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Robert Ripps
Robert Ripps
Inspiring
January 23, 2023
Question

Long time issue of LR modifying keywords I enter

  • January 23, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 1122 views

 

I have been trying to get an answer to this issue of over 10 years, so here I go again- sometimes when I add a keyword to an image(s) in Lightroom Classic (and before LR, in Bridge), I see it, but then pretty quickly afterwards, it changes what I entered, adding extra information, based on an older image I keyworded maybe 15 or more years ago in Bridge.

 

So, when I enter Reflection, see it in there…

 

 

 

But a moment later, LR has added all of this extraneous information.

 

 

 

 

This happens with many other keywords that I add, that I used to have set up in a hierarchy in Bridge a long time ago, before LR came along.

 

 

When I go to Keyword List in LR, and type Refection, this is what it shows.

 

 

 

 

I have Auto-complete text in the Keyword Tags field turned off in Interface preferences.

 

I am sure there is a simple way to stop this from happening, but I have been unable to figure it out, nor can anyone else give me an answer.

 

I am running LR Classic 10.4, macOS 10.14.6.

 

Thanks.

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

Rob_Cullen
Community Expert
Rob_CullenCommunity Expert
Community Expert
January 23, 2023

You need [Auto-complete] turned 'ON' when you enter KWs, otherwise how will you know which of your "Reflection" keywords you are adding to a photo?

The "Reflection<Other Keywords" is simply indicating (by the < ) which of your multiple "Reflection" keywords has been added to the selected photo.

 

Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.1.1, Photoshop 27.3.1, ACR 18.1.1, Lightroom 9.0, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0.2 .
    Robert Ripps
    Robert RippsAuthor
    Inspiring
    January 23, 2023

    Hi Rob, thanks for reaching out. Maybe I am not understanding how LR is supposed to work, but to me, all I need is the keyword, in this case, Reflection, to be added. I do not care which of my keyword sets I got it from, nor do I need to see a parent added. I could live with it showing up in only LR, but when I open an image in Photoshop, I see all that other information in there, so instead of Reflections, I see “Reflections <Other Keywords” which looks sloppy.

     

    Also, most of the time, the keywords it is adding extra text to are not in multiple LR keyword sets but LR is merely pulling that info from an old, obsolete way I had created keyword sets in Bridge version 4 or earlier. It is not set up that way in LR, but perhaps pulling from older images, so mistake gets compounded each time I add those certain keywords.

     

    I just don’t understand why LR can’t keep the keyword the way I type it or pick from my created sets, and feels like it needs to amend it.

    Robert Ripps
    Robert RippsAuthor
    Inspiring
    January 24, 2023

    I can see in your last screen-clip of the KWs you have *at least) FIVE keywords "United States". No wonder you are getting confused.

    You need a re-structure and tidy up of all those redundant duplicated keywords.

    And you should have 'Parent' keywords above their 'Child' Keywords, (not the reverse!) so-

    .Place

    ....United States

    ........New York State

    ................New York City

    .......................New York City Neighborhoods

    ........California

    ........Colorado

    etc.

    So , eventually, you might approach having only one KW for a location.

    An example of where you need more versions of the same KW is where you might use "Brand" as a 'Child' KW under both 'Vehicles' and 'Cameras'.

    If you do NOT have “Auto-complete text in Keywords" turned on- How are you going to identify which "United States" heirarchy the KW belongs in?

    In the case of "Brand"- Auto-complete would show you the two options to select the Correct 'Brand' for the applicable 'Parent'

    .Brand<Cameras

    .Brand<Vehicles

    If the photo is a car, you would select the "Brand<Vehicles" in the Auto-complete text.

     

     


    Not exactly sure how to tidy up everything, as I never actually set up a formal hierarchal structure in the first place. As I recall, I just created a few lose groups of basic keywords in Bridge around 20 years ago, but once I started using LR 15 years ago, I have done all my keywording there. In LR, I just have created keyword sets to easily add basic keywords, and named the sets so they are quick and easy to use for my workflow (while dealing with the set names falling alphabetically).

     

    A few times in LR, I have the same keyword in multiple places, as it made it easier to add them- so Brooklyn Bridge might be under “Place: NYC, Landmarks, Bridges”, or it might be under “Place: NYC, Manhattan Landmarks Lower Manhattan”. But, I don’t think this is the issue, as when I add Brooklyn Bridge from either set, it does not add the name of the set as a parent.

     

    Most of the time this works fine for me. But now, almost a quarter of a million images later, some keywords I had from Bridge are still getting changed based on what I had done in Bridge (and mostly involving New York city neighborhoods). So what I am saying is, since the problematic keywords were from Bridge, do I make changes to the structure in Bridge? Or should I delete all of them from Bridge as I no longer use it for Keywording?

     

    This is what I see in current version of Bridge in keyword tab (just the US section):

     

     

     

     

    I don’t necessarily need a hierarchy, or every possible descriptive keyword, I just want to add some basic keywords to better help me search for images. I appreciate your guidance, and I am sorry if I am not quite grasping all this.

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