Photos App doesn't import keywords that I exported from the app itself

Question

Photos App doesn't import keywords that I exported from the app itself

I have a too-big library and would like to split them into smaller ones. So I exported a bunch of keyworded-photos from the Photos App, then option-open Photos and imported the photos into a new library, and all the keywords were gone.

I tried checking and unchecking the "Export IPTC as XMP" option when exporting but it didn't make a difference. No keywords were imported into the new library.

I've been seriously considering switching to Adobe's Lightroom because I don't want to keyword thousands and thousands of photos again. Does anyone have a solution for the keyword problem, or could anyone share some experiences on importing keyworded-photos into Lightroom? I already have the app as a full Creative Cloud package so if it's good with keywords (which has always been buggy for me since the iPhoto days) I'm sold.

Thank you in advance!

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3), null

Posted on Apr 18, 2015 11:53 PM

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Answer 1

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,314 points

Apr 19, 2015 12:10 AM in response to steveappleotp

What export settings did you use?

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

194,773 points

Apr 19, 2015 12:11 AM in response to steveappleotp

Did you export the unmodified originals? That will not include the keywords in the image file, only in the sidecar file. To include the keywords into the exported file, export the edited versions. But splitting library by exporting the versions is lossy.

To split your library in a lossless way, create a duplicate of the library and delete the years that you do no want in either copy.

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Answer 3

Apr 19, 2015 12:21 AM in response to Yer_Man

I exported the original as I didn't want them to be "lossy", like léonie said.

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Answer 4

Apr 19, 2015 12:26 AM in response to léonie

Thank you for the info, léonie! Dang, that would be so much work... I don't want them to be lossy, that's why I exported the originals, and I don't wanna use your suggested workaround either (though thank you for the suggestion) because it would be too much work, I have so many albums such as 2012 > concerts, 2012 > vacations, 2012 > cats etc. etc. that duplicating them into multiple libraries and deleting the unwanted ones is just a huge task that I'm not interested in doing.

Once again thank you for explaining why it didn't work, maybe I'll just try out Lightroom and see how it goes...

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Answer 5

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,314 points

Apr 19, 2015 12:29 AM in response to steveappleotp

Are you shooting Raw or Jpeg?

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Answer 6

léonie

Level 10

194,773 points

Apr 19, 2015 12:35 AM in response to steveappleotp

I have a too-big library and would like to split them into smaller ones.

Why is the library too large?

Does it not fit onto your drive? Or too large to sync with iCloud?

iPhoto could handle libraries with 1000000 photos. I could not find a limit for Photos, but I expect to be the same.

To export your originals with keywords: You need to export with the sidecar file, and reimport from the folder with the sidecar file. Don't rename or move the sidecar.

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Answer 7

Apr 19, 2015 1:50 AM in response to Yer_Man

A mixture of both.

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Answer 8

Apr 19, 2015 2:01 AM in response to léonie

It's probably not large at all compared to others' but it is too large for my 500GB 2012 MBP. I'm constantly running out of room and have already moved everything I could move to my external HD except for my 200GB iPhoto library that I haven't touched because I could never get the export / import keywords to work.

ps. I also don't want to use iCloud photo library to store my photos.

Thanks!

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Answer 9

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,314 points

Apr 19, 2015 2:04 AM in response to steveappleotp

Yew can move the Library without exporting.

In the case of the Jpegs you can export at high quality and there will be no observable generational loss.

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Answer 10

Apr 19, 2015 2:22 AM in response to Yer_Man

Terence Devlin wrote:

Yew can move the Library without exporting.

Thank you, Terence, how do I go about doing that? For example I want to move my concert photos and cat photos into a separated library since I don't need them with me when I'm on the go, how do I move them onto my external HD (which stays at home) without exporting them from my main library?

Thanks!

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Answer 11

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,314 points

Apr 19, 2015 2:45 AM in response to steveappleotp

Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

1. Quit Photos

2. Copy the Photos Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.

Now you have two full versions of the Library.

3. On the Internal library, trash the Events you don't want there

Now you have a full copy of the Library on the External and a smaller subset on the Internal

Some Notes:

As a general rule: when deleting photos do them in batches of about 100 at a time. iPhoto can baulk at trashing large numbers at one go.

You can choose which Library to open: Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'

My personal take - fwiw - is to move to Lightroom.

Export the Jpegs at High Quality and write the tags to them. That ill leave you only having to tag the Raws in LR.

In LR you can have all your Masters on the external... And still edit by means of its Smart Preview feature even if you're not connected to the disk. Yes it costs more but you have more options that might meet your needs a little better.

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