Tidying my Keywords list

Question

Level 1

70 points

Tidying my Keywords list

OK I give up. I've hunted the manuals, the forums and Google, but can't find an answer to this.

I imported all my images from iPhoto a few weeks ago, having bought Aperture 2 then. Of course it imports the iPhoto keywords into a sub-list. I now seem to have duplicated keywords all over the place - some in the iPhoto sub-list, some in the root list. I've even managed to get some with different case starting letters (i.e. vacation and Vacation).

I haven't actually added many new keywords, as I've not been out taking many new photos lately, so all of these have appeared of their own accord.

I also only use photos for my personal needs, so I don't need dozens of sub-categories either.

Is it possible to re-organise/tidy/merge all my keywords without having to re-enter them into the images? (I have 30,000 in the Library).

Cheers.

MacBook 2.2, 4GB, 250GB., Mac OS X (10.5.7), Also have a Mac SE

Posted on Jul 25, 2009 3:01 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 25, 2009 5:27 AM in response to Andy Hewitt

Sure - this works for me: I make folders & number them like: 01 Type > Art, Background etc.... another folder might be 02 Places > Mountains, Beach, Florida
etc... then drag your existing keywords into the new folders, you will not loose keywords in your images. After you organized all your keywords in the new folders save them by Exporting them in a safe place & reimport if you ever need to.

Tip: to Delete a Keyword in several images: Select the images, Type in the keyword you want to delete in the "Add Keyword" field (located at the bottom of Aperture) then "Shift-Return" to delete keyword only from the selected images. I have a bunch of images with the keyword "animals" and also "Animal", I search for the keyword "animal" shift-return to delete then while the images are still selected I then add "Animal"

After all this work is done it's best to Export ALL images with the Metadata & Keywords embedded in the files, delete your images from Aperture then re-import the images you just exported either as reference or in the Library - This way the Keywords are "IN" the files, so if Aperture ever becomes corrupted all your Key-wording will be "IN" the file & viewable by any application like Lightroom, Bridge etc...

See image......... http://www.stevecole.com/data/web/Picture%201.png

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Answer 2

Andy Hewitt Author

Level 1

70 points

Jul 25, 2009 6:35 AM in response to stevecoleccs

Hi Steve,

Thanks for replying. I understand all you said, but it's not the issue I have. I need to 'consolidate' my keywords, so that I merge all the ones with the same names. i.e. I have them in the root folder and and the iPhoto folder with identical names, but assigned to different sets of images. I have no reason to have these split apart, and would like to merge the sets of images so that one keyword relates to them all.

As far as the metadata saving tip goes, are you sure that works with Raw images? AFAIK nothing can write back the Raw file, as they are all different. Also the whole point of Aperture is that it is completely non-destructive to the original file, I certainly wouldn't want to be exporting my originals in a way that increases the risk of file corruption.

Cheers.

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Answer 3

Andy Hewitt Author

Level 1

70 points

Jul 25, 2009 6:59 AM in response to Andy Hewitt

I've just found the answer to part if it, by accident, and as far as I can see it's not in the manual.

This was actually helped in part by some of your comments, so thanks. I created new groups, and dragged my keywords into them, and discovered that dragging a duplicate name in to a group does indeed bring up a 'do you want to merge these' message. So that's sorted that. I now have to work out how to get around merging ones with 'similar' names - such as those in lower or upper case.

Cheers.

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Answer 4

Jul 25, 2009 1:45 PM in response to Andy Hewitt

Yep - I was refering to just the Processed TIFFS & JPEGS. I figure if I need to search for the RAW I first search the processed files first, get the date from the filename & then go find the RAW from the desktop, this seldom happens.

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Answer 5

Andy Hewitt Author

Level 1

70 points

Jul 25, 2009 2:14 PM in response to stevecoleccs

Blimey, have you really processed all your Raws into JPEG and TIFF format? And it sounds like you don't have the Raws in Aperture at all - which is kind of defeating the whole point of having Aperture.

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