Find files with Smart Search

Smart Search finds files by document text, words visible in images and what a photo shows. In workspace settings and on the dashboard, it is called AI search. It works alongside file-name search.

Steps: turn on Smart Search

The workspace owner’s plan must include Smart Search. The settings page identifies it as a paid-plan feature and shows See plans when it is unavailable. You must be the workspace owner or have permission to change AI search.

1. Select the workspace and open Settings → AI search.
2. Choose whether to enable Also index existing files. Leave it enabled to include files already in the workspace. Turn it off to start with new files added after AI search is enabled.
3. Under Exclude folders, select Add folder for any folders you want left out. Their subfolders are also excluded.
4. Turn on Search inside files and photos. Changes save as you make them.
5. Select See indexing status on the dashboard to check progress.

If the page says AI search is not available for this workspace, the workspace cannot currently use it. Vault workspaces are excluded.

Wait for indexing

Indexing makes eligible file contents searchable. The dashboard’s AI search card shows Indexed, Waiting, and the workspace’s Images and Documents usage against its limits.

Supported files include PDF and DOCX documents, plus JPEG, PNG, WebP, HEIC and HEIF images. A supported extension does not guarantee that every file can be read. Documents larger than 25 MiB are not indexed, and long documents can be only partly indexed. Videos and audio are not searched by their contents through this feature.

You can search while indexing continues. A file that is still waiting may appear in file-name results before it appears in content results.

Search the contents

1. Open Search in the selected workspace.
2. Enter at least two characters. Try a phrase from a document, text on a receipt, or a description such as red bicycle.
3. Look under In file contents as well as the file-name results.
4. For document matches, use the text excerpt and page number when shown to identify the result.

If you see Content search is busy, retrying, allow the retry to finish. If the content section is absent, check that AI search is enabled, that files have been indexed, and that your search contains at least two characters. An absent section does not prove that the workspace has no matching files.

To find a person by a name you assigned to them, use Personas.

Privacy and exclusions

Smart Search processes eligible file contents on dosya’s servers. The search index stays in the workspace’s region. Search results respect your current file and folder access, hidden-file rules and password locks.

Use Exclude folders to keep content out of the index. Hiding a file from a viewer is not the same as choosing a folder exclusion. Vault contents are not indexed.

Turning off Search inside files and photos disables content search and removes the workspace’s search index. The files remain in the workspace. Turning it on again requires indexing again.

Limits by plan

Free includes file-name search but does not include Smart Search. Starter, Plus, Pro and Business include Smart Search with the following base allowances. The 4 TB, 6 TB, 8 TB, 10 TB and 20 TB sizes have the same Smart Search allowances as Business.

Photo and document limits apply to each workspace. The document text figures are approximate capacities in English words; actual capacity depends on the text.

Plan	Photos	Documents	Document text
Free	Not included	Not included	Not included
Starter	10,000	2,000	About 6 million words
Plus	50,000	10,000	About 15 million words
Pro	150,000	20,000	About 30 million words
Business and larger sizes	250,000	25,000	About 45 million words
Card trial	200	100	About 600,000 words

Processing allowances belong to the account that pays and are shared across its workspaces. The initial allowance is for existing files; the monthly allowance supports ongoing indexing.

Plan	Initial processing units	Processing units each month
Free	Not included	Not included
Starter	45,000	6,000
Plus	150,000	20,000
Pro	375,000	50,000
Business and larger sizes	600,000	80,000
Card trial	2,200	No monthly allowance

A card trial uses the trial limits regardless of the paid plan selected. One image uses one processing unit. Document processing depends on the amount of text, so one document can use multiple units.

These are the base plan allowances. Purchased Smart Search add-ons can increase them: a photo unit adds room for 10,000 photos, and a document unit adds room for 2,000 documents. They also increase processing allowances. Check the current Dashboard and Billing figures for the limits that apply to your account, including add-ons or catalog changes.

Check usage and resolve pauses

The dashboard shows the workspace’s image and document limits. Billing → AI processing shows Backfill remaining, This month, and Resets with a date when a monthly allowance applies. Processing allowances are shared across the account’s owned workspaces. A Family pool badge means the family shares the allowance.

For Paused: limit reached, compare the dashboard limits with the Billing allowance. A monthly allowance can renew on the displayed date; a full index requires available capacity or a plan change. Review your plan options before changing the subscription.

Paused by dosya indicates a service pause. Upgrading the plan does not resolve that pause.

Expected result

Eligible files move from Waiting to Indexed. Matching indexed files can appear under In file contents, subject to your access and the workspace’s exclusions.

Related guides

• Searching for files in the correct workspace
• Choose a plan for your storage needs
• Find and name people with Personas