How to remove keywords in PSE2021 on MacBook Air?

[meg576]

I am looking for advice from an Apple expert knowledgable with PSE202.

In the process of importing previously tagged images to a new MacBook PSE 2021 catalog, I select the option to include the tags. After doing this, a list of Imported Keyword Tags  is created under the headng of Keywords and these are also attached to the imported images. I select an imported keyword and then add the corresponding tag from my previously created people, places or events tags. So now I have two identical tags and I try to delete the Imported Keyword Tags.  There doesn't seem to be a way of deleting them from the imagwes

On my Windows 10 PC, it is easy to do this by right-clicking the unwanted tag and choosing 'delete'. This works for both Keywords and people, places or events tags. On the Apple version of PSE 2021, I cannot find a way to delete Imported Keywords tags. Right-clicking doesn't work for Keywords but it does work for the people, places & events tags.   My question is: how to delete items in Keywords in PSE2021 Apple MacBook?

[Somya_Agarwal]

Hi,

Can you provide a screenshot of the Menu you see on right clicking an Imported Keyword Tag?

Thanks!

[meg576]

I have tried many ways without success to delete imported key words from the menu on the right (Keywords) and also on the tags attached to the imported images.  So, I deleted the catalogue entirely, started a new catalogue and imported the images without their tags. I then changed the Keywords label from Imported Keyword Tags to Locations.  I then used the Locations field to list all the places where photos were taken. I still cannot delete unwanted or incorrect names using the ‘edit’ option but I can rename them and use them for a different tag.   I am more familiar with the Windows 10 PSE2021 version but now I have an Apple MacBook Air and using it for PSE 2021. 

I find that the ability to scroll the images and key tag menus very poor and results in frequent spinning beachballs.  The People. Places & Events key tags were another problem because I couldn’t remove them by right-clicking and Remove. After much experimenting, I discovered that these key tags can be removed from images by selecting an image and finding the lists of keytags associated with the image in the bottom right-hand corner of the key tag menu. To remove the tag, the tag must be done by Shirt-right click & Control to select “Remove Image”. I discovered this on my own because there were no clues in the ‘Help menu’. 

I understand that Adobe is working on a native programming version that will run better using the new Apple M1 chips but in the meantime, I find the current version frustrating and slow. My biggest beef is the lack of smooth scrolling. 

I hope this explains why I was looking for help in the forum. 

[Somya_Agarwal · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Is right click enabled on your Macbook Air? To check this,

1. Click on Apple icon at Top Left.

2. Choose System Preferences->Trackpad

3. 'Secondary Click' is where you specify how do you want your system to perceive right click

4. It should be 'checked', and you can select 'Click with Bottom right corner', if you want it to be in accordance with your Windows system.

Let me know if this works for you.

Thanks!

[meg576]

Thank you, thank you thank you, Sonya! Your suggestion was the correct answer. Since I am new to Apple McBook Air, I was unaware of this little trick. Now the keywords & tags can be deleted by right=clicking. I think many forum members with Apple devices might find your answer helpful.  I also appreciate the helpful suggestions provided by Greg & Michel.

[meg576]

[meg576]

[Greg_S.]

Are you trying to solve the issue of tags remaining in the file's metadata even though you have supposedly removed them in the catalog database?  If so, here is a time consuming solution that was given to me by a friend.  I have never been that bothered about metadata to try it out, but my friend is a reliable source:

Old tags keep building up, when renamed, deleted, etc. and getting rid of old (ghost) tags is a pain, but possible. Here's how I do it. It's VERY time consuming.

1) Create (or have available) an Album that contains no media (I call mine Scratch).

2) Select one of the ghost tags and put all the associated media into the Scratch Album.
(Assuming that the reason you are aware of the ghost tags is because you have created a new Catalog, imported a saved keyword tree, and are now importing your files into the new catalog, the ghost tags probably came back in as Imported Keyword Tags. Select one of those. Also, any People Tags from the original Catalog will come back in as Imported Keyword Tags, not People Tags.)

3) Select the Scratch Album

4) Right click on the same ghost tag and hit delete. (The reason for the Scratch Album is so you still have the media selected after deleting the keyword.)

5) Select all the media in Scratch

6) Click on the Information heading in the Tags panel.

7) Click on the "Edit IPTC Information" button.

8) Click on the Remove IPTC Metadata in the button left.

9) With all the media still selected, write the metadata back into the files (Ctrl-W).

[At this point, you have deleted the ghost tags from those files.]

10) Remove all the media from the Scratch Album.

11) Repeat the procedure for the next ghost keyword.

Note:
Unfortunately, this is a time-consuming process and as you select one ghost tag after another, you’ll probably find that some pictures are selected multiple times, if multiple ghost tags were associated with the picture. As you go through the process, fewer of these will occur.

The reason I use an Album is that when I write the metadata back into the files, the Album information doesn’t seem to be written into the file so I haven’t traded one problem (the ghost tag) for another.

A side-effect of this is that other information in the IPTC section of the metadata will also be deleted. It does not seem to delete the GPS and camera information but will delete any copyright data you added.

On Windows (I can't speak for Macs) , writing the metadata to the files (Ctrl+W) uses the users Temp folder (%tmp%) and doesn't seem to always clean it up. You should probably check that folder occasionally and delete any remaining files. It is perfectly safe to do this as any needed files will be locked. BTW, It's not a bad idea to clean this folder up periodically, regardless of what you are doing, as files build up over time and you can free up quite a bit of disk space.