--- title: Settings: Search and AI | Relic Help description: The Search and AI pane: the smart tags switch and its status line, image text, search by meaning, descriptions, speed, the models, and ranking. canonical: https://relic.space/help/settings-search-and-ai source: https://relic.space/llms.txt --- Settings reference # Settings: Search and AI The Search and AI pane: the smart tags switch and its status line, image text, search by meaning, descriptions, speed, the models, and ranking. Updated 10 September 2026 · Windows, Mac, Linux Search and AI is where you decide how much work Relic does on your items after it saves them. All of it runs on your computer. Nothing on this pane sends anything anywhere. Every row below is drawn the way the app draws it, with its default. The Settings window with the Search and AI pane open: the On-device smart tags row with a status line under it, then Image text (OCR), Smart content tags and Semantic search, each with a switch. The Settings window with the Search and AI pane open. ## [On-device smart tags](#smart-tags) On-device smart tags Classifies saved (Vault) items locally: categories, content tags, and searchable OCR text from images. Nothing leaves your device. Settings › Search and AI › On-device smart tags: toggle, default on. This is the master switch. Turn it off and every row under it disappears and no analysis happens at all. Search still works on the words in your items. Under the row is a short status line in small type, and it is the thing to read when you are wondering why an item has no tags yet. Off The switch is off. Nothing is being analysed. Downloading models (\~750 MB, one-time)… First run. It happens once, in the background, and you can keep using Relic. Basic tags now · loading ML models… Simple tags are already being written while the models finish loading. Ready: semantic search off (embeddings disabled) Everything works except search by meaning, because you turned that row off. Ready: full local ML All of it is on and running. Engine not found The part of Relic that does this work is missing from the install. Reinstall from the download page. When there is a queue, a second line appears under the status, for example _tagging 1,204 items…_. That is normal after you turn something on or save a lot of items at once. It works through them in the background. ## [What each part does](#what-each-part-does) These three rows only appear while the master switch is on. All three start on. Smart tags Image text (OCR) Pull searchable text out of images and screenshots. Settings › Search and AI › Smart tags › Image text (OCR): toggle, default on. Smart content tags Tag what an image shows (people, animal, product…). The primary category is kept either way. Settings › Search and AI › Smart tags › Smart content tags: toggle, default on. Semantic search Embed items so you can search by meaning, not just keywords. Off makes search lexical-only. Settings › Search and AI › Smart tags › Semantic search: toggle, default on. * **Image text (OCR)** reads the text in screenshots and photos so you can search them. This is the one that makes a screenshot of a receipt findable by typing the shop name. * **Smart content tags** tags what a picture shows, like a person, an animal or a product. With it off, an image still gets its main category. * **Semantic search**lets you search by meaning, so “the thing about the flight” can find a boarding pass that never uses the word flight. Off, search only matches the words that are actually there. ## [Describing items](#describing-items) Describe items Give saved items a short title and topic tags, so you can search what a photo shows or what a note is about. Applies to vault items and every photo. Off by default: it downloads \~666 MB and runs in the background at about a second per item. Settings › Search and AI › Smart tags › Describe items: toggle, default off. Describe history too Also describe clipboard items you never saved to the vault. Most copies are throwaway and each costs about a second, so this is off unless you want everything covered. Settings › Search and AI › Smart tags › Describe history too: toggle, default off. **Describe items** writes a short title and a few topic tags for the things you keep, so a photo with no text in it is still findable and a note gets a name without you typing one. It is off to begin with because it downloads another set of models and takes about a second per item. Turn it on if your vault has a lot of photos. **Describe history too** only appears once the row above it is on. It widens the same work to clipboard items you never kept. Most copies are throwaway, so this stays off unless you really want everything covered. ## [Speed and the downloaded models](#speed-and-models) Analysis speed How much CPU the background passes may use. Gentle keeps an old or busy machine responsive; Fast finishes sooner but competes with what you are doing. Settings › Search and AI › Smart tags › Analysis speed: choice of Gentle, Balanced, Fast; default Balanced. Downloaded ML models Power smart tags and semantic search. Remove them to reclaim the space; they re-download if you turn smart tags back on. Settings › Search and AI › Downloaded ML models: button: Remove. **Analysis speed** is how much of your processor the background work may take. Gentle is for an old or busy machine and keeps everything else responsive. Fast gets through a backlog sooner and competes with whatever you are doing. Balanced sits between the two and is the default. **Downloaded ML models** shows how much disk the models take, with a **Remove** button to get it back. The row is hidden until something has actually been downloaded. You have to turn the master switch off first, and the row says so. Removing them does not lose your tags. If you turn smart tags back on later they download again. ## [Personalized ranking](#ranking) Personalized ranking Items you pick often, for a search or into an app, rank higher over time. Learned and stored on this device only. Settings › Search and AI › Personalized ranking: toggle, default on. Clear learned ranking Start fresh: forget which items ranking has learned to favor. Settings › Search and AI › Clear learned ranking: button: Clear learned ranking. On by default. Relic watches which rows you pick, both from a search and when you paste, and floats those higher next time. It is learned on this computer and stays there. It never syncs and it never leaves. The second row only appears while ranking is on. **Clear learned ranking** forgets all of it in one press and the link reads _Cleared_ for a moment. Use it if the order in the window has settled around items you no longer care about. Your items are untouched. The same switch on a phone The phone has ranking too, under Search in the settings sheet. There is no on-device analysis on a phone, so none of the other rows here have a phone twin. See [Settings on your phone](https://relic.space/help/settings-on-your-phone). Related [Settings: GeneralSettings reference](https://relic.space/help/settings-general)[Settings: CaptureSettings reference](https://relic.space/help/settings-capture)[Settings: Vault and storageSettings reference](https://relic.space/help/settings-vault-and-storage)[Settings: Sync and accountSettings reference](https://relic.space/help/settings-sync-and-account)