Getting Started with Findora AI Visual Search
This guide walks you through installing Findora AI Visual Search, configuring it for your store, and verifying that visual search is live on your storefront. Most merchants complete setup in under 10 minutes.
On this page
- Requirements
- Install Findora
- Wait for catalog indexing
- Add the visual search block to your theme
- Verify the setup on your live store
- Optional configuration
Requirements
- A Shopify store on any plan that supports apps and Theme App Extensions.
- At least one published product with a product image.
- An Online Store sales channel with a theme that supports app blocks (most Shopify 2.0 themes and later).
Install Findora
- Go to the Findora listing on the Shopify App Store.
- Click Install.
- Review the requested permissions and click Install to approve.
- To open the app, from Shopify Admin, go to Apps section, choose Findora Ai Visual Search app
Note: Findora requests read access to your products, product listings, themes, and customer events. It does not modify your products or theme files.
Configure the app
Index your product catalog
- From your Shopify admin, open Findora.
- In the left sidebar, click Catalog index.
- Click Recrawl now.
- Watch the progress bar as images move through the queue.
Indexing speed depends on your catalog size. A store with a few hundred products typically completes in a few minutes. You will see counts for searchable, queued, processing, and failed images.
Note: After the initial index, Findora keeps your catalog in sync automatically. When you add, update, or delete a product in Shopify, the change is picked up and indexed within a few minutes — you do not need to recrawl manually each time.
Optional configuration
From Findora app dashboard, go to the Settings page:
Setting | Where to find it | What it does |
|---|---|---|
Products per search | Settings > General | Controls how many results appear (4, 8, 12, 16, or 24) |
Minimum similarity | Settings > General | Sets how closely a result must match the query image |
Hide unavailable products | Settings > General | Excludes out-of-stock products from results |
Save a thumbnail of each search photo | Settings > Privacy | Optionally keeps a small preview in Analytics for review |
Thumbnail retention | Settings > Privacy | How long thumbnails are kept (1 week or 1 month) before automatic deletion |
Language | Settings > User interface | Sets the admin UI language (English, French, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese) |
Note: After changing Hide unavailable products or collection/tag exclusions, click Recrawl now on the Catalog index page so the change takes effect for already-indexed products.
Run a test search
- From your Shopify admin, open Findora.
- In the left sidebar, click Test search.
- In the Reference image panel, click Add files or drag and drop an image into the upload area.
- The upload area accepts
.jpg,.png, and.webpfiles. - Click Run test search.
- Results appear in the Results panel on the right.
Analytics
The Analytics page shows how shoppers are using visual search on your store. Use it to track search volume, measure result quality, identify your most-discovered products, and review what shoppers are searching for.
Performance metrics
The Performance section shows five metrics for the selected date range:
Metric | What it measures |
|---|---|
Searches | Total number of visual searches started by shoppers |
Successful | Percentage of searches that returned at least one result |
Click-through | Percentage of successful searches where a shopper clicked a product |
Quick views | Number of times a shopper opened a product quick view from search results |
Add to cart | Number of add-to-cart events attributed to a visual search |
Use these metrics together to understand your search funnel. A high search count with a low successful rate may mean your similarity threshold is too high or your catalog needs more indexed images. A high successful rate with low click-through may mean the results are not relevant enough to what shoppers are looking for.
Top products
The Top products table lists the products that shoppers interact with most from visual search results. It shows:
Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
Product | The product title |
Clicks | Number of times shoppers clicked this product from results |
Quick views | Number of quick view opens for this product |
Added to cart | Number of attributed add-to-cart events |
When no product clicks or add-to-carts have been recorded in the selected period, the table shows "No product clicks or add-to-carts recorded in this period."
Tip: If certain products appear frequently in Top products, consider featuring them in your merchandising. These are the items your shoppers are actively looking for by image.
Recent searches
The Recent searches table shows individual search events with:
Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
Search | A thumbnail of the shopper's query image (if thumbnail retention is enabled) and the time of the search |
Result | Whether the search found matches or returned no matches |
Matches | The number of products returned |
Latency | How long the search took to process |
Note: Search photo thumbnails only appear if you have enabled Save a thumbnail of each search photo in Settings > Privacy. This setting is off by default. Thumbnails are automatically deleted after your configured retention period (1 week or 1 month).
If no searches have been recorded in the selected period, the table shows an empty state with a Run a test search button.
Add the visual search block to your theme
- From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Themes.
- Next to your current theme, click Customize.
- Open the template where you want the visual search widget to appear (for example, the default Home page or a Collection template).
- In the left sidebar, click Add section or Add block.
- Under Apps, select Findora: Visual Search.
- Position the block where you want it to appear on the page.
- Click Save.
Customize the visual search widget
Choose a display mode
The Display dropdown controls how the visual search widget appears on the page.
Option | What it does |
|---|---|
Full section | Embeds the full upload panel and results grid directly on the page as an inline section |
Icon and popover | Shows a small clickable icon that opens the search UI in a popover dialog |
Icon sticky | Shows a floating icon fixed to the edge of the screen that opens a dialog overlay |
Appearance
Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
Background color | Sets the background color of the widget panel. Default: #DCE9DF |
Text color | Sets the text color inside the widget. Default: #17211C |
Results | The Results setting controls how many products appear after a search. Select one of the preset values: |
Edit the content
The Content settings control the text displayed in the widget. All fields support translations if your store uses multiple languages.
Setting | What it does | Default value |
|---|---|---|
Eyebrow text | A short label shown above the title | Shop by image |
Title | The main heading of the widget | Find it in this store |
Description | A brief instruction shown below the title | Start with a photo. We'll find visually similar products from our catalog. |
Upload button | The label on the image upload button | Choose an image |
File requirements text | A hint shown below the upload area describing accepted formats | JPEG, PNG or WebP · up to 10 MB |
Test on your live storefront
- Open your online store in a browser
- Navigate to the page where you added the Findora block.
- Upload an image or use your device camera.
- Verify that results load, display product images, titles, and prices, and that clicking a result opens the correct product page.
Note: If your catalog exceeds your plan's image limit, existing searchable images keep working. Only the newest images beyond your limit stop being indexed, and they are marked on the Catalog index page. Upgrading picks them back up automatically the next time your catalog syncs.
Updated on: 19/10/2026
Thank you!