Pitara User Guide

Complete guide to using Pitara for fast, private photo search on Windows. Learn setup, search techniques, tagging, export, and advanced features.

1. Getting Started

Installation

  1. Download Pitara from the download page
  2. Choose between Setup (installer) or Portable (no installation)
  3. Run the installer or extract the portable version
  4. Launch Pitara

💡 Tip: First-time users should start with the Setup version for automatic Windows integration. Choose Portable if you want to run Pitara from a USB drive or don't have admin rights.

First Launch: Adding Your Photos

On first launch, Pitara needs to know where your photos are stored:

  1. Click Settings in the menu bar
  2. In the Settings dialog, click Add Folder
  3. Browse to your photo folders (e.g., Pictures, Desktop, external drives)
  4. Click OK to start indexing
Settings Dialog Add Photo Folder

What happens during indexing? Pitara scans your photos and reads embedded metadata (location, date, camera info) without modifying the files. The index is stored locally on your computer.

💡 Performance Tip: Store the index on your fastest drive (usually your internal SSD). You can index photos from external or network drives, but keep the index location on your local drive for best performance.

2. Basic Search

Natural Language Search

Pitara understands natural language queries. Simply type what you're looking for:

Hawaii 2020 Photos from Hawaii taken in 2020
Christmas morning Photos taken on Christmas mornings
weekend from 5 years Weekend photos from the last 5 years
New York September Photos from New York in September

Search by Location

Search photos by city, state, country, or custom location names. Pitara uses GPS metadata embedded in your photos.

  • Seattle - All Seattle photos
  • Washington state - Photos from Washington
  • California beach - Beach photos in California

📍 Location Catalogs: View all available locations in your photo collection by opening Location Catalogs from the menu. This helps you see exact place names Pitara recognized.

Search by Time & Date

Powerful time-based search with natural expressions:

  • from 3 years - Last 3 years
  • Saturday 7PM - Saturdays at 7 PM
  • May 31st 2015 - Specific date
  • weekend nights - Weekend evening photos
  • morning from 10 years - Morning photos from last decade

🕐 Time Catalogs: Open Time Catalogs to see all time ranges available in your collection (years, months, days, hours).

Search by Elevation

Find photos based on altitude (useful for mountain/travel photos):

  • 5kfeet - Photos at ~5,000 feet elevation
  • 10kfeetplus - 10,000 feet or higher
  • 25kfeetplus - Airplane photos (cruising altitude)
  • 8kfeet Washington - High elevation in Washington

⛰️ Elevation Catalogs: Check Elevation Catalogs to see elevation ranges in your collection.

3. Advanced Search

Combining Search Terms

Mix location, time, and elevation for precise results:

Seattle weekend from 5 years Seattle weekend photos, last 5 years
Hawaii sunset 2019 Hawaii sunset photos from 2019
5kfeetplus morning Colorado High-altitude morning photos in Colorado

Search by Custom Tags

Add your own keywords to photos, then search by those tags (see Tagging section below).

  • birthday - All photos tagged "birthday"
  • family reunion - Photos tagged "family reunion"
  • wedding Hawaii - Wedding photos from Hawaii

Text Search

Search filenames and folder names:

  • IMG_2024 - Files containing "IMG_2024"
  • vacation2023 - Files/folders with that text

4. Tagging Photos

Adding Tags

  1. Search for photos you want to tag
  2. Select one or multiple photos (hold Ctrl for multiple)
  3. Use the edit box in the right-side widget
  4. Enter as many tags as you want (space-separated)
  5. Press Enter to save tags

💡 Bulk Tagging: Select hundreds of photos at once to tag them all simultaneously. Perfect for organizing vacation albums or events.

How Tags are Stored

Tags are written directly into photo file headers using industry-standard IPTC/EXIF protocols. This means:

  • ✅ Tags travel with your photos if you move them
  • ✅ Other photo software can read Pitara tags
  • ✅ Tags are preserved even if you reinstall Pitara
  • ✅ No proprietary database lock-in

⚠️ Note: Tags modify photo file headers, not the image itself. Quality and authenticity remain unchanged.

Viewing and Managing Tags

  • Open Tag Catalogs to see all tags in your collection
  • Click any tag to instantly see all photos with that tag
  • To remove tags, select one or more photos, enter the tag in the right-side widget, and remove it

5. Exporting Photos

Export Methods

After searching, export photos for sharing, printing, or backup:

Method 1: Selected Photos

  1. Select one or more photos from search results
  2. Press Ctrl + C OR right-click → Export Selected
  3. Photos are copied to your export folder

Method 2: Quick Export (No Selection)

  • Right-click anywhere → Export Top 50
  • Right-click anywhere → Export Top 100
Export Photos

Changing Export Location

  1. Go to Settings
  2. Find Export Folder setting
  3. Click Change and select new location

💡 Workflow Tip: Set your export folder to Dropbox, OneDrive, or Google Drive for instant cloud backup of selected photos.

