

The Structured Keywords dialogue (Windows version shown above) makes it easy to choose a single narrow keyword and end up with a set of hierarchically branching keywords with only seconds of effort. Synonyms: Apply Synonyms along the entire path Unless you have a more specific need, you'll probably find it best to set them as follows:Īpply to: set to Keywords and check "Append"

These provide several options for applying keywords terms and their hierarchical branches, so check the default behaviors to be sure they work as you expect. In the lower left corner of this floating version of the Structured Keywords Panel, are three pull-down menus. This version of the panel has more options than you see when accessing Structured Keywords from within the IPTC Info of IPTC Stationery Pad dialogues.

If opened from the Image menu, the Structured Keywords panel will remain open while you keyword. Saving and backing up your lists is a good idea, especially if you are keywording with several different computers, ensuring all words are spelled and applied consistently.īut note there are several ways to open the Structured Keywords Panel and apply keywords. You can Import text files with the Load and Merge buttons, and save edited lists with the Save button. There are a number of commercially available keyword catalog sets such as the Controlled Vocabulary Keyword Catalog, though you can also search on "Photo Mechanic Keyword Catalog" for other options. You can create controlled vocabularies from scratch by right-clicking in the columns and selecting Create Child or Create Siblings, etc. Selecting a narrow term, such as boy nets you people, human beings, humans, person, male biy, lad and young man, with a single find and a few clicks of your mouse. The major advantage to this method is you can leverage the hierarchical nature of a keyword set. You can also import constructed sets of these keywords from specially prepared text files. While Keywords lets you pick terms from a flat list of keywords, the Structured Keywords Panel allows you to create a hierarchically arranged set of keyword branches that start with a broad topic term and fork out to contain any number of narrower terms. And this may be sufficient for those who only deal with a few keywords. You can also move existing keywords from an image to the master list. You'll find a simple list of terms that can be pulled from a master list and assigned to an image. In early version of Photo Mechanic, the only other method was the IPTC Keywords dialogue accessed by the Edit Keywords.

The other options are the Keywords and Structured Keywords panels. The simplest method is to type terms directly into the Keyword field, using a comma (or a semi-colon if you chose that option in Photo Mechanic's Preferences) to separate each term. There are several ways to apply keywords with Photo Mechanic.
