Zenfolio bib number search: setup guide

Zenfolio reads keyword tags when a visitor searches, so a race gallery becomes searchable by bib number the moment each photo carries its number as a keyword and there is a search field for a runner to type into. The second part is where most photographers get stuck, because Zenfolio is really two platforms with two different sets of settings, and neither shows a search box by default.

This guide covers both. Work out which one you are on first.

Which Zenfolio are you on?

If you sign in at app.zenfolio.com and your galleries are managed from a left-hand navigation with Galleries, Website and so on, you are on the newer platform, which Zenfolio sometimes calls NextZen. Bibbit lists it simply as "Zenfolio".

If your site is built with the older Customize Website editor, with Elements tabs and Open Events, you are on Classic Zenfolio. Bibbit lists it as "Classic Zenfolio".

What has to be on the photos

Whichever platform you use, the search reads keyword tags. On the newer Zenfolio the searched fields are file name, display name, photo title, caption, user comment and keyword tags. Keywords are the right one for bibs: put 1234 on the photo as a keyword tag, unchanged, and a runner typing 1234 finds it.

If you have a roster, the runner's name goes in as a keyword too, so the same box finds people by name. That has a consequence for the Exact Match setting below.

Zenfolio (newer platform): search inside the gallery

This is the closest thing either host has to a purpose-built event search. It puts a search bar inside the gallery and limits results to that gallery, so bib 100 returns this race's runner 100 only.

1. Open Galleries in the left-hand navigation and select the event gallery.
2. Go to Settings, then the Content tab.
3. Scroll to Search Tools and switch keyword search on.
4. Add search instructions so nobody guesses: Search by bib number, or Bib number or name if you synced a roster.

Do this for every event gallery, or build it into the preset new galleries inherit.

Zenfolio (newer platform): site-wide search

Site-wide search is a separate feature, and a gallery only appears in it if it has been made searchable:

1. Galleries, then your gallery, then Access & Permissions, then Make Your Gallery Searchable. Choose where it should be findable: the Zenfolio website, folder search, web crawlers.
2. Click the Website icon, select the header block at the top of the page, switch Sitewide Search on, and publish. That is the magnifying glass in your header.

One date to know: galleries and folders created before 22 December 2023 have searchability off by default. Older events need switching on one at a time.

On Advanced plans a folder can carry its own search bar: Galleries, then the folder, then Settings, then Features, then Display Search Bar. Tick Exact Match Search and use the placeholder text to say what to type.

Classic Zenfolio: show the search field

1. Hover Website and click Customize Website.
2. Select the header or footer, open the Elements tab, set the Search field to Show, and choose Collapsed or Expanded.
3. Click Apply, then publish before you leave the customizer.

Check Access Control on the gallery and on individual photos before debugging anything else. A gallery or photo excluded from search results will not come back for any keyword, however correctly it is tagged.

Classic Zenfolio: Open Events for multi-gallery races

If a race is spread across several galleries (start, three course positions, finish), an Open Event gives runners a single page where their bib number pulls their photos from all of them. It requires every image to carry the keyword, which is exactly what a keyword sync produces.

Exact Match, bibs and names

Exact Match Search is right for bib numbers: without it, 100 also returns 1001, 2100 and anyone else whose number contains the digits. Turn it on where the option exists.

The trade-off is names. With Exact Match on, a runner searching Jon Smith for a roster entry of Jonathan Smith gets nothing. If you sync names, say in the placeholder that the name has to match the roster, or steer runners to the bib number, which they always know exactly.

Test it signed out

Sign out, or open a private window, and search a bib you know has been synced. If nothing comes back, check in this order: Access Control on the gallery and photo, whether the gallery is marked searchable (newer platform), whether the sync finished for that gallery, and finally the keyword itself on the photo page.

Getting the keywords onto the photos

The search settings are a one-off. The keywords are per photo, and by hand that means opening each one, reading the bib and typing it in, for thousands of frames.

Bibbit connects to your Zenfolio account (either platform), scans every photo in the gallery for bib plates and faces, matches the numbers against a roster CSV if you have one, and groups photos of the same runner so the frames with a hidden bib get tagged along with the rest. You review the results and approve, fix or reject each one. A sync then writes the approved keywords to the gallery: the bib number, the runner's name when there is a roster, and a bibtool:bibbit marker so a later sync recognises its own tags. Your existing keywords are untouched, re-running never duplicates anything, and the photos are never stored; they are read, processed and discarded.

The per-host steps above are kept up to date on the gallery search page, with links to Zenfolio's own help articles for each platform.

Make your next race searchable

Connect your Zenfolio account, scan one gallery, and see the bib numbers come back before you have finished culling. Get started free, or read how it works first.