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Keyboard shortcuts for keywording??

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Dano59

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Dec 16, 2015
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We're using LR cc on a mac platform at work. We regularly catalog 1,000+ "snapshots" for projects. Our workflow seems to work well except for keywording... which is often neglected because it tends to be very time consuming. We really only use 6 primary keywords but relevant images are scattered throughout the deck (so selecting a block of images to code really doesn't work). So here's my question: since we are only using 6 keywords, could they be assigned to hotkeys so that coding could be done with a single keystroke? Our staff do well with star and flag ratings using keystrokes, so if we could get this to work, I think it would help. Any thoughts???
 
Have you tried using the paint can tool? You can assign multiple keywords to the paint can, then just scroll through the grid and single-click on an image to apply all the assigned keywords.
 
The Keyword Sets feature might help. Once you have defined a set, you can then use Alt/Option plus a number to apply a keyword.
 
The Keyword Sets feature might help. Once you have defined a set, you can then use Alt/Option plus a number to apply a keyword.

This sounds like what I'm looking for. I already use keyword sets, but I'm not familiar with the Alt/Option/number idea. Can you give me a better idea how this works (especially how to assign a "number" to a set or word)? Thanks!
 
Have you tried using the paint can tool? You can assign multiple keywords to the paint can, then just scroll through the grid and single-click on an image to apply all the assigned keywords.

Thanks Jim. I've tried this already without much success. I think the problem is that moving from keyboard to mouse is cumbersome when reviewing the number of photos in our decks. I know it's technically not much effort, but if I can't get our folks to do it, logic doesn't really matter. That's why I'm really searching for a keyboard centric approach. I definitely appreciate the thought!
 
When you have a set open, press the Option key and watch your Keyword Set panel. You'll see numbers appear next to each keyword in the set. If you press a number with the Option key down, you apply the keyword next to the number in the grid.

The layout of the nine numbers is always fixed in the keyword set grid, so the only way to customize the shortcuts is to put keywords in different positions using Edit Set.

But the nice thing about the grid is that the numbers are arranged exactly like a numeric keypad. If you're using a keyboard with a numeric keypad, over time this lets muscle memory help you tap the number key that applies a keyword in the grid.

If I need to enter multiple keywords that are on the displayed grid, I press the Option key and for example press 7462. That would apply the keywords in the 7, 4, 6, and 2 positions on the grid in less than two seconds.
 
The other important detail is Alt/Option 0 - this moves to the next keyword set. Naming keyword sets can help, so you cycle through them in a logical order.

Don't overlook metadata presets, which are great for topics that you repeatedly photograph. I have some which write a whole range of fields and the keywords too, and others which purely add a bunch of keywords.

I also use my Search Replace plugin to copy the IPTC location fields to keywords, and it can handle other scenarios such as parsing file paths into keywords.

John
 
When you have a set open, press the Option key and watch your Keyword Set panel. You'll see numbers appear next to each keyword in the set. If you press a number with the Option key down, you apply the keyword next to the number in the grid.

The layout of the nine numbers is always fixed in the keyword set grid, so the only way to customize the shortcuts is to put keywords in different positions using Edit Set.

But the nice thing about the grid is that the numbers are arranged exactly like a numeric keypad. If you're using a keyboard with a numeric keypad, over time this lets muscle memory help you tap the number key that applies a keyword in the grid.

If I need to enter multiple keywords that are on the displayed grid, I press the Option key and for example press 7462. That would apply the keywords in the 7, 4, 6, and 2 positions on the grid in less than two seconds.

BRILLIANT! This is exactly what I was looking for. I knew it had to be in there somewhere. Thank you Conrad!!!
 
You're welcome. Although to be fair, johnbeardy brought up Keyword Sets first. And from his later post I just learned about Alt/Option+0 to switch the keyword sets...I didn't know about that one, thank you John!
 
The other important detail is Alt/Option 0 - this moves to the next keyword set. Naming keyword sets can help, so you cycle through them in a logical order.

Don't overlook metadata presets, which are great for topics that you repeatedly photograph. I have some which write a whole range of fields and the keywords too, and others which purely add a bunch of keywords.

I also use my Search Replace plugin to copy the IPTC location fields to keywords, and it can handle other scenarios such as parsing file paths into keywords.

John

Thanks John. These are some really good ideas. I need to put some of these into practice before I forget.
 
The other important detail is Alt/Option 0 - this moves to the next keyword set. Naming keyword sets can help, so you cycle through them in a logical order.

