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User profile for user: tbabyfresh
tbabyfresh Author
User level: Level 1
9 points

Photos Library keywords not exporting to Finder/Preview keywords

I'm optimizing 1000's of photos with keywords for SEO for my website and Google My Business. After adding keyword though the Keyword Manager in Photos Library (1st image), and then exporting to Finder, the keywords do not show up in Finder when viewing Get Info where they are supposed to (2nd image). Neither are the keywords in Preview (3rd image). Where is Apple storing the keywords in Photos and vice-verse; why is there a discrepancy?


Is there a way to automate and bulk add keywords to images in Finder through either Finder or Preview? Currently, I can only see how to edit one photo and one keyword at a time through Preview. I don't want to upload my images with Apple's Photos keywords and have them not even be "real keywords (i.e. keywords only used for Photos Library, if that's what they are).


Thanks for the help in problem solving this.


MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 12.0

Posted on Jun 22, 2022 5:08 PM

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User profile for user: Richard.Taylor
Richard.Taylor
User level: Level 6
11,004 points

Posted on Jun 23, 2022 8:52 AM

When I use File>Export in Photos, pictures are saved with metadata including keywords, captions, titles and even names identified with face recognition, as well as with the location. This is stored in appropriate places in the IPTC/XMP (whatever that means...), the "standard" place to put this sort of stuff. I can see all this with Preview, but I use GraphicConverter for dealing with metadata. With GC you can do batch changes to the metadata, including appending (rather than replacing) keywords, etc. GC, by the way, gives you access to the mac info comments section, as well. Also Exif and XMP.


A year ago this didn't work when I exported JPEG files from Photos. I had to export pictures as PNG to get the metadata. This may have been due to an earlier OS, but I'm not sure if that's true. If I needed jpgs I would export as PNG and then use GraphicConverter to change them to jpeg. All the metadata was preserved, and survived being imported to Photos. I am using macOS 12.4.

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User profile for user: Richard.Taylor
Richard.Taylor
User level: Level 6
11,004 points

Jun 23, 2022 8:52 AM in response to tbabyfresh

When I use File>Export in Photos, pictures are saved with metadata including keywords, captions, titles and even names identified with face recognition, as well as with the location. This is stored in appropriate places in the IPTC/XMP (whatever that means...), the "standard" place to put this sort of stuff. I can see all this with Preview, but I use GraphicConverter for dealing with metadata. With GC you can do batch changes to the metadata, including appending (rather than replacing) keywords, etc. GC, by the way, gives you access to the mac info comments section, as well. Also Exif and XMP.


A year ago this didn't work when I exported JPEG files from Photos. I had to export pictures as PNG to get the metadata. This may have been due to an earlier OS, but I'm not sure if that's true. If I needed jpgs I would export as PNG and then use GraphicConverter to change them to jpeg. All the metadata was preserved, and survived being imported to Photos. I am using macOS 12.4.

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Photos Library keywords not exporting to Finder/Preview keywords

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