How to Search a Bookshelf With Shelf Scan Live Mode

Shelf Scan opens in Live Mode, so there is no library to build before you can look for a book. If the shelf is in front of you now, you can search it now.

Enter the word you expect to see

Type your query into the search field at the bottom of the screen and tap Search.

A full title works when you remember it. Often a shorter term is easier: the author's surname, one unusual word from the title, a series name, or another piece of text likely to be printed on the spine.

Live Mode is looking for visible text, not matching a catalog record. That is why a distinctive word can be enough.

Sweep the camera across the shelf

Point the camera toward the book spines and move along the shelf at a pace that lets the text come into focus.

When Shelf Scan recognizes text matching your query, the match is highlighted in the camera view. You do not need to stop and photograph each section first.

For a long bookcase, scan it in manageable passes. Keeping the phone roughly square to the spines and moving steadily is usually more useful than trying to fit the whole case into one wide view.

Turn on the match tone when your eyes are busy scanning

Shelf Scan can also play a tone when it finds a match. The match-tone control sits above the search box.

That is handy when the shelf is dense: you can concentrate on moving the camera and let the sound tell you when to stop and inspect the screen.

If the book does not appear

A failed search does not necessarily mean the book is absent.

Try moving closer, slowing down, reducing glare, or searching a shorter distinctive word. Decorative type, tiny lettering, curved spines, shadows, and text hidden behind neighboring books can all make OCR harder.

Shelf Scan can search only text that the camera can actually see well enough to recognize.

Use Library Mode when the shelf will not be in front of you later

Live Mode is for immediate search. It does not require you to create a catalog or save the shelf first.

If you want to search the same shelves later from another room or while you are away from home, Library Mode is the better workflow: save shelf images once, then search across those saved images later.

For the bookcase in front of you, though, Live Mode is the shortest route: search term, camera sweep, highlighted match.