Using keywords in Photos

hi,

there is the link to guide:

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/photos/pht8d0ad5198/7.0/mac/12.0

The keywords are very versatile in Photos. The link to the user guide posted by Banco_Solidi tells you, how to add and remove keywords. if you select multiple photos at once, you can assign the keywords to several photos at once.

Once a photo has keywords applied, you can use the keywords in searches or in the Filter, or in smart albums. Keywords are syncing with iCloud Photos to all your devices.

What the user Guide is not telling you, are the current bugs. You can either assign the keywords using the Keyword Manager or by typing them directly into the Info. Typing into the Info panel is currently problematic, because the info is frequently losing the focus, and you will hear a lot of beeping as you type. I would not try to assign the keywords directly from the Imports album, but wait, until the photos are appearing in "All Photos".

It is currently safer to keep the Keyword Manager open and to add the most frequently used keywords to the Quick Group. This will assign a keyboard shortcut to each keyword in the QuickGroup. Then you can assign the keywords by typing the shortcut. The. avoids the current problems with the Info. An added bonus is, that the keywords in the Quick Group can be used in the Filter.

It is possible to assign compound keywords consisting of several words. Separate the words by spaces or an underscore.

For example "America_N_Canada_Quebec" for photos taken in North America, Canada, Quebec.

Such compound keywords can be used as hierarchical keywords in searches - if I type only the first part "America_N_Canada" into the search field, I will find all photos with keywords starting with "America_N_Canada", also the photos tagged with BC or Yukon or Ontario.

Searching just for "America_N" will show all keywords for the countries in North America.

Searches seem to be treating compound keywords like hierarchical keywords since macOS 11 Big Sur.

I am just mentioning this, because we have to be careful and design our keywords in a way, that unrelated keywords are not starting with the same text, or we may be creating an accidental hierarchy. On the other hand - if we are having clear hierarchical keywords like animal_bird_sparrow, animal_bird_raven we can use it to model the hierarchy.

Thank you for the info.

Any idea when Apple will address this bug? I appreciate the keyboard shortcut information, but each of my photos will have different information, so that won't work for me.

Apple doesn't publish it's bug fix timline, so no-one here knows when - or even if - it will be fixed.

Also, new in Monterey is the ability to sort the main Library View by keyword. It is the three little dots on the right side.