Keyword Filtering & Search Via Parent Structure In Aperture Is Ugly - Help

Leonie - thanks for the response, but I still have questions:

The parent keywords will only be displayed, if you have duplicate keywords with different parents. As long as each keyword is only defined once, Aperture will not show the parents, or grandparents.

Ideally, I want to be able to view my searches at a parent level and then select the children features that are applicable - instead of having to search across all my keywords each time. E.g. selection Vacation, and then select the vacations that I want to see or see an easy list of all the 'core people" or "all people" that I want to search on.

If you select a library item, i.e. folder, album, project, only the subset of keywords used in this set of images will appear in the search list, which makes it much easier to quickly find the keyword you want.

Found that out yesterday - that's helpful, but I usually like to search across my entire database (e.g. give me every picture of Bob).

Do you want to rename a keyword? This can be done in the keyword HUD: double click the name of the keyword and edit the name. The keyword will be changed in all images associated with it. You can also merge keywords by dragging keywords with the same name to the same parent group in the keyword HUD.

It's not so much that I want to "rename a keyword" as I want to merge it with another keyword. This happens when I have keywods like "Bob" and "Bob Reynolds". I just need to make sure that all the Bob's get put into Bob Reynolds. Sometimes when I import pictures, I get images with other keywords that I want to merge with mine. It sounds like I might be able to do this by renaming "Bob" to "Bob Reynolds" and then putting them under the same parent, right? That would be helpful.

To quickly find images associated with some keyword, you also can just type part of the keyword into the searchfield above the filmstrip - text search also finds text in the keywords.

The problem with the "search" is that I have keywords with people's name in them (as well as within the name of the file). In other words, I have keywords like "Bob's Wedding" - if I search for Bob, I get that too. I want to be able to quickly search for people, locations, etc. within that search.

Another question:

- Would be nice if there was an easier way to assign keywords with the keyboard. Being limited to only 8 keywords at a time (via the option xyz key) along with "," and "." is awkward. Would be much nicer if I could simply hit "option k" and then start typing the keyword and have it find a keyword that meets that criteria and hit "return" and get to the next one. This is what I used to be able to do with the Bullstorm keyword manager - could easily do various keyword assigning to hundreds of photos without switching back and forth from the keboard to the mouse and back.

Again, appreciate the help - I'm really trying to like Aperture, but it continues to frustrate me as I really found iPhoto with the Bullstorm keyword manager a perfect fit (that no longer works).

Eric

It's also annoying that it seems that I need to keep the keyword HUD AND the keyword search windows up all the time.

You should be able to open the keyword hud and do searches directly from it.

Hello Eric,

Ideally, I want to be able to view my searches at a parent level and then select the children features that are applicable - instead of having to search across all my keywords each time. E.g. selection Vacation, and then select the vacations that I want to see or see an easy list of all the 'core people" or "all people" that I want to search on.

You can just do that - at least with Aperture 3.2.2, I never tried it with previous versions.

Even, if you do not set the parent "vacation" keyword and do not see it displayed, you can search for it, and if any of the keyword "vacation"'s children are set, then a search for "vacation" will return all images with children of "vacation" set.

If I select "Vacation" under search, it does properly shows ALL my vacation pics. But how do I easily select three of the keywords under vacation without going through all the keywords to find them? Same thing with "people" I'm organizing all my people tagging so I can easily select me, my mother, my wife, etc., but when I go under search, it's an all or nothing situtation.

It sounds like I might be able to do this by renaming "Bob" to "Bob Reynolds" and then putting them under the same parent, right? That would be helpful.

Exactly, rename the keyword "Bob" outside the group of "Bob Reynolds" to "Bob Reynolds" and then drag the second "Bob Reynolds" to the other group. You first will get a warning that some images carry the keyword, then you will be prompted if you want to merge the keywords.

Again, thanks for that - that helps.

The problem with the "search" is that I have keywords with people's name in them (as well as within the name of the file). In other words, I have keywords like "Bob's Wedding" - if I search for Bob, I get that too. I want to be able to quickly search for people, locations, etc. within that search.