Don't overlook metadata presets, which are great for topics that you repeatedly photograph. I have some which write a whole range of fields and the keywords too, and others which purely add a bunch of keywords.

I also use my Search Replace plugin to copy the IPTC location fields to keywords, and it can handle other scenarios such as parsing file paths into keywords.

John

And thanks John for coming up with the Keyword Set idea. You hit it right on the head! I really appreciate it!!
 
Option+0 just had to do something ;)
 
One other detail about my Search Replace plugin. Its Workflow Filters feature (which works without buying the plugin) includes a keyword count. So you can set up the Library Filter to highlight all the images which haven't had enough keywords added. It's very handy for monitoring your keywording.
 

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One other detail about my Search Replace plugin. Its Workflow Filters feature (which works without buying the plugin) includes a keyword count. So you can set up the Library Filter to highlight all the images which haven't had enough keywords added. It's very handy for monitoring your keywording.

Now that's pretty swift! I'm going to have to give that a try. Thanks again!
 
One other detail about my Search Replace plugin. Its Workflow Filters feature (which works without buying the plugin) includes a keyword count. So you can set up the Library Filter to highlight all the images which haven't had enough keywords added. It's very handy for monitoring your keywording.

I had bought your search replace plugin years ago. I still have LR5, so presumably the two match and it's still enabled. . Can you post a link to any instructions you have for it? I think your plugin might have some features I really need to start using but I can't even remember how to start!

EDIT: I think I found it? SearchReplaceTransfer
 
When you have a set open, press the Option key and watch your Keyword Set panel. You'll see numbers appear next to each keyword in the set. If you press a number with the Option key down, you apply the keyword next to the number in the grid.

The other important detail is Alt/Option 0 - this moves to the next keyword set.

Wow. I've been using Lightroom since v1 and didn't realize this. My thanks to you both.

Thanks,
Pat
 
When you have a set open, press the Option key and watch your Keyword Set panel. You'll see numbers appear next to each keyword in the set. If you press a number with the Option key down, you apply the keyword next to the number in the grid.

The layout of the nine numbers is always fixed in the keyword set grid, so the only way to customize the shortcuts is to put keywords in different positions using Edit Set.

But the nice thing about the grid is that the numbers are arranged exactly like a numeric keypad. If you're using a keyboard with a numeric keypad, over time this lets muscle memory help you tap the number key that applies a keyword in the grid.

If I need to enter multiple keywords that are on the displayed grid, I press the Option key and for example press 7462. That would apply the keywords in the 7, 4, 6, and 2 positions on the grid in less than two seconds.


Thinking out loud.... Is this the reason why keyword sets are limited to nine keywords ? so that they can be assigned using the keypad ?

I have said this before but what would be really useful (for me at anyway) would be the capability to open multiple keyword sets at once. When keywording I would have the whole right hand side panel full of keyword sets.
 
Because it's tied to the number of keys on a numberpad - the shortcuts for it use the 1-9 keys. You're not the first person to ask though.
 
Thinking out loud.... Is this the reason why keyword sets are limited to nine keywords ? so that they can be assigned using the keypad ?

I have said this before but what would be really useful (for me at anyway) would be the capability to open multiple keyword sets at once. When keywording I would have the whole right hand side panel full of keyword sets.

Absolutely. I spoke last night to someone who used to work at Adobe, and was asking about this. He said there was a lotta debate, but they eventually went with it for the reasons you cite.

I'm not sure about your idea though. Would it be like several 9 keyword groups, or random in size? If it's nonents, you can already cycle through them from the keyboard. I guess it could be handy if they were visible. Or if we could have something that looked more like the keyword list, but we could limit it to just certain keywords, but still in hierarchical form. Personally, I think for finding stuff a tag cloud would be nice. But actually these wouldn't really improve on John Ellis' Any Tag. If you want fast keyboard entry, it's hard to beat. And if you forget you have certain keywords, it works much better than sets, because it's always searching your existing list on the fly. So if I'm typing "se" it will pop up "sequoia" and I'll know I have that even if I thought I was entering it as a new keyword.
 
I do actually have a keywording plugin I wrote which displays up to 10 keyword sets. It does other clever stuff too, like predicting keywords and captions based on certain fields. So if the current photo has Rome or lion as the title, it lists all the captions you've previously used on pictures which have Rome or lion as the title - a big like the last 10 entries but smarter. It does work, and I find it handy with subjects I often shoot, but it's got the kind of bugs that make it kinder to keep it under wraps ;)

John
 
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