Smart Album from "Categories" in Photos

There is no rule for categories in the smart albums, but I noticed, that I can enter the name of a category in a Text rule, and it will give nearly the same result as searching for the category. It will include additional photos that match the text query.

For example - searching for pictures with elephants (Elefant in German)

We use keywords for that. As you point out, you can do a search for "cat" and get bunches of cat-like pictures. You can add the keyword "cat" to all those images. But you may want to eliminate the random dog or stuffed animal that sneaks in, so you don't keyword those.

Cat is one of the keywords I use. In addition, for cats that we've owned (or vice-versa) I include their names as keywords. Also, for them and the various dogs, I have a keyword of "Ourpets," so I can do a smart album of '''Cats" but not "Ourpets" if I want.

Keywords will transfer with metadata when you export pictures (if you choose), but "categories" is just for Photos.

I saved a link to this discussion as a new user tip, so we can find the solution again: How to search for Categories with Smart Albums… - Apple Community

Sorry, the link is wrong - use this instead: How to search for Categories with Smart Albums - Apple Community

You're welcome 😊

The text rule seems to find any text in photos, that Photos is storing in the library, Live Text, categories, places, etc. But it is a good start.

Yes, the object recognition needs a lot of processing and is done in the background, when you are not working with Photos. It may take a long time until all objects have been classified.