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WickerG
Participant
September 11, 2025
Open for Voting

Import alternative texts into the designated metadata field for accessibility

  • September 11, 2025
  • 6 replies
  • 172 views

Urgent request for the option to import alternative texts from a data source (e.g. Excel with column A containing filename and column B containing alt text) into the designated metadata fieldPossibly with expandable options, e.g. keywords, copyright, etc.

6 replies

Stephen Marsh
Community Expert
Community Expert
September 16, 2025

An example of the ExifTool command, where the active user is called "Username" and they are working on the desktop in a MS Windows environment (Mac would use single straight quote, not double):

exiftool -sep "," -csv="C:\Users\Username\Desktop\input-csv.csv" "C:\Users\Username\Desktop\target-directory-folder"

 

The contents of the input-csv.csv text file:

SourceFile,AltTextAccessibility
"C:\Users\Username\Desktop\target-directory-folder\alt-text-meta.jpg","Alternative text example one"
"C:\Users\Username\Desktop\target-directory-folder\alt-text-meta2.jpg","Aternative text example two"

 

More here:

 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/bridge/need-a-script-to-update-keywords-for-20000-images-in-bridge/td-p/8240436


One way to get a list of files:

 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/how-to-apply-data-sets-to-100-documents/td-p/15025966#U15025973

Stephen Marsh
Community Expert
Community Expert
September 16, 2025

@WickerG - I understand that this is a feature request. If you need it now, then you need to use alternatives.

 

You don't need to know how to code to use scripts:

 

https://prepression.blogspot.com/2017/11/downloading-and-installing-adobe-scripts.html

 

https://prepression.blogspot.com/2016/08/extracting-metadata-to-csv.html

 

http://metadatadeluxe.pbworks.com/w/page/48025141/VRA%20Panel%20Export-Import%20Tool

 

https://www.ps-scripts.com/viewtopic.php?f=72&t=10947

 

https://www.ps-scripts.com/viewtopic.php?f=72&t=10947

 

https://www.marspremedia.com/software/photoshop/keywords-from-csv

 

I haven't checked if these options offer Alt Text import, modifications may be required. Then there is also ExifTool, which is often easier and faster to use than scripting (when you know what to do of course).

WickerG
WickerGAuthor
Participant
September 15, 2025

O.K. – I'll try it – thanks again

Legend
September 12, 2025

Scripting in fact is the option for extending Bridge and adding capabilities. There is no built-in feature for metadata import but coders have created this for you, to use for free.

WickerG
WickerGAuthor
Participant
September 12, 2025

@ExUSA Thanks for the tips. Nevertheless, my wish remains the same. If you can't program, you simply face a number of obstacles that make your everyday work much more difficult.

Kind regards

Legend
September 11, 2025

Try Paul Riggot's DIY metadata script. You may need to modify it to add additional namespaces and fields.

 

You can also use EXIFTool to accomplish this.

 

https://github.com/Paul-Riggott/PS-Scripts/blob/master/DIY%20Metadata.jsx

https://exiftool.org/