Add multiple keywords to single photo without having to re-focus the cursor

I have the very same problem and I come up with a fix ... a temporary one, at least until Apple will "improve" Photos. I wonder: Do they have photographers in the think tank? Anyway. Since the problem regards the necessity to - click the cursor back in place - let's assign the cursor to a keyboard's key. Go to System Preferences / Accessibility / Pointer Control / Alternative Control Methods. Then check Enable Alternative Pointer Actions, click on Options, click on the Plus sign and set your personal Alternative pointer action as Left Click. As you will see, some keys are not feasible for the task; I set my Alternative on the Enter key. At this point the Enter key (or the one you chose) functions as a mouse Left click ... which means that when you're done keywording you might want to go back to System Preferences and uncheck Enable Alternative Pointer Actions. Hope this help.

One more thing: I normally have to add keywords in groups so I have a text file with some common keywords and I simple copy and paste. Here is simple line I might have:

2015,chrysler,dodge,grand caravan,165k km,blue

Notice that there are no spaces between the keywords... just commas.

Yes, for me the Keyword Pane is better to use since the change to loss of focus in the info panel. But my preference is to start typing the keyword, let Photos match as I type, select return when the keyword is highlighted and continue on with the next keyword. I'm pretty certain I was able to do that in the past.

Are you also using iCloud Photos?

I am having the problem with the lost focus only in my iCloud Photos Library, not in my small test test library, that is not syncing with iCloud.

In my iCloud Photos Library it is sometimes not possible to bring the focus back to the Info panel at all to add further keywords without restarting Photos (or the Mac).

It is the Keyword paned you're losing focus in? If not try using the Keyword pane (⌘+K).

Catalina is a mess when it comes to the photos. WHY was the keyword info messed up?? I can't even add half of the time and when I do I have to replace the cursor each and every time when adding more keywords. Most of the time I can't even add location data at all. The pick list disappears before I can even pick! Wish I had not upgraded to Catalina and now I don't know what to do. Have thousands of photos to sort and it is like I am in kindergarten again. HELP!!!!

This might work if one only had 35 keywords. Mine scroll down so you can't locate the ones you want easily.

The problem is that when you click in the info panel and add a keyword, the caret used to remain, so you could add another. Now, for some unknown reason, Apple has seen fit to make the caret disappear. So you have to click on the info panel - in the right place, for EVERY keyword!!!

It's driving me mad.

Hello Léonie,

My Photos library syncs with iCloud and it has 114,000 photos in it.

I can also bring the focus back. My problem is that I have to click every time. I used to types keywords one after another and the focus stayed in the correct place.

Also, titles do not show in Catalina and I don't like the way my photos are sorted and displayed any more. Mojave had it just about right.

I hadn't thought about trying a smaller library to see if it behaves differently. I'll try it and let you now.

I'm on a 27inch iMac.

Brian

Léonie, you're a star :-)

I have the titles back and I'm very pleased. Thank you very much.

I made a small library (well not so small. It has 3000 or so photos in it, but it's much smaller than my main library).

It's actually worse. Now the focus often doesn't come back even when I click in the correct space.

What has Apple done?

Photos is not so good since Catalina.

I'm having the same problem trying to insert multiple keywords on a given photo. I find it quite frustrating and I only have to add 2-4 keywords for maybe a dozen nature photos that I take maybe once a week. I don't recall this working this way in the past but I can't really pin down when it changed.

It just doesn't seem like the designers/developers take the time to investigate the ramifications of bug fixes or (perceived) enhancements.

Adding keywords is working fine for me, as long as I add them using the keywords browser, but my list of keywords is just too long for that - there are more than thousand keywords. So I can use the keywords browser only for a few selected keywords, that I want to use in the filter.

This is completely useless for my application. I cannot imagine doing this for every photo!! It would take hours and hours longer than it already is having to replace the cursor every single time I want to add a keyword. Most of my photos get a brand new keyword or five for each photo. I also have discovered I cannot search keywords when I am trying to add a photo to a document. That is another issue that has disappeared. I also never had to put a "TITLE" on each photo because the keywords would show up. Now, not a single photo added since Catalina shows a keyword at the bottom -- just the file number. Why are we not getting answers to our questions? This is a MAJOR FAIL in Catalina! Please fix it!!!

I don't believe Apple designers have a clue how to sort and add keywords and it is so simple - just hire librarians or archivists to advise! They have been describing things for over 100 years! A 20 year old computer geek who describes his latest selfie hasn't a clue how to describe nature, geology, etc. Photos can be very complicated and may need many multiple keywords. One bird photo may need: Bird; species scientific name; species common name; male or female; age; nest; location; maybe how high off the ground or one the ground; food; weather; etc etc. Just one photo! This can be the same for bugs, aquatic animals, etc etc. Not to have the cursor stay in the box after entering a word is agony -- hours wasted on what just a few weeks ago could be accomplished in one day now takes days and days. It is mind boggling just how bad this "upgrade" is. Please please fix it!

I agree with all of the previous several replies.

In Mojave, Photos was working pretty well.

In Catalina, it's become clumsy and awkward.

I was enjoying getting to grips with my oversized library.

Now I'm losing it again.

Riverlady's comment is interesting. She probably has a point.

Young computer geeks often fail to match their coding with ordinary people's needs.

They also often fail to grasp tried and tested methods - like keywords.

Too busy coding the AI to pay attention to the need for multiple keywords.

Come on Apple. Get a grip!!

I don't use metadata myself but found your instructions useful. Keywords appear as a little tag in the upper left corner of a thumbnail which shows a list of applied keywords when clicked. But selecting other attributes (other than title) like file type or location seems to have no discernible effect.

I'm have the same complaint as other users with the info window and adding keywords. Yes the keyword window works but it's very cumbersome to scroll through when many keywords are being used, and its size obscures the photo being edited.

(36K photos on a MacBook Pro, OS 10.15.1, not using iCloud Photos)