Recently, Google added a new Smart Search option to the Files app. It is intended to simplify the process of finding information in documents and images that might otherwise be challenging to locate with a simple file name search. Although Smart Search has been available for a while, its complete functionality is just now becoming clear to us.
Google Files uses local machine learning to achieve incredible results
To sum up, Google’s new Smart Search improves File search by utilizing local machine learning capabilities. The tool is referred to as a means of “getting better search results with automatic scanning of your on-device file content” in the app’s settings. Google provides considerably more information on the features of the feature in a recent Play Store changelog:
What’s new
We are testing advanced search capabilities to make finding files easy. If you have Smart Search in app Settings, try the new search using:
– Text from images and PDFs
– Location & objects from images
– Artist, album and title from audio & video
View images in Ultra HDR for phones supporting it
See files received with Nearby Share grouped in Recents, Downloads and other categories
Although Smart Search is still in its early stages of rollout, the Android Police had a chance to experiment with the function. Smart Search has the potential to revolutionize the way you organize files on your phone and make Files far more valuable than many desktop operating system file browsers.
Text recognition is generally quite dependable when it comes to PDFs and photos that have been stored on your phone for some time. Using keywords within the file name will help you locate crucial documents even in cases where it is completely meaningless and incoherent. This minimizes the amount of scrolling and touching required to locate older buried material and works for text-filled pictures and screenshots as well.
Object identification works just as well as text in images
You may also do an item search for photos. For instance, you can look up “cats” in the file system to see every picture that contains one of your furry pals. The Android Police’s testing indicates that this isn’t quite as effective as it is in Google Photos, where you can search for friends and family members by name if you’ve saved them there. Files’ technique appears to be the privacy trade-off you’ll have to make because it operates completely offline on your smartphone. As stated in the changelog, it is unable to locate photographs based on locations.
Smart Search has several limits. According to a help page, Files only does scans on occasion; Google states that it may take several days for the functionality to become fully functional when you first activate it. This also means that files that have recently been added or downloaded are not included in search results; rather, they only appear when you search for file names rather than contents. It appears that there is no manual way to initiate the scanning process.
With some inconvenient restrictions at the moment, it appears that Smart Search is still in its infancy. However, when it functions properly, it’s a far more comfortable method to go through downloaded material on your phone, allowing you to search for specific information instead of having to recall or rename files to make things easier.
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