands. I search for "cinnamon roll" and i get photos of a dog, and not of any of the cinnamon roll photos I have taken, even those from just a few days prior. I search for "cat" and get even less when there are several hundred. Why is this so terrible? I search photos of "Ventura County", and I get photos of downtown Los Angeles skyline. Can I replace the search with something a bit better here? Immich is one of the best photo products I have seen, but the search is terrible. I am near the point of running an instance of PhotoPrism just for search. Immich seems to get worse or more outdated every update. I am glad the rest is better and better every update, and that this is FOSS. It really is amazing, but search is critical with a huge library, and trying to find photos is near impossible without a search feature. Then there is the issue of duplicate items that are the exact same file Does anyone else have such awful experience with search? ### The OS that Immich Server is running on Debian ### Version of Immich Server v1.125.7 ### Version of Immich Mobile App v1.125.7 ### Platform with the issue - [x] Server - [x] Web - [x] Mobile ### Your docker-compose.yml content ```YAML NA ``` ### Your .env content ```Shell NA ``` ### Reproduction steps Perform said searches. See screenshots. **"Dog"** ![Image](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/a0aab308-fa10-43c6-bb4b-d68ac276dfe7) **"Tiger"** ![Image](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f9e38cfd-e5f4-4ee1-8894-ae5e8a21c37d) **"Cinnamon Roll"** ![Image](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/3399eade-e617-45ef-a02e-851b54a10dc5) **"Walrus" (Notice the other 'Dog' Photos)** ![Image](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/89bdf04a-f1dd-4394-a225-6ad2db03cf58) **"Japan" (Comes up with Photos that Are in Chinese and have Geotags to Thailand, as well as Los Angeles**. ![Image](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/9a4b1894-62ea-4373-96bd-b3f1deff3c7a) **Three of the Below Items Are Pointing To The Same File** ![Image](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/9e2dd78b-c5cf-4aea-a36f-3852d39fb52b) **"China"** ![Image](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/c8cb0f95-7987-409a-8aa9-e8ee52afc2d9) **"Hawaii"** ![Image](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/370d23af-2595-49ca-ae4e-22a8f9aebee9) All of these should have several hundred photos (except Walrus or Tiger). ### Relevant log output ```shell NA ``` ### Additional information If you need any info let me know, but not sure what else here, the screenshots are pretty obvious of the issue. Thumbnails have been generated, all the maintenance tasks have been run. Not sure what is happening. If anyone has any other software than can better search in the meantime while this is resolved please let me know. I have no plans to leave immich, but I need to be able to search, and as you can see, that is not at all possible.
OVERLORD commented 2026-02-05 11:22:07 +03:00
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@bo0tzz commented on GitHub (Feb 9, 2025):

The search method you're using is the semantic search. That uses a CLIP ML model to order the results by relevance to your query, as determined by the model. For example, if you enter Japan, it doesn't do any filtering by GPS coordinates, it just raises up anything that looks like Japan to the ML model. The CLIP search always returns all the assets, just ordered by relevance to your query. If you don't have any relevant assets, that means you'll get unexpected results.

The quality of search results can be improved a bit by using a larger model, see https://immich.app/docs/features/searching#configuration. If you want to do a search with "hard" constraints, you can set those via the button on the right hand side of the search bar.

@bo0tzz commented on GitHub (Feb 9, 2025): The search method you're using is the semantic search. That uses a CLIP ML model to order the results by relevance to your query, as determined by the model. For example, if you enter `Japan`, it doesn't do any filtering by GPS coordinates, it just raises up anything that _looks like_ Japan to the ML model. The CLIP search always returns all the assets, just ordered by relevance to your query. If you don't have any relevant assets, that means you'll get unexpected results. The quality of search results can be improved a bit by using a larger model, see https://immich.app/docs/features/searching#configuration. If you want to do a search with "hard" constraints, you can set those via the button on the right hand side of the search bar.
OVERLORD commented 2026-02-05 11:22:08 +03:00
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@MikNolhan commented on GitHub (Feb 11, 2025):

Thanks! There are so many resources on this site that have not made it to the general page, or even if they are just easily missed. I'll try these models out.

I imagine I need to run smart search on everything again
That's fine

@MikNolhan commented on GitHub (Feb 11, 2025): Thanks! There are so many resources on this site that have not made it to the general page, or even if they are just easily missed. I'll try these models out. I imagine I need to run smart search on everything again That's fine
OVERLORD commented 2026-02-05 11:22:09 +03:00
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@MikNolhan commented on GitHub (Mar 15, 2025):

Do you know why even regardless of the results there are many references to the same file that are displayed multiple times?

@MikNolhan commented on GitHub (Mar 15, 2025): Do you know why even regardless of the results there are many references to the same file that are displayed multiple times?
OVERLORD commented 2026-02-05 11:22:09 +03:00
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@bo0tzz commented on GitHub (Mar 15, 2025):

I'm guessing you're using external libraries and made some mistake in the setup causing the mounts to be duplicated.

@bo0tzz commented on GitHub (Mar 15, 2025): I'm guessing you're using external libraries and made some mistake in the setup causing the mounts to be duplicated.
OVERLORD commented 2026-02-05 11:22:10 +03:00
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@MikNolhan commented on GitHub (Mar 15, 2025):

Actually not using an external library for this. Only 1 external library for a handful of images. Immich has excellent library management and customization as far as that goes. I believe that stopped happening though. Looking forward to one day hopefully having a timeline or sort on the search.

I did seem to get the duplicate issue cleared up though.

Mar 15, 2025 05:38:44 bo0tzz @.***>:

 [Image][bo0tzz][https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/11602424?s=20&v=4]*bo0tzz* left a comment (immich-app/immich#15973)[https://github.com/immich-app/immich/issues/15973#issuecomment-2726494083]

I'm guessing you're using external libraries and made some mistake in the setup causing the mounts to be duplicated.

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Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub[https://github.com/immich-app/immich/issues/15973#issuecomment-2726494083], or unsubscribe[https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AECFWIEPBLJRXG2GBLHS2T32UQNNJAVCNFSM6AAAAABWYV6RWOVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDOMRWGQ4TIMBYGM].
You are receiving this because you authored the thread.

@MikNolhan commented on GitHub (Mar 15, 2025): Actually not using an external library for this. Only 1 external library for a handful of images. Immich has excellent library management and customization as far as that goes. I believe that stopped happening though. Looking forward to one day hopefully having a timeline or sort on the search. I did seem to get the duplicate issue cleared up though. Mar 15, 2025 05:38:44 bo0tzz ***@***.***>: > > [Image][bo0tzz][https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/11602424?s=20&v=4]*bo0tzz* left a comment (immich-app/immich#15973)[https://github.com/immich-app/immich/issues/15973#issuecomment-2726494083] > > > I'm guessing you're using external libraries and made some mistake in the setup causing the mounts to be duplicated. > > — > Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub[https://github.com/immich-app/immich/issues/15973#issuecomment-2726494083], or unsubscribe[https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AECFWIEPBLJRXG2GBLHS2T32UQNNJAVCNFSM6AAAAABWYV6RWOVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDOMRWGQ4TIMBYGM]. > You are receiving this because you authored the thread. >
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Reference: immich-app/immich#5343
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