SLSNYC

Q: Can I recover missing keywords in Aperture before updating?

My keywords are missing from the metadata for almost all my images in my 30+K library. I believe that this may have happened after updating to A3 from A2 awhile back (and also updated to Maverick at that time.) My library was dormant for awhile and I am now going back, wanting to use old images and also start to add new ones. I did not discover the issue with missing keywords until recently, when searching for past images by keyword. The only keywords that show up in metadata are those on photos that were added after the update. The Keyword lists are all there and I tried adding a new keyword to an image and that works. The other metadata for those old images still appear (captions, copyright, city, etc.) But the Keyword space is now blank!

I need to update my OS from 10.9.5 to El Capitan (much needed!) and I was concerned about Aperture and making that move. I realize I will need to update to A3.6, but I was advised to deal with any issues before making that move and update. Any suggestions?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5), Aperure 3.5.1

Posted on Jun 16, 2016 2:56 PM

Close

Q: Can I recover missing keywords in Aperture before updating?

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by léonie,Helpful

    léonie léonie Jun 17, 2016 5:59 AM in response to SLSNYC
    Level 10 (105,690 points)
    iLife
    Jun 17, 2016 5:59 AM in response to SLSNYC

    Do you remember any of the missing keywords?  If the keywords are still applied to your migrated images, but perhaps to a different metadata tag than Aperture is using now, you should be able to find them by searching for text instead of searching for keywords.  Test with a new smart album and use a rule "Text includes ..." with one of your missing keywords.  Make sure the scope of the search is set to Library and not to some album.

     

    A "Text includes" rule will find any text asociated with your image versions.

    Screen Shot 2016-06-17 at 14.10.28GMT.png

     

    i would not drag my feet about updating to Aperture 3.6. Aperture is not longer sold at all from the AppStore, so it is hard to predict, how long the Aperture 3.6 update will remain available. You can only update by reinstalling Aperture, and only if you own an AppStore version of Aperture.

  • by SLSNYC,

    SLSNYC SLSNYC Jun 17, 2016 6:20 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (33 points)
    Photography
    Jun 17, 2016 6:20 AM in response to léonie

    Thanks! I tried this with several different keywords (searching as TEXT as you suggest) since I have the complete list of keywords available in the Keyword inspector. I would get photos included that should had been tagged with the keyword, but still no keyword shows up. So they are probably there... just no longer show as tag. What is strange is that sometimes when I search that way photos are included that should not be...would not have had that tag!  Strange.

    I am wondwering if instead of trying to restore the keywords by doing a repair or rebuild, (or revisting my saved A2 library which sits on an external.... restored from a vault when I had issues 2 years ago, probably corrupted before my upgrade to A3...) I might just leave it and go ahead with the upgrade to El Capitan and then upgrade to A3.6 ASAP. At least I know I can search for photos the way you suggested and I guess I can always go back and reapply the keywords. Of course that is assuming this will work after the upgrade.

    I appreciate your advise to not delay the upgrade to 3.6. Procrastination has only led to more problems!

    In my digging in projects and albums, I now see that there are Library level Albums that are still listed, but now have no photos in them. Again, I think the photo files still exist in Projects, but for some reason Aperture no longer shows them as part of the created Album. I obviously had some issues (corruption?) introduced at some point in the past... I wish I had realized an taken action earlier. I did connect with an Aperture specialist at Apple in Sept 2014, who walked me through fixes to deal with the known issues at the time I needed to deal with before upgrading to A3. Wonder if he still works at Apple!!

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jun 17, 2016 6:29 AM in response to SLSNYC
    Level 10 (105,690 points)
    iLife
    Jun 17, 2016 6:29 AM in response to SLSNYC
    At least I know I can search for photos the way you suggested and I guess I can always go back and reapply the keywords.

    That is what I do. Search for the keywords, then reapply them to all found photos at once from the Keywords HUD.

     

    You may want to look at the Info panel for one of the photos and check all metadata fields, to see where the missing keywords are hiding.Perhaps you can see them in the IPTC Core data section of the Info panel or the Custom Fields.

    If they are all in one place you might be able to copy them over using an Apple Script..

  • by léonie,Helpful

    léonie léonie Jul 22, 2016 8:41 AM in response to SLSNYC
    Level 10 (105,690 points)
    iLife
    Jul 22, 2016 8:41 AM in response to SLSNYC
    In my digging in projects and albums, I now see that there are Library level Albums that are still listed, but now have no photos in them. Again, I think the photo files still exist in Projects, but for some reason Aperture no longer shows them as part of the created Album

    Before upgrading I would repair the library, but be sure to keep a backup copy of the current library, before you try repairing. repairing or rebuilding may not be able to fix the albums and missing keywords, but at least you can besure that the Aperture Library has no issues, when you try the update to Aperture 3.6.

  • by SLSNYC,

    SLSNYC SLSNYC Jul 22, 2016 8:41 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (33 points)
    Photography
    Jul 22, 2016 8:41 AM in response to léonie

    Hi. I appreciate your suggestions here. I may have to give up on recovering the Keywords, but I realize I should try to repair before upgrading to 3.6. I need to look up how to repair and/or rebuild and today is my day to focus on this!

    I also want to make sure I know how to "copy" library to an external before trying any of this.

    I am doing all of this before updating to El Capitan from OS 10.9.5.

    After doing the repair, do I then upgrade to El Capitan and then upgrade Aperture to 3.6?