Mac 101: Keywords in iPhoto
It's easy to fill your iPhoto library with pictures. However, the task of finding the ones you're after isn't. The Events feature of iPhoto '08 is helpful, and you can improve it with Keywords.Think of keywords as tags. You can assign any keyword(s) to any photo, like "Suzie," "Summer" or "Beach." Then, simply search "Suzie" to find relevant photos, sorted by event. Here's how to do it.
From the "View" menu, select "Keywords" (or hit Shift-Apple-K). Next, click beneath your photos to reveal the keyword text field. Enter as many comma-separated keywords as you like; previously used keywords will auto-complete.
Here's an added bonus. You can also search by keyword via the Image Browser in Pages (see above).
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Céd said 7:17AM on 9-19-2008
I would like to do this with my iphone.
Do you know any possibilities ?
Thx
Céd
Reply
Meatleg said 8:04AM on 9-19-2008
The iPhone app called AirMe has options that allow you to edit tags on an image after uploading it to Flickr....
I don't believe that it will transfr that data back to iPhoto though when you sync it.... haven't tried that yet...
Anthony said 7:50AM on 9-19-2008
When I tag keywords using iPhoto or even Aperture, looking for those keywords using the Media Browser doesn't find them. It only finds pictures I've keyworded and embedded in the jpg a long time ago using other programs.
I think iPhoto and Aperture keep the keywords in their own internal database, and don't embed them directly in the picture files.
Or is there a way to tell iPhoto and Aperture to embed the keywords in the master files?
Reply
Richard said 11:11AM on 9-19-2008
9-19-2008 @ 7:50AM
Anthony said...
Or is there a way to tell iPhoto and Aperture to embed the keywords in the master files?
Aperture will copy its keywords to the IPTC keywords field on export if you ask it to.
Richard said 11:22AM on 9-19-2008
iPhoto will also add its keywords to IPTC on export.
William said 9:46AM on 9-19-2008
Gotta love the shout out to Scranton! It's even complete with pictures of the tree house in Nay Aug Park! Rock on tuaw, show your Scranton roots.
Reply
Ed said 10:31AM on 9-19-2008
What I really want is something to sync spotlight comments to iPhoto or Aperture keywords and viceversa. With Apple's push for spotlight, it's amazing to me this isn't supported natively.
Reply
Kerry said 10:41AM on 9-19-2008
I use Keyword Manager (from Bullstorm) for iPhoto and find the add-in to be excellent. Events and keywords in iPhoto8 was a step in the right direction but Keyword Manager near perfection (if only it could also update IPTC data it would be perfect).
Reply
babyfett said 10:53AM on 9-19-2008
Is there a way to batch key word pics in the same event?
Reply
Richard said 12:21PM on 9-19-2008
iPhoto/Aperture keywords exported as IPTC are found by Spotlight. That is, when the files are not in the iPhoto Library.
Reply
Caitlin said 1:32PM on 9-19-2008
It's neat to combine keywords with the smart albums.
For example, I have keywords "Link", "Kagome", and "Knox", for my cats. I also created a smart album called "Kittens" that pulls photos with those three keywords. I never have to manually keep up with updating my kitten album.
Reply
Nedward said 1:53PM on 9-19-2008
@Kerry, I can’t recommend Bullstorm’s Keyword Manager enough – it fills a big hole in iPhoto’s functionality. More here »
Reply
Nedward said 1:55PM on 9-19-2008
Sorry, here is the link: http://nedward.org/2007/12/11/two-essential-iphoto-plugins
Reply
William said 2:17PM on 9-19-2008
I have always thought it was unfortunate [and somewhat short-sighted] that iPhoto couldn't embed keywords in IPTC or XMP metadata. Additionally, it would be so awesome if we could then search for those tags on our iPhone too. Having to manually find a single picture among thousands is kind of painful.
Reply