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How to find out which keywords were used to create a smart album?

Hi,

I actually have 2 questions;


a) Short of scrolling down my very long list of password on the HUD - is there an elegant way to do it - How to find out which passwords were used to create an existing smart album? It's a recurring challenge for me.\ 'cause I like using smart albums, but once in a while need to check or chane the passwords.


b) With annoying regularity when I try to get to this forum and choose Aperture, I get the following message - in pink, no less: It appears you're not allowed to view what you requested. You might contact your administrator if you think this is a mistake.Any clues?


Thanks guys,


Raphael


<Edited by Host>

iMac 21.5&quot;-OTHER, Mac OS X (10.7.2), Pages for iPhone/iPad

Posted on May 30, 2013 1:46 PM

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Posted on May 30, 2013 4:06 PM

Re: "a":

Do you mean what in English we call "keywords"? If so, you can always click the magnifying glass icon at the end of the line in the Library Inspector showing the Smart Album name. This brings up the Smart Settings HUD, which contains all the Rules you set when you created the Smart Album.


As much as I can, I try to name my Smart Albums in a way to tells me what settings are applied. So, for instance, "Keyword is Sunshine" or "Kw: Sunshine and Farm". Any assiduously applied system will help.


You can use Folders to group similar Smart Albums in a way to lowers the amount of information you need to include in the Smart Album name. A Folder named "Landscapes" could contain a Smart Album named "Farms" where the settings specify that both keywords, "Farm" and "Genre.Landscape", are present.


Re: "b":

I got nothing. I see this once in a while, but not regularly.


HTH,


--Kirby.

5 replies
Question marked as Best reply

May 30, 2013 4:06 PM in response to rshammaa

Re: "a":

Do you mean what in English we call "keywords"? If so, you can always click the magnifying glass icon at the end of the line in the Library Inspector showing the Smart Album name. This brings up the Smart Settings HUD, which contains all the Rules you set when you created the Smart Album.


As much as I can, I try to name my Smart Albums in a way to tells me what settings are applied. So, for instance, "Keyword is Sunshine" or "Kw: Sunshine and Farm". Any assiduously applied system will help.


You can use Folders to group similar Smart Albums in a way to lowers the amount of information you need to include in the Smart Album name. A Folder named "Landscapes" could contain a Smart Album named "Farms" where the settings specify that both keywords, "Farm" and "Genre.Landscape", are present.


Re: "b":

I got nothing. I see this once in a while, but not regularly.


HTH,


--Kirby.

May 30, 2013 4:07 PM in response to rshammaa

rshammaa wrote:


Good suggestions all but as I suspected no elegant solutions.

I agree, but you are asking for something difficult, given that many Smart Albums have at least one other filter parameter beyond "whole Library" and a single keyword -- and those "simple" Smart Albums can be easily identified in the Smart Album name. (I have set up a lot of these for specific keyword groups, e.g.: "Landscape, Sunrise, Sunshine, Maryland", or "Howard, Smiling, Head", or "Biopsy, Dyed, Negative".


You could also use the keywords in any single Image in the Smart Album to deduce the Smart Settings. And you can see the keywords for a single Image in either the Browser or Viewer Metadata Overlays, in the Metadata Tooltip, or in the Info Inspector.


Aha! -- I have re-read your OP and now understand what you are asking: is there any way to see at a glance, in the Filter HUD or Smart Settings HUD, which keywords are checked? 😎 I'm sorry I didn't get this right away.


There is not (that I know of). There should be. Perhaps a little tick-box to "Show selected keywords". Imho, you should suggest this to Apple. Including a link to this thread may help.


