Keyword List is putting my flat keyword list under "" (empty) keywords (as in hierarchy).

[nrshapiro]

Issue: 

Suddenly, the Keywords list is organized hiearchically, under "" Empty keywords.  About 4 or 5 sections of these.  Most of my keywords are in the first section.

After this happened to my large Lightroom library of about 419,000 images, I started over with a new library and imported all my photos again. 

And then it happened again.
Steps to reproduce: 

1. Created a new database
2. Reimported all my photos (took 3 days on my Intel I9 Windows Pro machine,
   all my photos on fast external US?B 3.2 SSDs)
3. Everything was fine.
4. Continued to work on existing photos, mainly cleanup, resync some folders,
   delete some TIFs and PSDs to make space after exporting those to JPGs in the same folder.

Expected result: Clean flat list of keywords
Actual result: After using the database for 3 days, suddenly, my entire flat keyword list is hierarchical again under "" empty keywords.  Filtering for keywords finds nothing.

Versions:

Windows 11 Pro Ver 23H2

Lightroom Classic Version: 13.5.1

[dj_paige]

Your description seems clear, and yet my mind says I'd still like to see a screen capture. Please use the "Insert Photos" icon, do not attach files. 

[nrshapiro]

To show you the keyword at the top of the Keyword List (not the metadata list), I've selected it and said delete.  You see that it's an empty top level keyword.  Below, in the second screen shot, I show the keywords when the top level is folded.  A lot of empty keywords many with nothing underneath, and the first containing only "macro"

This did not happen when I first reloaded all my files.  I did have Excire Search plugin running in the first catalog where this happened, but I didn't have the plugin running  when I built this one, in case that was at fault.  The Excire keywords are always below an Excire label.  While it wasn't running, it did write it's keywords out to my photos.  But as I said, for this catalog, when I reloaded all the photos into a new catalog about 4 days ago, it was initially fine, for a few days, then it went to pot like my last catalog.  I didn't get a backup done in that short time (I had it set to once weekly--I should have forced a backup.)

[nrshapiro]

I've gone ahead and rebuilt my database and the keywords were repopulated from the metadata, and now it's ok.  We'll see how long it lasts before it's corrupted again (that would be the third time).

[John R Ellis]

Two possibilities come to mind: 1) You've exceeded a built-in limit in Windows LR on the maximum number of keywords, or 2) one or more of your photos have "poison" mangled keywords stored in their metadata that confuses LR when it reads the metadata from the metadata.

1. Your screenshots show you have at least 1733 keywords (you may have more), and after deleting the "" keyword, the display of the Keyword List is mangled:

Windows LR has always had a hidden limit on the number of lines it can display in certain panels, including the Keyword List panel.  That limit can be anywhere from about 1500 lines to about 3200 lines, depending on LR and Windows font settings, and when LR tries to display more than that many lines in the panel, all sorts of chaos can ensue. It's pretty shameful that Adobe has never fixed this.

A partial workaround to this is to keep most of the keyword hierarchy collapsed, so that LR never tries to display more than the maximum number of lines in the panel. Using the Keyword List filter box is problematic, because as you type the first letter, e.g. "e", LR will try to search for all keywords containing "e" and display the matching keywords, even if they're collapsed.  The workaround to that is to type very quickly or copy/paste what you're searching for into the Filter box.

2. LR may have incorrectly imported "poison" (corrupted) keywords stored in some of your photos. Do the menu command Metadata > Export Keywords > Include Keyword Tag Options. Change the extension of the exported file from .csv to .txt, and either attach it to your reply here or send me in a private forum message. I'll see if any of the common problems with poison keywords is present.