Script for copying keywords to description field

OK, I have a two step approach. I can’t script, but sometimes I can hack them, so I have not worked out how to combine the two scripts into one (which is probably easy if you know what you are doing).

Work on copied files until you are 100% sure that testing results in what you are looking for!

STEP 1: First, run this script on the selected images, it will copy the description metadata to the keywords as single string:

// https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1075021
// NOTE: THIS IS AN INCOMPLETE WORKFLOW HACK, A SECOND SEPARATE SCRIPT MUST BE RUN TO SEPARATE THE DESCRIPTION STRING TO SEPARATE KEYWORDS
#target bridge  
if( BridgeTalk.appName == "bridge" ) {  
descTosubject = MenuElement.create("command", "Add Description to Subject/Keywords", "at the end of Tools");
}
descTosubject.onSelect = function () {
if (ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript == undefined) ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript = new ExternalObject("lib:AdobeXMPScript");
var thumb = app.document.selections;
    for(var s in thumb){
if(thumb.hasMetadata){
        var selectedFile = thumb.spec;
  var myXmpFile = new XMPFile( selectedFile.fsName, XMPConst.UNKNOWN, XMPConst.OPEN_FOR_UPDATE);
  var myXmp = myXmpFile.getXMP();
        var Description =  getArrayItems(XMPConst.NS_DC, "description");
        myXmp.deleteProperty(XMPConst.NS_DC, "subject");
        myXmp.appendArrayItem(XMPConst.NS_DC, "subject", Description, 0, XMPConst.ALIAS_TO_ALT_TEXT);
        myXmp.setQualifier(XMPConst.NS_DC, "subject[1]", "http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace", "lang", "x-default");
    }
function getArrayItems(ns, prop){
var arrItem=[];
try{
var items = myXmp.countArrayItems(ns, prop);
for(var i = 1;i <= items;i++){
arrItem.push(myXmp.getArrayItem(ns, prop, i));
    }
return arrItem;
}catch(e){alert(e +" Line: "+ e.line);}
}
        if (myXmpFile.canPutXMP(myXmp)) {
        myXmpFile.putXMP(myXmp);
        myXmpFile.closeFile(XMPConst.CLOSE_UPDATE_SAFELY);
        } else {
  xmpFile.closeFile();
        }
    }
}

STEP 2: The second stage will be to run this script on the selected images, that will break each word separated by a space into a separate keyword:

// https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2415320
// https://forums.adobe.com/message/10658929#10658929
#target bridge
   if( BridgeTalk.appName == "bridge" ) {
sepkeys = MenuElement.create("command", "Seperate Keywords v2", "at the end of Tools");
}
sepkeys.onSelect  = function () {
var thumbs = app.document.selections;
if (ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript == undefined)  ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript = new ExternalObject("lib:AdobeXMPScript");
var FolderName =  decodeURI(Folder(app.document.presentationPath).name);
for(var a =0;a<thumbs.length;a++){
var selectedFile =  new Thumbnail(thumbs);
app.synchronousMode = true;
var xmp = new XMPMeta(selectedFile.synchronousMetadata.serialize());
var keys = getArrayItems(XMPConst.NS_DC,"subject");
if(keys.length == 1){
xmp.deleteProperty(XMPConst.NS_DC,'subject');
keys = keys[0].toString().replace(/ /g,',').split(",");
for(var k in keys){
xmp.appendArrayItem(XMPConst.NS_DC, "subject", keys.toString(), 0,XMPConst.PROP_IS_ARRAY);
}
var newPacket = xmp.serialize(XMPConst.SERIALIZE_USE_COMPACT_FORMAT);
selectedFile.metadata = new Metadata(newPacket);
    }
}
ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript.unload();
ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript = undefined;
function getArrayItems(ns, prop){
var arrItem=[];
var items = xmp.countArrayItems(ns, prop);
for(var i = 1;i <= items;i++){
arrItem.push(xmp.getArrayItem(ns, prop, i));
}
return arrItem;
};
};

Prepression: Downloading and Installing Adobe Scripts

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The equivalent ExifTool command can be used to perform this in a single step writing dc:subject metadata:

exiftool -overwrite_original -sep " " -tagsfromfile @ '-subject+<${description}' -r 'pathTOfileORfolder'

Or perhaps writing both dc:subject and legacy itpc:keywords at the same time:

exiftool -overwrite_original -use MWG -sep " " -tagsfromfile @ '-keywords+<${description}' -r 'pathTOfileORfolder'

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Again work on copied files until you are 100% sure of the results!