Enhanced Search

Overview

GoFigr's Enhanced Search capabilities make finding figures across your entire research library effortless. Whether you remember a figure by its content, want to find similar visualizations, or need to locate all figures from a specific project, GoFigr's multi-modal search has you covered. Search by text, search by image, or combine both for precise results.

Key Benefits for Users

Find Figures Instantly

  • Text Search: Search by figure names, descriptions, or any text content

  • Image Search: Upload a reference image to find visually similar figures

  • Cross-Workspace: Search across all workspaces you have access to

  • Real-Time Results: Results appear as you type

  • Visual Similarity: Find figures that look alike even if named differently

  • Semantic Understanding: Search understands meaning, not just exact matches

  • OCR-Indexed Content: Text within figures is searchable via OCR

Organized Results

  • Grouped by Source: Results organized by analysis and workspace

  • Relevance Ranked: Most relevant matches appear first

  • Figure Counts: See how many figures match in each analysis

Search Modes

Find figures by name, description, or content:

What's Indexed:

  • Figure names and titles

  • Figure descriptions

  • Analysis names

  • Workspace names

  • Story titles and slide content

  • Target audience descriptions

  • Text extracted from figures via OCR

Search Tips:

  • Use natural language: "survival curve by treatment"

  • Include project names: "phase 2 trial volcano plot"

  • Search for methods: "PCA dimensionality reduction"

Upload a reference image to find similar figures:

How It Works:

  1. Click "Image Search" or use the upload button

  2. Select or paste an image

  3. GoFigr extracts visual features using deep learning

  4. Finds figures with similar visual characteristics

  5. Results ranked by visual similarity

What's Compared:

  • Overall visual structure

  • Color distributions

  • Shape patterns

  • Plot types and layouts

Best For:

  • Finding figures you remember seeing but can't name

  • Locating all variations of a plot style

  • Identifying duplicates across projects

  • Finding inspiration from similar visualizations

Use both text and image together:

  1. Enter search text to narrow by topic

  2. Upload a reference image to match visually

  3. Results satisfy both criteria

Search Interface

  • Located in the top navigation

  • Type to begin searching

  • Press Enter or click search icon

  • Results appear in a dedicated view

Search Results Page

Result Cards Show:

  • Figure thumbnail

  • Figure name

  • Analysis/workspace context

  • Relevance score indicator

  • Quick actions (view, download)

Grouping Options:

  • By Analysis: See all matching figures per analysis

  • By Workspace: Group across projects

  • Flat List: All results ungrouped

Filtering Options:

  • Workspace filter: Limit to specific workspace

  • Date range: Find recent or historical figures

  • Figure type: Filter by image format

Story Search

Stories are fully searchable:

Indexed Content:

  • Story title

  • Slide content (all text)

  • Target audience description

  • Figure descriptions within stories

Find Stories By:

  • Topic: "survival analysis presentation"

  • Audience: "for clinical investigators"

  • Content: Any text from any slide

QR Code Detection

Image search includes QR code detection:

  1. Upload an image containing a GoFigr QR code

  2. QR code is detected and decoded

  3. UUID extracted identifies the exact figure revision

  4. Direct link to the original tracked figure

Perfect For:

  • Tracing figures back from printed materials

  • Verifying figure provenance

  • Linking external references to source data

How to Access

  1. Press / or click the search icon

  2. Start typing your query

  3. Press Enter to see full results

From Home View

  1. Use the search bar on the home page

  2. Enter text or click image search

  3. Results display inline or in full page

From Any Page

  1. Search bar is always available in navigation

  2. Search context follows your current workspace

  3. Results open in dedicated search view

Search Results

Result Information

Each result shows:

  • Thumbnail: Visual preview

  • Name: Figure or story title

  • Context: Analysis → Workspace breadcrumb

  • Score: Relevance indicator

  • Date: Last modified timestamp

Actions on Results

  • Click: Open the figure/story

  • Preview: Quick view without navigating

  • Compare: Select multiple to compare

  • Download: Save the figure directly

No Results?

If your search returns nothing:

  • Try broader terms

  • Check spelling

  • Use image search if you have a reference

  • Verify workspace permissions

Technical Details

Search Engine

GoFigr uses OpenSearch (Elasticsearch-compatible) for:

  • Full-text search with relevance ranking

  • Vector similarity search for images

  • Faceted filtering

  • Real-time indexing

Image Features

Visual search uses:

  • VGG19-based feature extraction

  • 4,096-dimensional feature vectors

  • Cosine similarity matching

  • Normalized for consistent scoring

Text Analysis

Text search includes:

  • Tokenization and stemming

  • Fuzzy matching for typos

  • Phrase matching for exact terms

  • Field boosting (names weighted higher)

OCR Integration

Text extraction from figures:

  • Tesseract OCR for text detection

  • Indexed alongside other metadata

  • Searchable even if figure lacks description

Indexing

Content is indexed automatically when:

  • Figures are created or updated

  • Stories are saved

  • Documents are imported

  • Metadata is edited

Performance

  • Sub-second search response times

  • Scales to millions of figures

  • Cached results for repeated queries

  • Background indexing doesn't affect UX

Best Practices

For Better Search Results

  1. Name Figures Descriptively: Better names = better search

  2. Add Descriptions: Rich descriptions improve discoverability

  3. Use Consistent Terminology: Standard terms help team searches

  4. Tag with Keywords: Include relevant keywords in descriptions

  1. Use Clear Reference Images: Higher quality = better matches

  2. Crop to the Figure: Remove surrounding content

  3. Match the Style: Similar plot types find better matches

  1. Consistent Naming Conventions: Team-wide standards help everyone

  2. Analysis Organization: Group related figures for contextual results

  3. Regular Cleanup: Remove or archive outdated figures

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