It looks like you are using keywords for task that can be done in Aperture with other tools, like "Faces" or "Places" or "Project Names". To find people I search the "Faces", to find vacation pictures I search the locations, events I search by date. Maybe you can shorten your keyword list by looking at the other options.

Possibly. however, I think the reason I started doing that (back in the days that I was on a PC and use Adobe) was that I like to be able to easily find pictures of Me, with my brother and my mother. I don't think you can do that with Faces, can you? I do nee to start playing more with Places. I like flagging separate events.

I'm sitting here organizing keywords as we've been back and forth on this and the Keyword HUD could be perfect - if would only allow me to create a search - not just mess with the keywords.

Would be nice if there was an easier way to assign keywords with the keyboard. Being limited to only 8 keywords at a time (via the option xyz key) along with "," and "." is awkward.

I wish Kirby Krieger would drop in - I remember he once wrote a nice post explaining how to use the textfield in the keyboard controls to assign keywords by typing, but I cannot find this post right now.

But the basic idea is, if you show the keyword controls (shift-D), there is a textfield with the message "add keyword" written into it. If you now start typing the name of a keyword, you will get a drop down list with possible completions and you can pick one of the suggestions to quickly assign the keyword to your selected images.

If you can find the post, that would be great - would love to read it. Again, the problem is ease of use. I hit "shift D", then I need to go to the mouse to click on the "add keyword", then type it and hit return. If I accidentally assign the wrontg keyword, I need to go back to the mouse, click on "meta data", then highlight and delete the keyword I incorrectly assigned.

Overall, the MAIN reason I use something like Aperture is for photo organization and keywording. The editing is a nice to have - but I can use Adobe for that if needed. I'd give up everything it would simply allow me to quickly add my images, assign keywords, and edit.

Thanks again!

HTH

Léonie

Leonie,

I think I follow a very similar series of keyword flows - I'd just prefer to see ALL the phases under the same UI. I also think that things in one UI could be very useful in others.

I like the structure of the Keyword HUD - I find the "keyword controls" and the "keyword search" unneeded - if they'd clean some things up. It's organized better, it shows the counts of the photos under each keyword, etc. -- all things that the others do not do.

After our conversation, I"m cleaning up my keywords into some better parent /child structures - I'm hoping that I won't be using the HUD any more after that.

The keyword controls is useful, but I find that only have 8 keyboard shortcuts to be limiting - even if I can use "," and "." to bounce to other sets. It's just as easy of a flow as what I've used in other programs to assign keywords.

And the production phase is all about finding your pictures quickly. Your idea for smart albums is a good idea - again, I just find this the weakest part of the program. If nothing more, just showing the keywords in the same format as the Keyword HUD would be a noticeable improvement (ideally with a count per keyword)..

I'd love to hear from others how they use keywords - as well as Projects. I'm not a professional photographer - just a guy who takes pictures of his family and events. So, I'm less about "projects" and more about "events".

Any thoughts would be great.

Leonie,

I think I follow a very similar series of keyword flows - I'd just prefer to see ALL the phases under the same UI. I also think that things in one UI could be very useful in others.

I like the structure of the Keyword HUD - I find the "keyword controls" and the "keyword search" unneeded - if they'd clean some things up. It's organized better, it shows the counts of the photos under each keyword, etc. -- all things that the others do not do.

After our conversation, I"m cleaning up my keywords into some better parent /child structures - I'm hoping that I won't be using the HUD any more after that.

The keyword controls is useful, but I find that only have 8 keyboard shortcuts to be limiting - even if I can use "," and "." to bounce to other sets. It's just as easy of a flow as what I've used in other programs to assign keywords.

And the production phase is all about finding your pictures quickly. Your idea for smart albums is a good idea - again, I just find this the weakest part of the program. If nothing more, just showing the keywords in the same format as the Keyword HUD would be a noticeable improvement (ideally with a count per keyword)..

I'd love to hear from others how they use keywords - as well as Projects. I'm not a professional photographer - just a guy who takes pictures of his family and events. So, I'm less about "projects" and more about "events".

Any thoughts would be great.