Memora Tutorial

How to Add Folders

Memora lets you import entire photo folders for AI-powered indexing and search. Once added, folders become "watched" - Memora monitors them for new, modified, or deleted files.

Adding a Folder

1. Click the + button in the sidebar action bar
2. Select Add Folder from the menu
3. Use the file picker to navigate to your photo folder
4. Click Select Folder to begin importing

Memora will scan the folder and all subfolders, extracting EXIF metadata and generating AI embeddings for semantic search.

Folder Features

• Progress indicator - Shows scanning status with file counts
• Hierarchical view - Browse subfolders with image counts
• Show All toggle - View all images recursively or just the current folder
• Auto-watch - Detects new/modified/deleted files automatically

Managing Folders

Right-click on any watched folder to access:

• Rescan - Manually trigger a folder re-scan
• Export - Export images from the folder
• Remove - Remove the folder from Memora (doesn't delete files)

How to Add Lightroom Catalogs

Connect your Adobe Lightroom Classic catalogs to search your entire library with AI while preserving all your existing metadata, ratings, and keywords.

Importing a Catalog

1. Click the + button in the sidebar
2. Select Add Lightroom Catalog
3. Navigate to your .lrcat file (usually in your Pictures folder)
4. Click Open to begin the import

What Gets Imported

Memora reads the following from your Lightroom catalog:

Catalog Navigation

Once imported, your catalog appears in the Lightroom Catalogs section of the sidebar. Click to expand and browse your folder structure just like in Lightroom.

How to Add Capture One Catalogs

Memora supports Capture One catalogs and sessions, bringing your professional workflow into AI-powered search.

Importing a Catalog

1. Click the + button in the sidebar
2. Select Add Capture One Catalog
3. Navigate to your Capture One catalog or session file
4. Click Open to begin importing

Capture One Features

• Catalog browser - Navigate your folder/collection structure
• Variants - View edited versions of your images
• Metadata sync - Imports adjustments and notes from the catalog
• Rescan - Re-read the catalog to pick up changes

Capture One catalogs appear in their own Capture One Catalogs section, separate from Lightroom catalogs.

How to Search with AI

Memora's AI search lets you find photos using natural language. Instead of remembering file names or dates, just describe what you're looking for.

Using AI Search

1. Click the search box at the top of the window
2. Type a natural language description of what you want to find
3. Press Enter to search

Example Searches

• "sunset over mountains"
• "person wearing red hat"
• "cat sleeping on sofa"
• "beach with palm trees"
• "city skyline at night"
• "birthday party with cake"

Understanding Results

AI search results show a match score on each thumbnail (e.g., 0.30, 0.45). This indicates how closely the image matches your description. Higher scores mean better matches.

• 0.90 - 1.00 - Excellent match
• 0.70 - 0.89 - Good match
• 0.50 - 0.69 - Partial match
• Below 0.50 - Weak match

Search Settings

In Settings (General tab), you can adjust:

• Search Accuracy - Minimum score threshold for results (default: 0.28). Higher = fewer, more precise matches. Lower = more matches.
• Folder Watch - Interval for checking folder changes (default: 30s)

Find Similar Images

One of Memora's most powerful features is the ability to find visually similar images. This uses the same AI technology as semantic search, but starts from an existing photo instead of text.

How to Use It

1. Right-click on any photo in the grid
2. Select Find Similar Images from the context menu
3. Memora will search your entire library for visually similar photos

What It Finds

The AI looks for images with similar:

• Visual content - Same subjects, objects, or scenes
• Composition - Similar framing and layout
• Colors and mood - Similar color palettes and atmosphere
• Style - Similar photographic style

Use Cases

• Find duplicates - Locate near-duplicate images across your library
• Group similar shots - Find all photos from a specific scene or subject
• Discover patterns - See how often you photograph similar subjects
• Curate collections - Build themed collections based on visual similarity

AI Keywords

Memora's AI automatically analyzes your photos and generates descriptive keywords for each image. These keywords help you find photos and understand what the AI "sees" in your images.

How It Works

When you import photos, Memora runs AI captioning in the background. The AI identifies objects, scenes, activities, and concepts in each image and assigns keywords with confidence scores.

Understanding Confidence Scores

Each keyword shows a confidence percentage indicating how certain the AI is about that detection:

• wedding ceremony (30%) - The AI is 30% confident this image contains a wedding ceremony
• wedding dress (28%) - 28% confident it detected a wedding dress
• groom (27%) - 27% confident it identified a groom

Lower percentages don't mean the detection is wrong - they indicate relative confidence. Multiple related keywords (like "wedding ceremony", "bride", "groom") together strongly suggest the image content.

Viewing AI Keywords

To see AI Keywords for any photo:

1. Select a photo in the grid
2. Look at the File Info panel on the right
3. Expand the AI Keywords section

Keywords are shown with their confidence scores, sorted from highest to lowest confidence.

