We are pleased to announce the release of HoudahGeo 7.1, a focused update that delivers one of the most requested features: visualization of viewing direction on the built-in map.
This release also:
improves map behavior with an off-screen target indicator
adds location coordinates copy & paste support from Apple Photos
introduces a French localization
and significantly reduces memory usage for photo previews.
HoudahGeo 7.1 – viewing direction visualized on built-in map
Todd Oltoff over at ScreenCastsOnline just published a full walkthrough of HoudahGeo 7, and it’s one of the more thorough tutorials we’ve seen of the app.
ScreenCastsOnline has been around for over 17 years and has built a solid reputation as a go-to resource for Apple software tutorials.
Their video goes through the entire HoudahGeo workflow from start to finish — loading photos from a camera or SD card, syncing a GPX track log to place images on a map, reverse geocoding coordinates into actual place names, and writing everything back to your files (or XMP sidecars, if you prefer).
You know that file is somewhere on your Mac. You’re pretty sure about the name. Maybe. Or at least part of it. Spotlight shows you a bunch of results that definitely aren’t it.
This happens to me more than I’d like to admit, which is why we keep working on HoudahSpot. Version 6.7 is out now.
What’s new in 6.7
Polish localization. Big thanks to Lukasz Preihs for translating the entire interface. If you work in Polish, HoudahSpot now speaks your language.
The Text Preview got faster. When you’re searching through documents or code, Text Preview shows you where your search terms appear, highlighted in context. I use this constantly—it saves you from opening a dozen files just to find the right one. In 6.7, we optimized how it loads and renders, especially for larger files. You’ll notice the difference if you search through a lot of text documents.
macOS 26 Tahoe compatibility. If you’re running the latest version of macOS, HoudahSpot just works. We still support back to macOS Mojave.
When you don’t quite remember where your files are—or what exactly they were called—your best strategy is often to begin broad and narrow as you go. HoudahSpot excels at this workflow. It gives you powerful tools to incrementally refine a search based on what you see in the results.
This post walks through a highly effective technique: start with a flood of matches, then prune and shape your search using what you learn from those results. Along the way, we’ll use drag-and-drop shortcuts, location pruning, and Find by Example to quickly zero in on the files you want.
Start Broad: Let the Results Flow In
Begin by typing a few words into the main search field. These might be:
Terms you expect in file names
Words likely to appear in text content
Keywords that “should” narrow things down—but maybe not enough
Hit Return and watch the results roll in. HoudahSpot will typically return thousands of matches. That’s fine—we want this. The next steps are all about sculpting this mass of information into something manageable.
As the results come in, use:
Metadata columns to sort and surface patterns
Quick Look preview to confirm visual relevance
Text preview to check keyword context
You’re not trying to find the right file yet. You’re scanning for clues.
If you manage a large collection of documents—research notes, reference material, project files—you already know that search matters just as much as storage. DEVONthink 4 is excellent at organizing and connecting
information, while HoudahSpotoffers one of the most flexible search interfaces on macOS. Used together, they turn searching into something both faster and more precise.
What Each Tool Does Best
DEVONthink 4 is built for serious document management and knowledge work. It helps you:
Organize large document collections with intelligent filing
Create meaningful links between related items
Store PDFs, web archives, emails, bookmarks, and more
Surface relevant content using AI-assisted features
Build a long-term personal knowledge base
HoudahSpot takes macOS Spotlight and makes it far more powerful. It gives you:
A visual, criteria-based query builder
The ability to combine many file attributes in a single search
Reusable search templates for recurring tasks
Flexible rules for searching across locations and file types
A focused interface that avoids Finder’s clutter
The Gap: Searching Across Everything
DEVONthink’s built-in search is strong, but there are times when you want more control. For example, you might want to:
If you’ve ever searched for a file on your Mac using Finder (or even the Spotlight window) but come up empty — or you got tens of thousands of hits and still couldn’t find what you meant — you need a better approach. That’s where Find by Example in HoudahSpot comes in: you tell HoudahSpot “show me files like this one,” and it instantly narrows the search to mirror the example file’s properties.
HoudahGeo geocodes and geotags your photos and videos, embedding location information directly into the EXIF or XMP metadata—just like a GPS-enabled camera. If you’ve recorded a GPS track using a dedicated device or a smartphone app, HoudahGeo can precisely match your photos to locations along your route.
This makes it easy to see where each photo was taken and even export a Google Earth (KML) file to view your images placed along the recorded track.
But what if you didn’t record a GPS track?
These days, most of us rely on smartphones for photography. Fortunately, most modern phones automatically geotag your photos with location data. Even without a separate GPS track log, this metadata allows HoudahGeo to reconstruct a visual path of your journey.
Turn Geotagged Photos Into a Track Log
HoudahGeo can generate a track log from geotagged photos, linking them in the order they were taken. This creates a path that approximates your travels and places each photo at its location—perfect for viewing in Google Earth or mapping your trip retrospectively.
We’re thrilled to announce the launch of HoudahGeo 7.0 — the biggest update ever to our flagship geotagging solution for Mac.
Since its debut in 2007, HoudahGeo has helped photographers and travelers document their journeys by adding precise GPS location data to their photos. With version 7.0, HoudahGeo steps into a new era: it’s now also your go-to tool for video geotagging.
Whether you’re a photographer, filmmaker, or digital storyteller, HoudahGeo 7.0 gives you powerful tools to build a location-aware media library that goes beyond still images.
🎥 Geotag Videos Alongside Photos
This is the #1 feature request we’ve received — and it’s finally here: video geotagging.
You can now tag your travel videos with GPS coordinates just as easily as photos. Whether you’re working with drone footage, action cams, or smartphone videos, HoudahGeo 7.0 helps you enrich your entire collection with meaningful location data.
Photos Workbench seamlessly integrates with Apple Photos to help you organize, name, and compare your photos.
The Importance of Star Ratings
Star ratings are a powerful tool for organizing and culling your photos and videos. They help you identify your best images and categorize them by quality or relevance.
With Photos Workbench, you can assign star ratings to your photos and videos, ranging from 1 to 5 stars. While the interpretation of each rating is personal, here’s a suggested guide:
No star – Unrated. Still needs reviewing
★ (1 Star) – Rejected. Marked for deletion
★★ (2 Stars) – Keep without adjustments. May have emotional value
★★★ (3 stars) – Okay. Worth investing time into adjustments
★★★★ (4 stars) – Good. Worth sharing
★★★★★ (5 Stars) – Fantastic. Worth printing
For tips on developing a workflow for star ratings, check out our previous blog post.
How to Assign Star Ratings
No matter how you choose to interpret star ratings or structure your workflow, Photos Workbench offers several efficient ways to assign ratings to your photos and videos.
Excited for the latest macOS 15 Sequoia? Before you dive into the upgrade, check if your software is fully supported!
This year’s macOS upgrade paves the way for Apple Intelligence. macOS Sequoia does not bring major design or technical changes likely to cause problems for existing applications.
It should nonetheless be wise to hold off upgrading for at least a couple of weeks and give Apple a chance to fix remaining bugs.
HoudahSpot
HoudahSpot: Powerful File Search for Mac
HoudahSpot 6.5.5 has been updated to work great on macOS 15 Sequoia.
Apple Mail on macOS has stopped supporting plug-in with the release of macOS 14 Sonoma. Thus HoudahSpot can no longer search Apple Mail messages.
HoudahGeo
HoudahGeo: Photo Geocoding and Geotagging for Mac
HoudahGeo 6.4.5 has been tested to work with macOS 15.
We are putting the finishing touches to HoudahGeo 7.0. Expect a beta to become available soon.
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