attachments

I feel like this has to have been done a lot, and there are great plugins out there for it, but if you’re just looking to add a quick function to your theme (or a really simple plugin) yourself, here’s how to modify WordPress’ search query to include attachments (like images).

function attachment_search( $query ) {
    if ( $query->is_search ) {
       $query->set( 'post_type', array( 'post', 'attachment' ) );
       $query->set( 'post_status', array( 'publish', 'inherit' ) );
    }
 
   return $query;
}

add_filter( 'pre_get_posts', 'attachment_search' );

This does 2 things: includes posts of type ‘attachment’ to the search query, and adds the post status of ‘inherit’. This will ensure that any images (or other attachments) that were added while adding a new post or page will be included in the results.

You can also extend the post type array to include your own Custom Post Types (eg array(  'post', 'attachment', 'products' ); )

These 2 posts were very helpful in getting this code together:

• How to include Custom Post Types in WordPress Search Results
• Search for Attachments