When more than one category has been selected for viewing there are two possible strategies for deciding which image thumbnails should be displayed. These two strategies are represented by AND and OR. Note: if no categories are selected only images that have no categories will be displayed. This is normally an error - all images should have at least one or more categories associated with them for ImageDB to be able to select and display them properly. Although newly imported images are likely to at least initially have no  categories associated with them.

AND Categories
If AND Categories is selected only those images that have all the selected categories will be displayed. The symbol on the button shows the intersection of two circles. Each circle represents one category and any image that is associated with that category is placed inside. In the case only the intersection of the two circles is shaded, this area only contains image that have both of these two categories. This is the AND relationship - only images that have a AND b AND c AND d... This is usually the most useful association and is always the default when the program is first run. Note: if say 'b' and 'c' are selected with crosses rather than ticks the relationship would now be a AND NOT b AND NOT c AND d. See the Category Tree for more on category selection.

OR Categories
If OR Categories is selected all those images that have any of the selected categories will be displayed. The symbol on the button shows the intersection of two circles. Each circle represents one category and any image that is associated with that category is placed inside. In the case of the OR association the whole area encompassed by both circles is shaded - all those images that have either of these two categories. This is the OR relationship - all images that have a OR b OR c OR d... Selecting multiple categories with this association will typically rapidly select too many images to be useful, the AND association is generally more useful and is always the default when the program is first run. Note: if say 'b' and 'c' are selected with crosses rather than ticks the relationship would now be a OR NOT b OR NOT c OR d. See the Category Tree for more on category selection.

Invert Category Selection
When set this option will invert the current category selection. Note: it will not invert the other search criterion such as date range, keyword and folders. For example if you currently have Peru AND Trekking selected then normally all images that are associated with both Peru and Trekking will be displayed. If Invert Category Selection is set then all images that are not associated with both Peru and Trekking will be displayed. At first glance this does not seem very useful as all the rest of your database will now be displayed. However it can be very useful for later maintenance. Suppose you think you might have left out the Peru category from some of your images of trekking in Peru. First you select Peru and Trekking, then select Invert Category Selection. Now the images you are interested in (with the missing category) will be displayed but so will all the other images in the database! Next Go to Categories - Edit Search Criterion and enter a range of dates that just covers your trip to Peru. Assuming you have no other images taken during the same time period you will now only see images from that trip that do not have both Peru and Trekking associated with them. It should now be a relatively easy task to track down any images that are missing the required category. Even if you have other images taken in that time period, it will probably not be too hard to identify the film(s) with the images missing categories and use the media name criterion in Categories - Edit Search Criterion in exactly the same way.

Clear All
Unselect all currently selected categories.

Tip: to see all the images in your database at once set Invert Category Selection with no categories selected and now every single image in the database will be selected (except any that have no categories associated but this should be very rare).

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