Using Keywords for Search

You can search for any detected keyword. As you type in the search box, Memora shows autocomplete suggestions based on keywords found in your library.

How to Search EXIF and Objects

Beyond AI semantic search, Memora can search your photos by camera settings, metadata, and AI-detected objects.

EXIF Metadata Search

Search by any of these camera settings:

Object/Keyword Search

Memora automatically detects objects in your photos using AI. Search for detected objects like:

• People: "person", "portrait", "group"
• Animals: "dog", "cat", "bird"
• Objects: "car", "bicycle", "building"
• Nature: "tree", "flower", "water", "sky"
• Scenes: "sunset", "beach", "forest", "mountain"

Autocomplete

As you type (after 2 characters), Memora shows autocomplete suggestions based on detected objects and keywords in your library. Click a suggestion to search for it.

How to Use Filters

Filters let you quickly narrow down your photo library by specific criteria. Multiple filters can be combined.

Available Filters

Using Rating Filter

• Select the number of stars you want to filter by
• Choose Exact to show only photos with that exact rating
• Choose At Least to show photos with that rating or higher

Camera & Lens Filters

These filters show searchable dropdowns populated with all cameras and lenses found in your current view. Start typing to filter the list, then click to select.

Filter Scope

Choose where filters apply:

• All Sources - Filter across all folders and catalogs
• Current Source - Filter only the active folder or catalog

Reset Filters

Click the Reset Filters button to clear all active filters at once.

What are Smart Albums

Smart Albums are AI-generated groupings that automatically organize your photos by what's in them. Unlike manual albums, Smart Albums update automatically as new photos are indexed.

How They Work

Memora's AI analyzes every photo and assigns it to one or more categories based on its content. These categories become Smart Albums that you can browse.

Album Categories

Smart Albums are organized hierarchically:

• People - Portraits, Groups, Faces
• Animals - Dogs, Cats, Birds, Wildlife
• Objects - Cars, Bicycles, Buildings, Food
• Scenes - Landscapes, Beaches, Forests, Mountains, Urban
• Activities - Sports, Travel, Events
• Nature - Flowers, Trees, Water, Sky, Sunsets

Using Smart Albums

1. Find the Smart Albums section in the sidebar
2. Click an album chip to view all photos in that category
3. Each chip shows the photo count (e.g., "Portraits 23")

Multi-Select

You can select multiple Smart Albums to view photos from all selected categories combined. Check multiple chips to create a union of results.

Map View

Memora can display your geotagged photos on an interactive map, letting you explore your photo library by location.

Requirements

For photos to appear on the map, they need GPS coordinates. These can come from:

• Camera GPS - Some cameras have built-in GPS
• Phone photos - Most smartphones embed GPS in photos
• Lightroom - GPS data added via Lightroom's Map module
• GPS trackers - Coordinates synced from external GPS devices

Map Settings

Configure the map in Settings (Map tab):

• Map provider - Choose your preferred map tile source
• Clustering - Group nearby photos into clusters at lower zoom levels
• Default view - Set your preferred starting location and zoom level

Using the Map

• Click a marker to see photos from that location
• Zoom in to see individual photo locations
• Zoom out to see clusters showing photo counts
• Pan to explore different regions

What is the File Info Panel

The File Info panel (right side) shows comprehensive metadata for the selected photo, including camera settings, location data, and AI-generated information.

Panel Sections

Preview

A 512px preview image with proper color profile applied. For RAW files, this shows the processed preview.

File Identification

• File name - The image filename
• Path - Full file path on disk
• Source - Whether it's from a Folder, Lightroom, or Capture One

Photography Metadata

• Capture Time - When the photo was taken
• Camera - Make and model (e.g., Canon EOS R5)
• Lens - Lens model
• Settings - ISO, aperture (f/1.8), shutter (1/1000s), focal length
• Rating - Star rating if set

Image Characteristics

• Dimensions - Width x Height in pixels
• Orientation - Normal, Rotated 90° CW/CCW, etc.

Location Data

• GPS Coordinates - Latitude and longitude
• Altitude - Elevation in meters (if available)

AI-Generated Information

• Keywords - User-added and imported keywords
• AI Summary - Auto-generated image description
• Detected Objects - What the AI found in the image

Collapsible Sections

Click section headers to expand or collapse them. Your preferences are saved between sessions.

Slider Usage for Photo Editing

Memora includes non-destructive editing sliders for RAW files. These adjustments are applied in real-time as you adjust the sliders.

Exposure & Tone Controls

White Balance & Color

Color Calibration

Fine-tune individual color channels with HSL (Hue, Saturation, Luminance) adjustments:

• Primary colors: Red, Green, Blue
• Secondary colors: Yellow, Orange, Magenta, Purple

Slider Tips

• Text input - Click the value to type an exact number
• Reset - Double-click a slider to reset it to default
• Live preview - Changes apply instantly as you drag