Can't add keyword to photos

Question

Can't add keyword to photos

It's wonderful that the geotagging feature in Photos has finally been fixed (instead of putting your location in the middle of the nearest town, or in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean should your location be anywhere in Peru, even in the Amazon Rainforest). But now I can't add keywords to photos that don't already have one. When I begin to type a keyword that I've used before, it comes up as an option below, but when I choose it and return, the letters remain grayed out highlighted by blue, with the cursor blinking. If I select another photo, then come back to this one, the keywords I entered are gone. Strangely, I can add keywords to photos that already have keywords. I've tried shutting down and going into safe mode, then back. No change. I do have Photos synched with iCloud. I'm using Mac OS 11.2.3, updated today, but it was doing it before I updated. Thanks for any help.

Rich

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Mar 9, 2021 8:48 PM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

200,675 points

Mar 10, 2021 10:25 PM in response to Birdernaturalist

I noticed too, that I can no longer add a keyword, if the photo has already that keyword that I am trying to enter. Then this particular keyword will not appear in the list of suggested keywords, and if I continue to type the keyword to enter it, it will be removed.

If he field with the existing keywords is apparently empty, I try to scroll the field. Then the keywords will appear. Or are you seeing the message "Add a keyword" in the keywords field? Only then the keywords fiel is empty.

If the "Add a keyword" message is empty, you may have been using a keyword with illegal characters, that is preventing the keywords from being read correctly. For example, I can no longer use keywords containing a wildcard character like an asterix, for example the keyword "5*" could cause trouble in Photos 6. I have renamed all keywords with a "*" in the name.

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Answer 2

Mar 10, 2021 7:49 PM in response to Birdernaturalist

Update: Photos that won't let me add a keyword already have keywords; I just can't see them. Where keywords should be, it says "Add a Keyword." For example, if I try to add the keyword "spider" to a spider photograph, it stays grayed out and won't add it. The field returns to empty if I click elsewhere. But if I try to add the keyword "bird" to the photo, it adds it, and suddenly all the keywords that should have been there appear, such as "Arachnida,Araneae,Costa Rica,Sparassidae,spider." These photos are from four years ago, and with the keyword space blank, I thought I must have forgotten to add keywords to a few random photos. In an event of some 300 photos, only about 20 are not showing their keywords. Random.

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Can't add keyword to photos

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