Sort Photos With Image Sorter
The freeware Image Sorter has been around for quite some time. I first reviewed the application back in 2007, and the changes and improvements since then justify a new review of the program.
Image Sorter received a full recommendation back in 2007, can it get the same recommendation in 2011 as well? Lets find out.
Image Sorter needs to be installed before it can be used. The program interface looks nearly identical to the one back in 2007; that's however not a problem considering that it worked well in 2007. One new feature is the ability to load images and photos not only from the computer's hard drive or a connected storage device, but also from Flickr or Yahoo.
This is done by entering a keyword, title or tag in the search form on the right side after selecting Yahoo or Flickr as the source. Image Sorter will then pull data from the selected online service to display the images in its interface.
If you select hard drive as the source you can use the Explorer module on the left to pick a root folder to display its photos directly in the interface. You need to enable the Subdirectories flag under Options if you want them to be included in the search. Multiple root folders can be selected by holding down Shift or Ctrl to do so.
Images are displayed and sorted based on the selected sorting options and filters. All photos are sorted by color by default; you can change the sort order name, size, date or similarity instead. The latter are only available for local images, and not for images that are found at Flickr or Yahoo.
Controls are available to zoom in and out, to display the sorted images in fullscreen mode or to change the background color of the display. Fullscreen reduces the width of the left and right column to give more room for the column displaying the sorted photos. The program window itself retains its size.
File filters and visual filters are listed on the right side. These need to be configured before a folder is selected on the computer's hard drive.
File Filters:
- Filename - Only display images that contain the characters entered into this form.
- Filetype - Only include photos of a specific type, for instance png, jpg or tif
- File Size - Sort by file size, low, medium and large file filters are available.
- Colors - Filter by colored or black and white photos.
- Orientation - Filter landscape or portraits.
Visual Filters:
- Example Images - Pick images by dragging and dropping them from the image area to the example images module. Image Sorter will only display images that look similar to the selected images.
- Sketch - You can draw in this module to only include images that include a similar pattern.
- Color - Pick up to four colors that should be included in the images.
Images can be selected with the left mouse button. A thumbnail preview is displayed in the interface along with information like the file name, size and dimensions.
A double-click opens the selected image in the default photo viewer. The mouse wheel offers to zoom in and out of the image preview area to take a closer look at multiple images at once.
Left-clicks on images select all of them which is handy as it is possible to copy, move or delete selected images with a right-click and a selection of the desired action in the context menu.
The Options menu at the top contains several interesting preference. It is possible to increase or decrease the amount of images pulled from the Internet (default 150), configure previews on mouse over instead of mouse click or change the spacing between images in the image area.
So what can you use Image Sorter for?
- Find all photos showing a specific person, building or landmark.
- Find themed images, for instance based on color.
- Find photos and images that look similar to a sample image.
- Make pre-selections by loading all photos into the program and using the copy or move option.
Image Sorter offers many different possibilities. The processing speed depends mostly on the performance of the computer, the selected images and filters.
Are there any negative aspects? It would be great if the application would support additional image formats, RAW image formats for instance or Adobe Photoshop PSD files come to mind. It could use a few improvements usability wise as well, for instance by adding an option to apply filters directly to the already sorted images.
All in all however, it is one of the best programs of its kind. Image Sorter worked fine on a 64-bit Windows 7 Pro test system. It is compatible with most versions and editions of the Microsoft Windows operating system. Interested users can download the application from the developer website.
Update: The parent company turned the product into an Enterprise-focused service. It pulled downloads for the Windows and Mac version of the application.
We have uploaded the latest released version of the program to our own server. Please note that we have done so for archiving purposes only. We don't support the program in any form. Click on the following link to download the application to your system: (Download Removed)
There seems to be no links to this software hosted anywhere anymore, I guess the devs decided to make it part of a proprietary service?
It is true the company behind it no longer hosts the files. The software itself was developed at the HTW Berlin and is still available on their Visual Computing Group website:
https://visual-computing.com/project/imagesorter/
Turns out I was a bit harsh – 4.31 beta is still available at http://www.pixolution.de/Downloads/setupv4_en.zip .
Only problem now is there does not seem to be anything to DO with the results, the most obvious being a rename function with a numeric value to sort them by. Without such an option the sort is perhaps entertaining, but worthless.
So they finally put a price tag on it. Good for them, less so good for us.
This “freeware” app not only isn’t free, there’s not even a free trial. The demo runs in a browser, on their set of images.
I’m guessing the URL was jacked by someone hoping to cash in in the last year. That sort of practice shouldn’t be tolerated, they should be prosecuted along with domain squatters and malware/virus authoring vandals..
Is the old 2011 version available via another source?
I have interest in something like this because I am planning on starting a minilab printing pictures for people. Would this help me out by enabling me to have the program sort prints according to arrangement for my customers. I am new to this but the entrepreneurial spirit is strong and I’m always willing to learn from those who know more on topics of interest.
Have a look at http://www.picslikethat.com
This is an image search system seraching images on fotolia. It is using the same technology like ImageSorter.
• Enter one or more keywords and click search
• Double click an image to find Pics Like That
• Double click images until you find the image you are seeking
• To move and zoom images use your mouse (wheel)
This is an outstanding app. I thought the development froze. Good to see it’s still being worked on. It did have some minor stability and other issues but overall, unmatched. Hope the new version brings some fixes. Thanks for introducing it back then and reviewing now.
Cheers Martin,
Tobey
I find it incredible that it is still free.
It´s not free anymore :(
It is still available on an archive page, I have linked to it.
Indeed.