Opensolr Search for WordPress 1.0.35: Search by Image, Result Lightbox, AI Toggle and Reuse an Existing Index

Version 1.0.35 of the Opensolr Search plugin for WordPress brings the whole new search-page experience to WordPress: search with a photo, zoom and preview result images, switch AI on or off per search, a Duration facet, full-value facet filtering, richer document results — and, during setup, the option to attach to an index you already have.

01 Search with a photo, not just words

A camera button now sits at the left of the search box. Choose a picture and the plugin sends it to the Opensolr image engine, which reads it three ways: what the picture shows (visual labels), any text printed on it (OCR), and any barcode or QR code on it. Whatever it finds becomes the query and runs as a normal search, so every facet and filter keeps working.

The box stays empty and shows a thumbnail of the photo you searched with; hovering grows it into a preview, and clicking opens the full-size picture with the exact words and codes it was read as. When text was read off the picture, a note says “Read from your image: …” and offers a one-click “search by picture meaning” alternative. A spinner replaces the camera icon while the picture is read.

02 Result images that zoom and open full size

Result thumbnails grow on hover and open full size in a lightbox with the page title linked underneath, so a visitor can look closely and then jump to the source. On phones the search box no longer overflows and the search UI now uses the full width of the screen.

03 An AI switch on the results page

A per-search AI toggle lets a visitor switch between hybrid vector search — keyword scoring blended with meaning — and pure keyword search, for a single search, without changing the index.

04 A Duration facet and a smarter facet filter

Any integer-seconds field, such as video length, can be exposed as a Duration facet: a min/max slider that reads as h:mm:ss. And the little Filter box above a long facet now searches the field's complete value list, not only the rows already on screen, sharing a single fetch with the “Show all” dialog.

05 Attach to an index you already have

Setup used to only create a new index. Now the Settings tab has a searchable “Use an existing index” picker: connect the plugin to any index your Opensolr account already owns — a shared catalog, a docs index, a staging copy — instead of starting from scratch.

06 Documents that are no longer bare

Document results (PDF, Office files and the like) now show their real metadata — page count, content type, detected language, author, and modification date — right under the title.