Keyword Hierarchies

[wcstarks]

I originally processed a group of folders of images in Lr Classic trial. Among other things, after learning about Keyword Sets, I created locality hierarchies. After doing that, when I typed in a lower level, Lr would add the full hierarchy.  I decided to Purchase Lr 6 instead. So, I saved the metadata to file.  This group of images contain jpg images, so the metadata was embedded in the images.  I imported them into Lr 6.  When I looked at the metadata, I saw that the locality hierarchies were shown with the "<".  I again tried entering a lower level and Lr 6 would add the upper levels.

I needed to move my picture library from C Drive to D Drive.  After I moved it, I re-established the links to the new location. All seems normal, except Lr will no longer add the upper level (that I can see) in the image meta data.  I tried adding the upper levels using the "<", and in some contexts, it will display it that way and others, it displays only the lower level.

For example, I have the following Keyword set:

Oregon         13

     Applegate  8

     Medford     2

I notice that in the Keyword Set section,  these lower level names show up alone, while another name shows the full context when I click on it.  Why are these not showing up in the Keyword Set section as sets, but singly?

Those images, with Applegate or Medford showing in the metadata, show up when I select to see all images with Oregon, even though Oregon does not show in each image's metadata.  So Oregon is definitely associated with those images.  Why do these image's metadata not show the full context, like many others that were done earlier?  Is there a setting to force Fr to display the full context, like many others?

Confused

[John R Ellis]

In the Keywording panel, LR will show the ancestors of an applied keyword only if there is more than one keyword with the same name.  For example, if the keyword hierarchy contains the keywords Applegate and Oregon > Applegate, then if you apply the latter to a photo, it will display as Applegate < Oregon:

The keyword Oregon > Medford isn't displayed as Medord < Oregon in the Keywording panel because there is only one keyword whose name is "Medford".

There is no way to change this behavior.

[wcstarks]

Thank you.  That helps.  Just to clarify, as long as I have the hierarchies established in the keyword list, I need only enter the name of the appropriate lower level?  I don't need to enter all the levels.  It seems that Lr includes the ancestors when one queries, even when they don't show in the panel.  What happens on export?  Does the full hierarchy then get into the keyword panel?

[John R Ellis]

as long as I have the hierarchies established in the keyword list, I need only enter the name of the appropriate lower level? 

That's right, as long as there's just one keyword with a given name.  If there are multiple keywords with the same name, you'll have to use the ">" notation to disambiguate which one you're referring to.

What happens on export?  Does the full hierarchy then get into the keyword panel?

When you export a photo, by default all the ancestor keywords will be included in the industry-standard keywords field of the exported photo. You can stop a keyword from being exported by right-clicking it in the Keyword List, selecting Edit Keyword Tag, and unchecking Include On Export.

Also, in the Export settings window, there is an option Write Keywords As Lightroom Hierarchy. If this is checked, fully qualified keywords (e.g. Oregon|Medford) will be written in a proprietary metadata field in the exported photo that only LR understands.