This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Create Keyword Tags
The humble little tag serves as the foundation for the Organizer’s sorting and filing system. And yet, I get it: Most people don’t take the time to tag their photos. You can locate photos using other means, but give tags a chance. They make it much easier to work with your library. (Technically, keyword tags are just one type of tag, but it’s common to use “tag” or “keyword” to mean the same thing. I talk about the other types of tags later in this chapter.)
Click the Keyword/Info button at the right of the taskbar to reveal the panel, and then click the Tags tab. Expand the Keywords heading to reveal the keyword tags (FIGURE 3.33).
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FIGURE 3.33 Keyword tags, along with other tags, appear in the Tags panel.
Keyword tags are hierarchical and full-featured: They can exist in multiple sub-categories, be color coded, and include notes and thumbnail images. I’ll go into all that, but first I want to highlight the simplest, most friction-free approach I usually take: the Add Custom Keywords field. You can also add keyword tags when importing images.
To create keyword tags using the Image Tags field:
Select one or more images.
Type a keyword in the Add Custom Keywords field. Better yet, type several keywords, separated by commas, to create and apply them together (FIGURE 3.34). As you type, suggestions based on existing keywords appear; if you want to add one, click it immediately.
FIGURE 3.34 Type one or more words into the Add Custom Keywords field to create new tags.
Press Enter/Return or click Add. The Organizer creates the new tags and applies them to the selected image(s). In the Keywords list, they appear under the Other category (FIGURE 3.35).
FIGURE 3.35 New keywords you create show up in the Other category.
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To import tags with images:
Using the steps outlined earlier, import photos from your hard disk that may already contain keywords (for example, if someone sent you the images or you used another program to assign tags).
In the Import Attached Keyword Tags dialog, select which tags you want to add to your list (FIGURE 3.36). Click OK. The tags can then be applied to any other photos in your library.
FIGURE 3.36 When you import photos that already contain keyword tags, you can opt to add them to the list in the Tags panel.
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To create a new keyword tag (the long way):
Click the New (+) button in the upper-right corner of the Keywords section of the Tags panel (FIGURE 3.37) to open the Create Keyword Tag dialog.
FIGURE 3.37 Click the New (+) button at the top of the Tags panel to create a new tag.
From the Category menu, choose the category or sub-category in which you want to place your new tag (FIGURE 3.38). (I go into more depth about categories a few pages ahead.)
FIGURE 3.38 All tags reside in categories. Define a category for your new tag in the Create Keyword Tag dialog.
In the Name field, enter a name for your tag.
In the Note field, optionally enter information relevant to the photos that will have the tag applied.
Click OK to close the dialog.
Your new tag appears in the Tags panel within the category you chose.
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To change a tag’s properties:
In the Tags panel, select the name of the tag you want to edit (not its box; more on that shortly).
Do one of the following:
▸ Click the menu attached to the New (+) button and choose Edit (FIGURE 3.39).
FIGURE 3.39 Edit a tag’s properties.
▸ In the Tags panel, right-click the tag whose properties you want to change and choose Edit from the menu.
In the Edit Keyword Tag dialog, make the desired changes and click OK.
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To delete a tag:
In the Tags panel, right-click the tag you want to delete.
From the context menu, choose Delete (FIGURE 3.40).
FIGURE 3.40 Delete a keyword tag you don’t want.
In the Confirm Keyword Tag Deletion dialog, click OK.
The Organizer removes the tag from the Tags panel, from any photos tagged in the Media Browser, and from any saved searches that use it.
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To merge tags:
Select tags with similar terms (or other criteria you want to simplify).
Right-click the tags and choose Merge Keyword Tags.
In the dialog that appears, select one tag to keep (FIGURE 3.41); the others are deleted and the photos with the old keywords gain the selected tag.
FIGURE 3.41 Merge tags to remove duplicate terms.
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