NGG Smart Image Search

by wpo-HR

Description

NGG Smart Image Search provides smart search and display functionalities for images in NextGEN galleries. It requires NextGEN Gallery to be installed and activated.

Version 4 is a highly recommended functional and security update. It is a complete revision introducing Gutenberg blocks, new display modes, improved documentation and many optimizations. Previous documentation pages remain valid unless updated.

More information and examples:
Homepage for Plugin NGG Smart Image Search

Searches can be performed across title, description, filename and tags. Two search modes are available: basic (OR) and extended (AND).

Search results can be displayed in various layouts:

linked image lists with meta data
advanced thumbnail lists
advanced mosaic layouts
single image inspection
fancybox v6 lightbox with EXIF display
paging, sorting, limiting
native NextGEN / Pro / Plus galleries

Search input can be provided via:

Gutenberg block
URL parameter
legacy shortcode
legacy widget

Extended documentation:
https://r-fotos.de/wordpress-plugins/nextgen-galleries-smart-image-search/new-functionalities-v4/

Installation

Upload ngg-smart-image-search to /wp-content/plugins/.
Activate the plugin.
Replace legacy shortcodes and widgets with Gutenberg blocks.
Update or replace the standard search page.

Update to NGG Smart Image Search 4 versions

Please read the documentation:
https://r-fotos.de/wordpress-plugins/nextgen-galleries-smart-image-search/install-upgrade-to-v4/

Screenshots

editor liveview of Advanced Mosaic Display (javascript based)
editor liveview of Advanced Thumbnails Display (grid layout)
editor liveview of fancybox image viewer with exif data display
editor liveview of Linked Images Display
editor liveview of single Image Inspection Display
NGG Smart Image Search Setting Page
Searchbox Configuration Panels
legacy searchbox widget
legacy shortcode default parameter settings for logged-in users
legacy shortcode default parameter settings for public users

Faq

How does the search work?

There are four ways to perform a search:

Dynamic Gutenberg search block.
URL parameter sngg.
Static searchstring in the display block.
Legacy widget or shortcode.

Extended documentation:
https://r-fotos.de/wordpress-plugins/nextgen-galleries-smart-image-search/new-functionalities-v4/the-search-process/

How can a search be customized?

You can customize:

searchable fields
included/excluded galleries and albums
sort order
result limits
separate settings for public vs. logged-in users

All parameters can be configured via Gutenberg block or widget.

How can the result list be customized?

Display options:

display="li"
display="at"
display="am"
display="si"
display="bt"
display="pt"
display="ma"
display="mo"

Additional parameters: sort order, paging, limits.

Extended documentation:
https://r-fotos.de/wordpress-plugins/nextgen-galleries-smart-image-search/new-functionalities-v4/image-display/

What search strings can be entered?

Basic mode: whitespace-separated terms (OR).
Extended mode: &, &-, &t, &t- separated terms (AND).

Special extended search options:

g:{gallery_id}
a:{album_id}
r:{number}
l:{number}
i:{picture_id}
u:{user_id}

A search string can have escape characters at the beginning to switch between basic and extended mode, and escape options at the end to switch display modes.

Extended documentation:
https://r-fotos.de/wordpress-plugins/nextgen-galleries-smart-image-search/new-functionalities-v4/image-display/

Reviews

A great plugin, now updated for block themes

By simongarrett on February 26, 2024

Really great plugin, I've been using it for several years. The new v3.2.0 now works with block themes. We use it for a photo archive (around 2,000 images) where search is invaluable.

Amazing plugin for NGG

By Cristian (mastix) on October 20, 2022

For me the search function of images is the most important feature of NGG but the official search results are quite limited compared of what this plugin offers. If you need search your image tags and use and, or and exclude keywords from a seearch this plugin is a life saver.

Powerful complement to NGG

By aaronlkh on April 29, 2022

It's actually an understatement to say that this plug-in is a powerful complement to NGG. It's what makes NGG more than just a gallery plug-in and in fact indispensable to NGG users, at least to me anyway. Thanks for creating this plug-in!

