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brian_mk
Known Participant
Nov 7, 2026 1:16 PM UTC
Question

How to undo "show photos containing keyword"

I have spent a lot of time recently going through hundreds of past images adding keywords.

On thing I find really annoying is that it is far too easy to accidentally click on the arrow to the right of an existing keyword in the list. When that happens it enables a filter that shows photos containing that keyword.

I have been unable to find a way to ‘undo’ the filtering operation that restores the main window to the original batch of images I was working on. ‘Ctrl-Z’ does not work. Instead I have to completely disable filtering (using ‘Ctrl-L’ or similar). Then I have to try and find the batch of images I was working on by scrolling down the Navigator pane on the left hand side.

Is there a better solution?

    5 replies

    Community Expert
    richardplondonCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    Nov 7, 2026 4:23 PM UTC

    Say I start by viewing a certain folder or a collection or a smart collection (for example, “Naples 4-star”), so that the contents of that appear in the Filmstrip, titled accordingly:

    then i accidentally click on the arrow to the right of the “napoli” keyword in the Keywords List panel. Now I am viewing All Photographs, filtered down to only those photos with this keyword.

    Next to the name of the selected image at top of Filmstrip is a down-pointing arrow, which opens a menu. That menu includes my recently viewed sources (folders, collections, smart collections) as a clickable history with the most recent entry at the top. This lets me return to my “Naples 4-star” view directly. So I don’t need to remember, open the needed panel, nor navigate.

    That is therefore seen again (without the Napoli keyword filter).

    If I afterwards use the same menu to select “All Photographs”, I go to that view which remembers to be filtered by Napoli keyword, taken again from the whole Catalog.

    Usefully, this history of recent sources is also usable from within other modules, such as Develop. So you don’t always need to return to Library, and do navigation, when jumping around between the same views within your overall Library. 

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      brian_mkAuthor
      Known Participant
      Nov 7, 2026 4:46 PM UTC

      A good solution. Thanks.

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      dj_paige
      dj_paige
      Legend
      Nov 7, 2026 1:38 PM UTC

      Put the batch of images you are working on into a Quick Collection. Just select the desired images (perhaps select All), press B. Then go to the Quick Collection. Then clicking on the right arrow doesn’t prevent you to go back to all the images in the quick collection (turn off filters, then click on Quick Collection).

       

      When you are done with this group of images, select Ctrl-Shift-B (on Windows, I don’t know what it is on a Mac but you can look it up) to clear the Quick Collection.

      You read a lot more about Quick Collections, I’m sure your favorite internet search engine can find lots of readings on this.

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      brian_mkAuthor
      Known Participant
      Nov 7, 2026 1:58 PM UTC

      That solution may work but it does mean the user has to remember to set up a Quick Collection every time he selects a new batch of images to work on (I have a large number so it would be easy to forget).

      To me, a better solution would be to modify the user interface to make enabling the Keyword filter less likely to happen by mistake. For example, ‘Ctrl-Left-Click’ the arrow rather than just ‘Left-Click’. Alternatively get ‘Ctrl-Z’ to undo the filtering operation and fully restore the program state back to where it was.

       

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      dj_paige
      dj_paige
      Legend
      Nov 7, 2026 2:36 PM UTC

      That solution may work but it does mean the user has to remember to set up a Quick Collection every time he selects a new batch of images to work on (I have a large number so it would be easy to forget).

       

      Yes, the solution I proposed shows you how to use the user interface tools provided to get what you want. I use Quick Collections all the time. Yes, you might forget to put the desired photos into a Quick Collection, but the more you use it, the less likely you are to forget. That’s how user interfaces work, you learn what works and then eventually you do it without thinking.

      To me, a better solution would be to modify the user interface to make enabling the Keyword filter less likely to happen by mistake. For example, ‘Ctrl-Left-Click’ the arrow rather than just ‘Left-Click’. Alternatively get ‘Ctrl-Z’ to undo the filtering operation and fully restore the program state back to where it was.

      You can of course wait an unknown number of months/years until Adobe adds the features you want (assuming they choose to add these features at all). If you really want Adobe to add these features, you need to submit a formal feature request, following these instructions (and if you don’t follow these instructions, it is quite likely Adobe will not pay any attention to your request). 

       

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