import into LR without keywords

"I import using that preset, and it appears that the images don't get imported with keywords assigned to them but the photographers' keywords still get added to my keyword list.Still, a pain to have to sift through my list for their keywords so I can delete them."

Two methods to make this easier:

- As mentioned above, after importing, do the menu command Metadata > Purge Unused Keywords. This will remove all keywords from the keyword list that aren't assigned to any photos.

- Alternatively, create a top-level keyword "New". In the Keyword List, right-click New and do Put New Keywords Inside This Keyword. Then after an import, select all the new keywords and click the "-" button to delete them. (Don't try to right-click the keywords and do Delete -- that deletes only one keyword due to a bug.)

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This was actually requested nine years ago, but don't hold your breath waiting for Adobe to implement it.

https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/ability_to_not_import_image_keywords_in_lr

Actually it's simpler than I thought using Bridge as outlined at the below.

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/community/threads/batch-delete-keywords.16006/

Perhaps outside of LrC use a metadata aapp to remove keywords. 

something like:

https://www.colorpilot.com/exif_keywords.html

I can confirm the behavior. It looks like LR imports the file with keywords and then applies the preset to remove it. You could use Adobe Bridge to remove the keywords before import into LR. Here's an example:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/bridge/batch-keyword-delete/td-p/10874607?page=1

"I've tried assigning metadata at import and then leaving the form fields blank, hoping that would wipe their keywords, but they still get imported."

It's working for me. Create a new Metadata preset in the Import module under 'Apply During Import.' Uncheck everything except 'Keywords,' leave the keywords box blank as shown below, and Save as a new Metadata preset.