Why don't spotlight comments carryover into iPhoto?

Question

Why don't spotlight comments carryover into iPhoto?

Is there a way to imbed information to a photograph that will stay with image forever???

Posted on Dec 30, 2013 9:39 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Old Toad

Level 10

207,457 points

Dec 30, 2013 10:51 AM in response to Steven Moline

The Spotlight comments are only for the files and not the photos.

You need an application that can write to the IPTC fields that are in all photos created by digital cameras.

If you're on a Mac, and use iPhoto (or Aperture) you an add a titles and descriptions to the photos and then embed them into the file by exporting the photos out of iPhoto via the File ➙ Export ➙ File Export menu option with the two checkboxes checked:

There are other apps that can write to the IPTC files. Go to MacUpDate.com and do a search for ITPC to get a list of potential candidates.

Some of the image editors like Photoshop Elements for Mac or GraphicConverter can add IPTC information to the images.

Happy New Year

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Answer 2

Dec 30, 2013 3:22 PM in response to Old Toad

Thanks. Not to happy about the answer. Spent a lot of time adding comments into scanned picture. I put them into iPhoto to find all data had been lost. Still have the original files, but seems to be a major fail that the information does not transfer. Seems like a no-brainer.

Going to leave this as unresolved for now, and hope i can find a better outcome. 😟

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Answer 3

Dec 30, 2013 3:53 PM in response to Steven Moline

For what it is worth— I'm able to load the information into Photoshop so that it stays with the image. Can only read it in iPhoto and in Photoshop. The information is availble in Spotlight too.

Grrrr. Come on Apple seems like an easy fix, to make these changes in the information window.

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Answer 4

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,314 points

Dec 31, 2013 12:52 AM in response to Steven Moline

There is no fix here because you are confusing File metadata - Spotlight comments - and Photo metadata. Spotlight comments are specific to the file and are visible only on OS X. If you share the file to someone on Windows or upload it to the internet or whatever, then the comments don't travel. Photo Metadata is written to the IPTC metadata of the photo and can be read on any system with a photo app. The fail here is not understanding that difference. Learning seems the easy fix.

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Answer 5

Jan 6, 2014 7:54 PM in response to Yer_Man

I understand what your saying . Just think apple should make it so it does travel. Seems like there would be some way to make the software do the trick. If someone is inputing data it should work across all application. Giving apple a "fail" on this.

It's going to be very time consuming embedding all this information AGAIN in Photoshop.

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Answer 6

Old Toad

Level 10

207,457 points

Jan 7, 2014 9:51 AM in response to Steven Moline

You might look at one of these two EXIF editors to be used in conjunction with iPhoto for the task at hand. They may be faster than PS: Photo Meta Edit 2.0.8 or Image Exif Editor 2.0.1

I've not used them but both claim batch editing capabilities.

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