Import Keywords from Text File

[MikeV99]

I am migrating from LR to elements. I have my keywords in a text file. How do I import these keywords from the text file into Elements 2018?

[MichelBParis]

MikeV99  wrote

I am migrating from LR to elements. I have my keywords in a text file. How do I import these keywords from the text file into Elements 2018?

This feature only imports your keywords categories structure. The container, not the contents. If you have to re-import your files, it's possible to restore the structure before importing files with the metadata. The import command keeps the structure. In the Organizer, the drop-down menu to import the text file is in the right part of the title line for keyword tags.

If you have written your keywords to the files in the metadata header or sidecar files in LR, you'll recover your tags, captions and ratings. You'll lose your collections (albums in PSE) and stacks.

[MikeV99]

I am not sure which feature you are referring to in your response?

I have not yet added my files to the Elements catalog. I was going to build my keyword structure first. In LR one can import/export keywords from/to a .txt file. In the Export/Import Keywords from a File in Elements it is looking for a .xml file type. I have a fairly well defined keyword structure but it is .txt, not .xml.

I assume that when I import my .cr2 files, the metadata in the associated XMP sidecar files will be loaded into Elements.

Don't see a way to get my keyword structure into Elements first.

Thanks

Mike

[MichelBParis · Accepted solution]

MikeV99  wrote

I am not sure which feature you are referring to in your response?

Mike,

I meant the feature to save the keywords structure into a text file. I incorrectly assumed that the text file format would be compatible between LR and PSE. The xml file type in Elements is a structured text format different from txt. It's used to keep a common structure between catalogs. I imagine the .txt format in LR has the same purpose but I don't have LR on my present computer, so I can't check now. If the .txt LR format has another purpose, it would be good to have the same xml format between LR and PSE. You can convert PSE catalogs to the LR format, not the other way round.

I assume that when I import my .cr2 files, the metadata in the associated XMP sidecar files will be loaded into Elements.

Yes they will be imported.

There is also the option to 'save' your edits in DNG format.

[MikeV99]

PSE uses .xml and LR uses .txt. Of course, when you import files into PSE it brings the keywords from the .xmp files or metadata in the case of psd & dng. Unfortunately, I have a huge structure so that means a lot of work to edit the imported keywords into a meaningful structure.

My normal workload is .cr2 --> .dng --> .psd so really no change in using PSE.

After importing my 15,000 raw files into PSE and looking at the results, I have decided that using the PSE organizer doesn't give me any benefits over using Bridge 2018 standalone (not part of Adobe subscription). So, I think I will use Bridge 2018 and PSE 2018 which will give me products that are kept current but do not require a subscription. In comparing PSE with CS6, PSE pretty much has the tool set that I tend to use in CS6.

Thank you for the assistance.

[MichelBParis]

It's a good idea to use Bridge if you are used to it.

In the same vein, since you'll be missing a number of Photoshop features with PSE, I highly recommend using the external tools like Elements+ (my choice) or ElementsXXL to get a lot of scripts to get them back.

Since you are shooting raw, you do know that ACR in Elements has less features (but the main ones). Your previous edits are recognized, but you can only change or add the available tools in the Elements ACR version.