Great plugin

By zebra812 on February 11, 2021

Best search engine for NGG

Great!

By Dan Bollinger on September 29, 2020

What NGG has been needing all along!

Great Tool

By ernstwg on March 25, 2020

every day you can find new search options. The magic of a well thought and developed tool. Thanks so much.

Super Plugin

By eckiku on January 10, 2019

Habe lange gesucht. Ideales plugin für die Bildersuche.

Works well and helpful support.

By richardcostin on October 9, 2017

Adds what should be built in functionality to the NGG gallery plugin in a simple and effective way. Worked well and support was quick and resolved my one small issue (which was slight user error).

Great plugin

By cristian0k on February 28, 2017

I love the fact that the results display with NGG templates. The plug in is easy to set-up and customizable. Did I mention a helpful developer? Highly recommended. Big thank you.

Excellent NGG search-engine plugin

By tkneissl on March 6, 2017

The search-engine itself is absolutely great. The plugin is feature-rich and you have a lot of options that you can customize. In my opinion a must-have if you have more than a couple of images in your NextGEN Galleries. I still can't believe that there is no native search-engine included in NGG. Nevertheless, this search-plugin perfectly closes the gap. By the way, the new multi-keyword-search feature is exactly what I needed! So, thanks again for this excellent plugin - you are helping a lot of us NGG users. I really searched for a long time and nothing was really suitable...until I stumbled on NGG smart image search. Great job!

Changelog

4.0.1

Fatal error fix (2026-08-17)

FIX: Fatal error fix, if hosting provider does not support shell_exec function for perl exiftool execution

4.0.0

Major functional and security update (2026-08-08)

NEW: Gutenberg blocks to define searches and display result lists
NEW: Liveview support for WordPress 6.3+ and 7
NEW: Advanced Mosaic display with fancybox viewer
NEW: Image inspection display
NEW: security checks supported by anthrophic opus 5
Updated: Fancybox updated to 6.1.14
Updated: Fancybox code loaded dynamically only when needed
Updated: Exiftool updated to 13.57
Updated: More customization for Advanced Thumbnails
Updated: Many minor optimizations

3.4.3

Security update (2025-06-17)

Fixed: SQL injection vulnerability in hidden browser parameter
Fixed: HTML formatting issues for paged search results

3.4.1

Enhancement + security (2025-05-04)

NEW: Exiftool integration for EXIF display
NEW: Extended display types lix and atx
Updated: Default display changed to linked-images
Fixed: Security issue with unsanitized shortcode parameter

3.3.3

Error fix (2025-02-03)

Fixed: Thumbnail and filename addresses incorrect with redirection

3.3.2

Enhancement + security (2025-02-02)

NEW: URL parameter ?sngg=
NEW: Search variable a:{album-id}
NEW: Search variable u:{user-id}
Updated: Fancybox 5.0 included locally
Fixed: Security issue with unsanitized shortcode parameter

3.2.1

Error fix (2024-02-27)

Fixed: Widget parameters not passed correctly

3.2.0

Maintenance update (2024-02-24)

Enhanced: Advanced thumbnail and linked image display
Enhanced: Wrapper for shortcode searchbox
Fixed: Modernizr.Canvas removed
Fixed: Searchbox crash with wptexturize
Fixed: NextGEN thumbnail name changes
Fixed: Minor PHP warnings
Remarks: Searchbox styling depends heavily on theme CSS

3.1

Maintenance update (2019-04-17)

Fixed: Javascript compatibility issues
Fixed: Minor issues
Remarks: Searchbox styling depends heavily on theme CSS

3.0

Major release (2018-12-11)

NEW: Paging for search results
NEW: Basic search mode
NEW: Support for all NextGEN native galleries
NEW: Support for NextGEN e-commerce
NEW: New sort options
NEW: Target parameter for shortcode
Enhanced: Thumbnail and searchbox customization
Enhanced: Settings page
Fixed: Landing page duplication issues