{"id":11408,"date":"2026-03-30T15:37:57","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T20:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infiniteuploads.com\/?post_type=docs&p=11408"},"modified":"2026-03-30T15:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T20:38:08","password":"","slug":"how-does-media-search-work-and-what-can-i-search-by","status":"publish","type":"docs","link":"https:\/\/infiniteuploads.com\/docs\/media-folders\/how-does-media-search-work-and-what-can-i-search-by\/","title":{"rendered":"How Does Media Search Work, and What Can I Search By?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Infinite Uploads expands the default WordPress media search so you can find files by more than just their title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Searchable Fields<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You can search across 6 different fields:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Title<\/strong>. The display name of the media item in WordPress.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Filename<\/strong>. The actual file name on disk (e.g., “company-logo-2024.png”).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Alt Text<\/strong>. The alternative text you’ve set on images for accessibility and SEO.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Description<\/strong>. The full description field on the media item.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Caption<\/strong>. The caption text associated with the file.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Folder Name<\/strong>. The name of the folder the file is assigned to.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    That last one is powerful. If you’ve named your folders well (“Client A”, “Blog Headers”, “Product Photos”), you can search by folder name to pull up everything in that category without clicking through the tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How Search Scoping Works<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Search respects whatever folder you currently have selected:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • Folder selected<\/strong>: Search only returns results from that specific folder.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • All Files selected<\/strong>: Search covers your entire media library.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Uncategorized selected<\/strong>: Search only covers files that aren’t assigned to any folder.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      This means you can narrow your results before you even type anything. Click the folder first, then search within it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Search Is a LIKE Query<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      The search uses partial matching. You don’t need to type the full filename or title. Typing “logo” will find “company-logo-2024.png”, “Logo Header”, and any file with “logo” anywhere in the searchable fields. It’s not case-sensitive.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Infinite Uploads expands the default WordPress media search so you can find files by more than just their title. Searchable Fields You can search across 6 different fields: That last one is powerful. If you’ve named your folders well (“Client A”, “Blog Headers”, “Product Photos”), you can search by folder name to pull up everything […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3787,"featured_media":11409,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_doc_category":0,"wds_primary_doc_tag":0,"footnotes":""},"doc_category":[163],"doc_tag":[],"class_list":["post-11408","docs","type-docs","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","doc_category-media-folders"],"acf":[],"year_month":"2026-04","word_count":229,"total_views":"86","reactions":{"happy":"0","normal":"0","sad":"0"},"author_info":{"name":"Blake Whittle","author_nicename":"blakew","author_url":"https:\/\/infiniteuploads.com\/blog\/author\/blakew\/"},"doc_category_info":[{"term_name":"Media Folders","term_url":"https:\/\/infiniteuploads.com\/docs-category\/media-folders\/"}],"doc_tag_info":[],"knowledge_base_info":[],"knowledge_base_slug":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/infiniteuploads.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/docs\/11408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/infiniteuploads.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/docs"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/infiniteuploads.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/docs"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infiniteuploads.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/3787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/infiniteuploads.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/docs\/11408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infiniteuploads.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/11409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/infiniteuploads.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"doc_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infiniteuploads.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/doc_category?post=11408"},{"taxonomy":"doc_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infiniteuploads.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/doc_tag?post=11408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}