Aperture (2.0 or older) adding keywords to multiple images (and batch changing names)

[hooly]

Hi all

I have been happily using Aperture since last July. I just upgraded to 2.0 and am very pleased that it has ironed out some of the performance glitches.

One thing I have never figured out despite lots of googling and reading the help manual:

1) Does anyone know how to add keywords to multiple photos simultaneously?

I know you can do this at import, but what about later? When I select multiple images and then change the keywords in the metadata editor, it only changes the 'main' selected image. Am I missing something!?

2) As above, anyone know a way to batch rename versions, rather than one at a time. At present I can only do it at import or export.

Very grateful for any ideas

K.

 

[CalfCanuck]

Just don't use "City/State/Countries" as keywords (like Apple)

1) Does anyone know how to add keywords to multiple photos simultaneously?

Select the photos you want, then select Metadata/Batch change. You can Append (add) or replace (deletes all old metadata with new). You can select various presets to access whatever data you want to add (see below to customize your own preset).

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I find it is best to set up your own custom preset to show up in the Metadata tab on the main window (and in the Batch change window). Select the Metadata Tab, click on the gear icon and choose "New View". Give it a unique name, then customize it to match your preferences. You can add or delete data items form the various presets by clicking on them at the bottom of the metadata tab.

Be sure to include the IPTC "City, State/Province/Country" tags. In the Aperture demo, they create a keyword for "Arizona" then drag it to the photo. But this is nonsense - if you've you shot in 50 states, you don't want 50 keywords that only make your list too big. These really are all the same concept (state) and thus should be held in the same data field.

If you use the IPTC entry and enter the city/state/country names there, you can select on this data by opening the filter in the Aperture browser and clicking on the plus sign to add an IPTC filter as well (not sure why it isn't included as a default). Then select the "State/province" IPTC tag and type in Arizona. You filter just like having 50 keywords, but don't get the keyword clutter...

 

[hooly]

Awesome thanks.

And the terminology you gave me let me find this; a nice tuturial on it

http://www.oreillynet.com/digitalmedia/blog/2007/02/batch_metadata_changes.html

 

[Richard Flynn]

Alternatively, you could use the Keyword HUD (shift+H). Select the photos that you want to add the keywords to in the Browser, and drag the keyword onto one of them and all the photos in the selection will be assigned the keyword (assuming you've got the 'Primary Select' mode off, or whatever it's called in Aperture 2). I use the Keyword HUD for managing all my keywords; it just seems so much easier to me than any of the other methods (although on occasion I do make temporary keyword sets for the buttons on the control bar).