Batch descriptions or titles in Photos

Batch editing and batch changing of titles and descriptions is not supported in Photos. Hopefully future updates will add this feature.

For the time being, we posted a few Apple Scripts in the user tip section, that will help to batch edit titles and descriptions, see this page:

Photos for Mac User Tips

These scripts work best when used in in the "All Photos" album or for photos in a single moment. And not on too many photos at once. Photos is creating frequently time outs. Try these:

• Photos for Mac - Batch Change Title to Text w/Padded Sequential No.
• Photos for Mac: Batch Change the Descriptions
• Photos for Mac: Batch Changing the Title to the Capture Date
• Photos for Mac: Batch Changing the Titles to the Filename

You may want to send feedback to Apple with a feature request to add batch changing: Apple - Photos - Feedback

And for the time being, you could continue to work in iPhoto. Version 9.6.1 is well supported in MacOS X 10.10.3.

If you missed the update, do it like this:

Updating to iPhoto 9.6.1 is a bit tricky now, since Apple stopped selling iPhoto from the AppStore.

You can no longer buy iPhoto from the App Store anywhere, and also not update it from the "Updates" tab of the App Store. You can however reinstall it, if it is showing among your Purchases at the App Store and associated with your AppleID.

Sign into the App Store and look at the Purchases tab. If you do not see iPhoto there, try to unhide your Purchases as described on this page: Hide and unhide purchases in the Mac App Store - Apple Support

If iPhoto shows on your Purchases tab, reinstall as described in this User Tip:

Get iPhoto 9.6.1 if you didn't update before OS... | Apple Support Communities

The main idea is to move the incompatible iPhoto app to the Trash, so Spotlight does not see it as installed, reload the App Store by pressing ⌘R, and then to try to download again from the App Store - from your Purchases tab, not from the main page, since you can neither buy iPhoto nor update it, but you can reinstall, if your AppleID is associated with it.

So move iPhoto to the Trash (don't empty the Trash), relaunch the App Store. The button to the right if iPhoto should change to Install on the "Purchases" tab.

Is there a way to change the script so you can run the "Service" to add description to a bunch of photos in other areas of Apple Photos besides "All Photos" album?

I get an error anytime I try to run it outside of "All Photos" album, which is a pain as you have to relocate the photos in that album. Thoughts?

Which of the four scripts in the list have you tried?

Are you using iCloud Photo Library?

Photos is very prone to time-out errors, if the photos are not selected in a top-level album. the scripting command "get current selection" to pass arbitrary selected photos to a script is error prone and not reliable.

I modified a few of the scripts I posted, so they can read from a fixed top level album (an album not in a folder).

This will work better, if the library is an iCloud Photo Library.

Thanks for the reply. I am using Photos locally on my MacBook, not the iCloud Photos. I am using the script you posted in this post (Script: Batch Change the Descriptions). Was this one of the scripts you modified? If not, can the same changes be applied to the non-iCloud Photos library? Thanks for your time, it's appreciated.