Assigning keywords in Aperture

[Junglefrog]

I know this is probably a question asked before but the last post I could find was in march on the same issue and the answers given there don't seem to work...
I am new to Mac (received it yesterday) and am trying out both aperture and lightroom to see which one I like best for my workflow .
However; when I try to assign keywords to a group of images; it only assigns it to one of the images. I read somewhere I had to make sure it wasn't on primary which I did, still no results. I have tried entering it directly into the metadata - doesn't work. I tried entering it in the keyword hub, also doesn't work and I tried entering it in the keyword control panel in the bottom, also doesn't work... I'm a bit at a loss here on how to make this work, as I cannot work without keywords!
Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks

 

[Westside guy]

On the metadata panel, in the upper right corner, there's an arrow that accesses a pulldown menu. From that menu, select "batch change" - that'll do it.

 

[kenmoberg]

I used lightroom for a long time but when I switched to a mac, I have been trying to use aperture since it integrates better with iLife etc. I think aperture is very weak on keywords vs. lightroom. The search function is a bit more clumsy and I've had a problem with the referenced photos refreshing the thumbnails constantly (see other threads for that headache). If it wasn't for the needed integration with iLife (or for that matter, the finder), I would use lightroom in a heartbeat. I'm still trying to get aperture it's fair shake however.

The way I process keywords in aperture, is to select the photos you want to tag, bring up the keyword HUD (shift H) and drag a tag from the HUD to the photo group. It seems counter intuitive especially since lightroom has you drag the photos to the tag but at least it does work.....too much mouse movement for my taste.

Regards.

 

[srt4cane]

Hey sorry for the threadjack but I also have a question regarding keywords.

I'm trying to label all the pictures of plants in my Aperture library under the keyword "Flowers".

However, when I type in Flowers in the "add keyword" box it gives me three options on how i can name it:

Flowers (details)
Flowers (preparations)
Flowers (Stock categories)

What the heck are these things? How do i get the keyword to just show Flowers?

THanks

 

[Digital Skunk]

I used lightroom for a long time but when I switched to a mac, I have been trying to use aperture since it integrates better with iLife etc. I think aperture is very weak on keywords vs. lightroom. The search function is a bit more clumsy and I've had a problem with the referenced photos refreshing the thumbnails constantly (see other threads for that headache). If it wasn't for the needed integration with iLife (or for that matter, the finder), I would use lightroom in a heartbeat. I'm still trying to get aperture it's fair shake however.

The way I process keywords in aperture, is to select the photos you want to tag, bring up the keyword HUD (shift H) and drag a tag from the HUD to the photo group. It seems counter intuitive especially since lightroom has you drag the photos to the tag but at least it does work.....too much mouse movement for my taste.

Regards.

Hey sorry for the threadjack but I also have a question regarding keywords.

I'm trying to label all the pictures of plants in my Aperture library under the keyword "Flowers".

However, when I type in Flowers in the "add keyword" box it gives me three options on how i can name it:

Flowers (details)
Flowers (preparations)
Flowers (Stock categories)

What the heck are these things? How do i get the keyword to just show Flowers?

THanks

I really mean no offense when I say, that both issues stem from a lack of user experience. When you add a keyword Aperture usually lets you add the keyword no questions asked, so I don't know what you are doing to prompt any options for naming. Can you be a little more specific as to what you are doing?

As for the keywording in LR, the only advantage in LR is that there are flags as well as colors to separate your photos. The lack of smart albums is hinderance IMHO. What's the point of being able to use keywords if I can use a smart album to automatically bunch them together, otherwise i have to do a search each and every time.

LR runs faster, but that is because the app is missing a lot of note worthy features found in all other forms of competition.

To the OP, the "batch change" option is the best bet to keyword a bunch of photos at once.

 

[OreoCookie]

Aperture isn't really weak on keywords, it's just very complicated. You can assign keywords to several images at once without batch processing them. Press Shift + H to get the Keywords HUD. It's quite easy to search keywords.

If you select several files at once and use drag 'n' drop, then the keyword is assigned to all selected images.

 

[pprior]

I know this is probably a question asked before but the last post I could find was in march on the same issue and the answers given there don't seem to work...
I am new to Mac (received it yesterday) and am trying out both aperture and lightroom to see which one I like best for my workflow .
However; when I try to assign keywords to a group of images; it only assigns it to one of the images. I read somewhere I had to make sure it wasn't on primary which I did, still no results. I have tried entering it directly into the metadata - doesn't work. I tried entering it in the keyword hub, also doesn't work and I tried entering it in the keyword control panel in the bottom, also doesn't work... I'm a bit at a loss here on how to make this work, as I cannot work without keywords!
Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks

There are several ways to add keywords using aperture. the way I personally do it is either:

1) Use quick assigned keywords: Press Shift-D and you'll get a quick assigned keyword list. Using Option-# (numbers) you can then quickly assign keywords as you review files. You can create multiple lists of keyword descriptors to be used with different projects
2) use the keyword HUD - here you can access all the keywords and simply drag and drop them

In order to assign to multiple selected pictures, you have to have the "toggle primary only" option deselected. There is (on my screen setup at least) a little rectangle icon at the bottom of my main window, just next tothe one that is for full-screen viewing (the dark rectangle with arrows going out) - it's the last one on the right. Making sure that is DE-selected will allow any keyword applied to apply to ALL selected images. The other way is just to use "s" which toggles this option on and off.

I know this question was asked awhile ago, but hopefully this is useful.

Regards.

 

[Master-D]

Ahh. Toggle primary button.. presumably this affects other processes as well as just add keywords? Add other metadata possibly? any clues as to what this does and does not affect? when deleting files for example, if you have multiple selected and delete them, it deletes all regardless of this switch.

In order to assign to multiple selected pictures, you have to have the "toggle primary only" option deselected. There is (on my screen setup at least) a little rectangle icon at the bottom of my main window, just next tothe one that is for full-screen viewing (the dark rectangle with arrows going out) - it's the last one on the right. Making sure that is DE-selected will allow any keyword applied to apply to ALL selected images. The other way is just to use "s" which toggles this option on and off.

I know this question was asked awhile ago, but hopefully this is useful.

Regards.