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different keywords for multi-image import

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Joined
Jan 18, 2018
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8
Location
Kenwood
Lightroom Experience
Intermediate
Lightroom Version
Classic
Lightroom Version Number
12.2.1 15.2 raw
Operating System
  1. macOS 13 Ventura
When importing multiple images it seems they can only share a single keyword or set of keywords. I would prefer to assign different keywords to different images or sets of images at one time, NOT after the import and NOT importing for each different keyword. Is that possible?
 
Why don’t you want to add keywords after the images have been imported? Is it perhaps because you do not realise that you can add a keyword to multiple images all at once in that situation as well?
 
How would Lightroom know which keywords to apply to which images? Check Johan's suggestion.
 
Then what is the function of Keywords for Apply During Import if they are to be added after import? somewhere it should be laid out that rewording is at least a two stage process when importing more than a few images. I take 1200 pictures on a weekend of various things, but cannot ID them on the first pass, which would be relatively simple with discrete assignments (one or a dozen or anything short of ALL). I'm not a programmer but I don't believe for a minute this is anything but short sighted coding.
 
Then what is the function of Keywords for Apply During Import if they are to be added after import?
Some keywords do apply to all imported photos, so they can be added on import. For example: I’m traveling through Norway in my RV right now, so I have created a ‘Norway’ import preset that does a couple of ‘Norway specific tasks’ like adding the imported images to a collection called ‘Norway’ and adding keywords like ‘Europe’, ‘Scandinavia’ and ‘Norway’. Other keywords, like ‘waterfall’ or ‘fjord’ I add later because not every picture of Norway has a waterfall or a fjord (many do!).
 
The primary purpose of Import is to get photos off cards (so you can re-use them), quickly backed up (the second copies) and recorded or registered in your LR catalogue.

While doing that job, Import also lets you to apply common metadata without turning the Import step into a bottleneck. Once photos are safely in LR, then Library already offers more and better ways to apply keywords and other metadata at a granular level.
 
OK, I understand what you are saying. I'm just wishing I could do it all at one stop instead of two or three, but the db job will get done in LRC, unlike Photos. Thank you for your observations. ~ Jay Gamel
 
Just some more context on why the Import dialog box is not the ideal place to do image-by-image work.

One reason is that because nothing is imported yet, nothing is recorded until you click Import. This makes it easy (at least for me) to lose unsaved changes by clicking on the wrong thing and either accidentally closing the Import dialog box (where you have to start over from zero), or select images I didn't intend to select. Compounding this, there is no Undo in the Import dialog box. So if you are going to edit anything in the Import dialog box, you need to play close attention and not screw up anything in there. Most of what I change in the Import dialog box is by changing the import preset, which is very reliable because presets are already known to do exactly what I set them up to do.

Another reason is that working in the Import dialog box is slow. In part because nothing is actually cataloged yet, so no image caches have been built, so there is little performance optimization available. Because none of the images are in the catalog yet, they are being read off the camera card which is probably much slower than the SSD in your computer. It can be much slower to go from image to image in Import than in Library.

A third reason is the limited number of tools and shortcuts in the Import dialog box (because it’s just for importing). Several of the keyboard shortcuts for fast selection/deselection of grid images do not work in the Import dialog box. Some of the keyboard shortcuts that are available in the Import dialog box are range selection (Shift+arrow keys), loupe (E), grid (G), and some but not all of the zoom shortcuts. The rest are not available. In addition, many keyword acceleration tools (such as keyword sets, the Keywords and Recent Keywords panels, the Painter tool, and all their keyboard shortcuts) are not available in the Import dialog box. If you could apply keywords to selected ranges in the Import dialog box, it would be a crippled experience anyway.

When you put together all those concerns about performance, unavailable keyboarding features/shortcuts, and not being able to save changes until the import actually happens, the Import dialog box is sort of a worst-case scenario for getting real work done. Better to wait until after import.

Sure, in the Import dialog box it makes sense to deselect some images that you definitely don’t want to import, and it also makes sense to add keywords when they will apply to all images in that import batch.

But, keywording after import in the Library module can be far faster and more efficient than in the Import dialog box, because you have the full range of specialized keywording tools, presets, and keyboard shortcuts, the full Undo stack, and the advantage of cached previews to accelerate image-to-image navigation.
 
Now THAT I understand and thank you very much, Hal for a very informed response to my question. It should be included in the LRC manual and/or at least be kept in a FAQ someplace for other misguided souls out there. Your guru sobriquet is well earned.
 
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