6. Managing Photos

Deleting Photos

  1. Select photos to delete
  2. Press Del OR right-click → Delete Selected
  3. Photos move to Windows Recycle Bin (recoverable)
Delete Photos

⚠️ Important: Deleting in Pitara permanently moves files to Recycle Bin. Empty your Recycle Bin to free up space.

Opening Photos in External Editor

  • Double-click a photo to open in Windows default viewer
  • Right-click → Open With for other applications
  • Right-click → Show in Folder to locate original file

Excluding Folders from Search

Hide certain folders from search results (e.g., screenshots, thumbnails):

  1. Go to Settings
  2. Click Exclude Folders tab
  3. Click Add and select folders to exclude
  4. Click OK - excluded folders won't appear in searches
Exclude Folders

7. External & Network Drives

Indexing External Drives

Pitara works with USB drives, external HDDs, and any connected storage:

  1. Connect your external drive
  2. Go to Settings → Add Folder
  3. Browse to the external drive and select photo folders
  4. Pitara will index those photos

💡 Best Practice: Keep the index on your internal drive, even when indexing external photos. Go to Settings → Index Location to verify.

Network Drive Setup

Index photos stored on NAS, network shares, or mapped drives:

  1. Map your network drive in Windows first
  2. If network drives don't appear in Pitara's folder picker, enable linked connections:
    • Run regedit
    • Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
    • Create DWORD EnableLinkedConnections = 1
    • Restart computer
  3. Add network folders via Settings

⚠️ Performance Note: Network indexing is slower than local drives. Expect longer initial scan times, but search remains fast after indexing completes.

8. Using Catalogs

Catalogs let you browse available search terms instead of guessing:

Location Catalogs

View all cities, states, and countries in your photo collection. Click any location to see photos from that place.

Time Catalogs

Time Catalog is a chronological catalog separated by years and months when photos were taken.

Elevation Catalogs

See altitude ranges in your collection. Great for hikers and travelers.

Your Tag Catalog

View all custom tags you've added. Click to see photos with that tag.

💡 Discovery Tip: Browse catalogs when you're not sure what to search for. They reveal patterns in your photo collection you might not have noticed.

9. Troubleshooting

Photos Not Appearing in Search

  • ✓ Check if the folder is added in Settings
  • ✓ Check if the folder is excluded (Settings → Exclude Folders)
  • ✓ Wait for indexing to complete (status shown in bottom bar)
  • ✓ Some photos lack GPS metadata - search by date/time instead

Slow Performance

  • Move index to internal SSD (Settings → Index Location)
  • Reduce indexed folders (only include essential photo locations)
  • Exclude unnecessary folders (Settings → Exclude Folders)

Resetting the Index

If the index becomes corrupted (rare), reset it:

  1. Close Pitara completely
  2. Press Win + R
  3. Type %localappdata%\Pitara and press Enter
  4. Delete the Index folder
  5. Restart Pitara - it will rebuild the index

⚠️ Note: Deleting the index only removes Pitara's internal database. Your photos and tags remain untouched.

Viewing Logs

For troubleshooting or support requests:

  1. Click Help menu
  2. Select Logs
  3. Log file opens in your text editor

Enabling Debug Logs

For detailed diagnostics (if requested by support):

  1. Open the Option menu
  2. Launch Pitara Options
  3. Enable the Debug Log checkbox
  4. Save the settings

10. Tips & Best Practices

Organizing Strategy

  • 📁 Don't reorganize folders - Pitara works with your existing structure
  • 📍 Trust GPS metadata - Modern phones embed accurate location data
  • 🔍 Use natural language - Pitara understands "last Christmas" better than complex syntax

Search Pro Tips

  • Start broad, then narrow: Hawaii → Hawaii sunset → Hawaii sunset 2019
  • Combine tags with metadata: birthday weekend from 10 years
  • Use elevation for mountain trips: Colorado 8kfeetplus
  • Find date night photos: Saturday 7PM restaurant (if you tagged restaurants)

11. Additional Resources

💬 Need More Help? Can't find what you're looking for? Check the FAQ or contact us - we're here to help!

Ready to try Pitara?

Download the latest stable build for Windows.