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A keyword bug?

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AlisonTB

Active Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2012
Messages
146
Location
Northern California
Lightroom Experience
Power User
Lightroom Version Number
Lightroom classic 10.11
Operating System
  1. macOS 10.14 Mojave
Hello all:

I've noticed for some time a strange keyword. "Exercise" shows up all over the place, even though it's not in my keyword list. Also, it sucks up other keywords and nests them under it. When I click on a image and see Alcatraz<exercise, there are no check marks next to anything but Alcatraz (or below) in my keyword list. If I search for "exercise" tons of irrelevant images show up, but again there are no check marks in the keyword list to tell me where this word is hiding out.
Anyone else have this issue with a keyword?

Alison
 
Very strange. what happens if you type "exercise" into the keyword list filter?
 
all sorts of images come up, but no check marks next to any "exercise' word I can find. this has been going on for many months, I just started to track it down seriously. Maybe the thing where new keywords get nested under an existing one? I can't remember where that button is though...
 
all sorts of images come up, but no check marks next to any "exercise' word I can find. this has been going on for many months, I just started to track it down seriously. Maybe the thing where new keywords get nested under an existing one? I can't remember where that button is though...
 
You misunderstood. I'm not asking about the "filter images tool above the grid, but rather the filter on the actual list of keywords. It's the line right below the "keyword list" panel header. typing something there limits the list of keywords shown in the keyword list to only those keywords that match what you type along with their parent keywords. I want to see how many occuranes of the "Exsercise" keyword exist in the keyword list and under what parents.
 
1 2021-02-18 10-28-02.jpg
 
You misunderstood. I'm not asking about the "filter images tool above the grid, but rather the filter on the actual list of keywords. It's the line right below the "keyword list" panel header. typing something there limits the list of keywords shown in the keyword list to only those keywords that match what you type along with their parent keywords. I want to see how many occuranes of the "Exsercise" keyword exist in the keyword list and under what parents.
Ok yes, I tried that and lots of dif
Screen Shot 2021-02-18 at 9.19.01 AM.png
ferent images showed up, including ones I took just yesterday. I can't drop down the keyword list when doing this though. I appreciate your help!
 
I think you misunderstand this again. Filtering the keyword list does just that: it filters what the keyword list shows. Your screenshot suggests that the keyword list does indeed not contain any keyword ‘exercise’. That is very odd. The plot thickens... I wonder if this could somehow be caused by a synonym ‘exercise’ rather than a keyword ‘exercise’.
 
Try entering "exercise" in Keyword List. Not "keywording," suggestions or set. It should show the prevalence of "exercise" across all images. It will make it easier to diagnose the problem, rather than looking at one image.

Lr capture.png
 
It's really annoying when you get old and forget stuff, but a vaguely recall a problem where in the database (i.e. the catalog) the root entry of the keyword list tree had a problem. But for the life of me I can't recall what the problem was but something tells me that it should have been blank (only pointers and surrogate keys - no "name") but instead had some text in it. almost like a none root keyword lost its place in the chain by acquiring a null value in the parent keyword ID field.

I do recall opening a copy of the catalog using a database inquiry tool in my browser (which I don't recall how to do at the moment) and eventually finding the keywords area but beyond that I'm drawing a blank. BTW, this was a long time ago, maybe LR/4 or thereabouts.

Again, I may be delusional on this. Alison, can you look through your list of Keywords to see if it looks like whole branches may be missing or there is any strangeness in the KW's listed at the top level of the tree? Or, any other weirdness you may notice. Also, just before this problem appeared was LR shut down unexpectedly or crashed? For example a power failure, or killing it with Task Manager or an error caused it to terminate unexpectedly either with our with out an error messages. And, lastly, have you had any issues with a failing disk drive (especially the one containing the catalog)?
 
Thanks! I looked through my list and the only odd thing I'm noticing is that words on new images aren't automatically nesting like they should (and used to). In fact, now that I'm noticing it, things have come un parented all over the place. When I enter 'exercise' in the keyword LIST window, I'm not sure
Yes I've had a bunch of crashes, (usually when also using PS) and I added lots of RAM to my desktop in December. No crashes since then. My catalog is stored on an external hard drive.
Screen Shot 2021-02-18 at 1.29.34 PM.png
 
It's really annoying when you get old and forget stuff, but a vaguely recall a problem where in the database (i.e. the catalog) the root entry of the keyword list tree had a problem. But for the life of me I can't recall what the problem was but something tells me that it should have been blank (only pointers and surrogate keys - no "name") but instead had some text in it. almost like a none root keyword lost its place in the chain by acquiring a null value in the parent keyword ID field.
Yes, now that you mention it, it also vaguely remember that. There should be an old thread here, but it may be difficult to find it.
 
Not sure what your mean. I'm trying to send a screen shot but it keeps telling me they are too big. My filters s how all the cameras and lenses as far as I can see....
Screen Shot 2021-02-18 at 3.01.06 PM.png
 
Johan, I too was coming to the "corrupt catalog" conclusion.

Well done in finding that old post. I'm glad that I'm not going crazy in vaguely recalling that thread. I'd suggest to the OP that they read that post in its entirety and take heed on the warnings and precautions (e.g. work on a COPY of the catalog rather than the real thing - even if you think you're just going to "look around and not change anything").

If Alison knows something about databases it may be something she could try out. If not, then I'd certainly try some of the other suggestions such as exporting the keyword list to see what it looks like (and just in case things go from bad to worse) and definitely try the "check integrity" and "optimize catalog" tools AFTER TAKING A GOOD BACKUP.

I don't know if Victoria is listening, but is this the sort of thing that the OP can send her catalog to your team for a look see?
 
thanks folks! But I'm afraid I don't understand much of what you're saying. Corrupt catalog, yes. My images all have keywords, but I use the 'collections' extensively and would hate to lose them if I had to change catalogs, or make a fresh one. Help?
 
Alison,

  1. The probability that you have a corrupt catalog is somewhat above 50/50 based on what we know so far
  2. The odds that the catalog can be fixed is somewhat below 50/50, but we should see if Victoria or one of her other staff is able to take a look at it. If so they will ask you to make a copy of it on a server somewhere where they can get at it. They have un-corrupted catalogs in the past but it's not a sure thing.
  3. If you have been diligent in creating backup copies of your catalog either when LR exits or through other external tools such as Time Machine or other tools, and you haven't done a lot of work in LR since the problem occurred, reverting back to one of those backup versions is a good choice. here is a blog on how to do it.... https://www.lightroomqueen.com/restore-backups/
  4. If recovering through a Backup is not practical, the last solution is to make a copy of you catalog using the "export as catalog" function. I don't recall if this method preserves image participation in Collections but if you get to this option we can determine this. In this option, it is not clear how the catalog corruption will affect which keywords get exported to the new catalog but I'm pretty sure the actual corruption (wonky internal pointers) will be eliminated. It may work just fine or it may wind up with your spurious "Exercise" keywords scattered around but even if it does, they can then be cleaned up manually. Again, this is a near to last option so let's cross those bridges if and when we need to.
 
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