I do something that you may find helpful. Instead of using the Rule "Keyword" in the Smart Settings HUD, I use multiple instances of the Rule "IPTC" set to "Keywords" "is". I think I started doing this when I setting up some large databases with hundreds of Smart Albums and I, too, was frustrated by how hard it was to trouble-shoot as I went along. Afaik, as long as you spell the keyword correctly, the IPTC Rule "Keywords" "is" returms the exact same Images as the Keywords Rule with that Keyword checked. As a general guideline, I use the Rule "Keywords" for ad hoc work, but use multiple instances of the Rule "IPTC" set to "Keywords" "is" when creating a designed database. In addition to providing an instantly comprehendible account of the keywords being used for the Smart Album, this allows one to easily toggle individual keywords on/off.


Two more things as long as we are this far along:

- If you are setting up a database that is already designed, the "Duplicate Smart Album" function is a great time-saver.

- If you are designing or refining a database, using the Keywords Rule along with already-set IPTC "Keywords" Rules can let you quickly work though some possibilities.


Again, HTH.


--Kirby.

May 30, 2013 10:40 PM in response to rshammaa

b) With annoying regularity when I try to get to this forum and choose Aperture, I get the following message - in pink, no less: It appears you're not allowed to view what you requested. You might contact your administrator if you think this is a mistake.Any clues?

Raphael,

that message may occur for four reasons at least:

  1. Most frequently, when you are using an outdated link to a post that no longer exists, for example from an email notofication. Sometimes our community host will remove posts, that are in violation of the terms of use: see:
    Apple Support Communities Terms of Use
  2. Or you are using the edit button or a bookmark to an "Edit" window, after the fifteen minutes allowed for editing are up.
  3. Or you want to view a page in a restricted section of the ASC - soem perta are only open for members of level 6 or higher.
  4. Or it is one of the unexplained problems with the forum software right now. 😟



a) Short of scrolling down my very long list of password on the HUD - is there an elegant way to do it - How to find out which passwords were used to create an existing smart album? It's a recurring challenge for me.\ 'cause I like using smart albums, but once in a while need to check or chane the passwords.

I really like Kirby's suggestion with the IPTC rule Keyword is. This is very useful for smart albums global to the library.

Frequently a different approach helps for my smart albums. Many of my smart albums are local to projects or folders. In this case the smart HUD will only show those keywords that have been used for the images in the selection. So if I only have tagged the images with the keywords "birds" and "slideshow", the smart settings HUD will only show these two keywords and the list is very short.


My Keywords HUD, is organized hierarchically; this way I can collapse large sections at once, and it is easier to focus on the keywords needed for a specific task.

I use the search field in HUD a lot, to filter the set of keywords shown.

May 31, 2013 4:00 AM in response to léonie

Excellent points, worth emphasizing separately. (We have two unrelated threads intertwined under one topic. Raphael -- in the future use one topic for each subject. Your lifetime allotment of topics is ... not exhaustible 😉 .)

leonieDF wrote:


Frequently a different approach helps for my smart albums. Many of my smart albums are local to projects or folders. In this case the smart HUD will only show those keywords that have been used for the images in the selection. So if I only have tagged the images with the keywords "birds" and "slideshow", the smart settings HUD will only show these two keywords and the list is very short.


My Keywords HUD, is organized hierarchically; this way I can collapse large sections at once, and it is easier to focus on the keywords needed for a specific task.

I use the search field in HUD a lot, to filter the set of keywords shown. {Emphasis added.}

The first point might need to be seen to be appreciated. Here is a screenshot showing the Smart Settings HUD for a Smart Album that is positioned as a child to a Project. In the "Source" setting row, the name of the Project is selected (this selection is hard to see, but the background behind the name is less dark). Note that the keywords listed under the Keywords Rule are _only_ those applied to the selected Project. If I change the Source selection to "Library", the Keywords Rule will show _all_ the keywords in my Library. This list is nearly impossible to scan effectively.

User uploaded file

Some users will be glad to know that the Source selection is dynamic: drag the Smart Album to a new location in the Library Inspector, and the Sources listed will be updated.

How to find out which keywords were used to create a smart album?

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