P: Find keyword by synonym

Lightroom Classic currently allows adding synonyms to keywords, but these synonyms are not searchable or filterable inside the Library module.

For photographers and archivists who use hierarchical or scientific taxonomies, this is a major limitation.
In my case, I manage an extensive multilingual, taxonomy-based keyword hierarchy for both marine and terrestrial species —
using scientific (Latin) names as the main keyword, and German/English names as synonyms.

At the moment, Lightroom’s internal search, keyword filter, and “assign keyword” features only work with the main keyword name —
not with its synonyms. This means that if I search for “Berggorilla” or “Gorilla beringei beringei,”
Lightroom will only find one of them, depending on which version is used as the main keyword.

Feature request:

• Add an option to include synonyms in the Library keyword search, filtering, and keyword assignment.

• Allow the “Keyword List” and “Keywording” panels to show synonym matches (for example, in italics or with an icon).

• Provide a preference toggle: “Include synonyms in keyword search.”

Why this matters:
This feature would make Lightroom far more efficient for multilingual, scientific, or museum-grade cataloging workflows —
especially for users who maintain consistent taxonomic systems (e.g., according to WoRMS, MDD, IRMNG, or ITIS).

Lightroom already writes synonyms to IPTC/XMP metadata; extending search and filter support to them would require minimal development effort but deliver a huge productivity gain for advanced keyword users.

Bonjour,

j'ai créé une hiérarchie de mot clés dans lightroom avec des synonymes et je cherche un mot clés en fonction de son synonyme 

par example:

j'ai créé un mot clé "Phoenicurus ochruros" qui est le nom latin de l'oiseau "Rouge queue noir". j'ai mis "Rouge queue noir" en synonyme qui est le nom vernaculaire de cet oiseau mais quand je veux rechercher le mot clé correspondant je préfere utiliser le nom français plutot que le nom latin. 

mais quand j'écris Roge queue noir dans la zone de recherche de mot clé, il ne trouve rien

y-a-t-il un moyen pour résoudre mon problème ?

en attente de vos suggestion

Thanks, Smit.


While not a bug as such, can you please request that consideration be given to another searching issue.


You create keywords in the keyword list, then you can search/filter those keywords in the keyword list to apply, edit or delete them. Synonyms are similarly created from within the keyword list, but bizarrely, once created, there is no way of searching or filtering the keyword list to find or manage those synonyms. You can search images in collections to find those to which synonyms have been applied, but you cannot filter or search for the source/location of those synonyms in the keyword list. The concept that there is a mechanism for creation of synonyms but not their subsequent management is a significant omission, if perhaps not technically a bug.


On several occasions I have not been able easily to find the location of a synonym I have wanted to change. I have had to resort to exporting my keyword list to Excel and searching there in order to locate it, then go back to Lightroom to open up the relevant keyword containing the synonym I want to edit. Lightroom itself should have this basic functionality built in without the need for such tedious work-arounds.


Graham