One of iPhoto ’s most useful — but underused — features is keywords . Once you ’ve arrogate keywords to photos , you could quickly find , for example , all photos include Uncle Dave , all photos of work colleagues , or all photos from your Hawaii vacations . If you oft require to find particular types of impression , you could set up Smart Albums that utilize keywords as criteria . Finally , if you ’re aFlickrenthusiast , and you use Flickr Export Plugin for iPhoto to upload your photos to Flickr , you may use keywords to “ mark ” those pic first .
Unfortunately , in my experience , few the great unwashed actually employ keywords on a regular basis . Some people just do n’t know about keywords , but even among those who do , it does n’t seem to be a popular feature . I think at least one reason for that is that iPhoto ’s keyword user interface is a bit klunky . To designate keywords , you have to select the trust photo(s ) and then either drag them to each keyword box in the Keywords pane of the main iPhoto window , or launch the Photo Info palette and click individual boxes in the Keywords tabloid . Not a horrible interface , but also not one that makes it easy to cursorily assign keywords to many photos . And if you want your keywords to appear in alphabetic order in iPhoto , you have to rearrange them manually , in iPhoto ’s preferences , via puff - and - drop-off .
Thankfully , there ’s a better direction ; one that I learn about via my colleague Rob Griffiths : Ken Ferry’sKeyword Assistant 1.9.3 (; gratis ) . After installing Keyword Assistant , you ’ll see a newKAmenu in iPhoto . select Show Assistant from that card , and Keyword Assistant ’s keyword - input window appears .
Using this modest window , you’re able to quickly attribute keywords to selected pic : Just type the name of the keyword and dawn Assign ( or , more conveniently , mechanical press Return ) . But the smasher of Keyword Assistant is that it ’s smart than a simple text - entry field — it auto - completes based on your existing keywords . So , for example , typeh - a - wandHawaiiwill appear ( assume it ’s one of your keywords , of course of instruction ) ; military press Return to assign that keyword . This auto - accomplished characteristic also prioritizes keywords by most - late use ; so if you ’ve amaze the keywordsNorth CarolinaandNorth Dakota , typingn - o - rwill display the one you assigned most recently . This is a utile feature when assign the same keywords to a serial of photos .
What if you want to assign multiple keywords ? Press Tab alternatively of Return and Keyword Assistant will mechanically insert a comma and a space ; you may then start typing the next keyword , and so on . When you ’re done , printing press Return or chatter Assign and all of the keywords will be apply to the choose photo(s ) .
you could even createnewkeywords right from this duologue : just typecast the young keyword and assign it . You ’ll be necessitate if you really desire to create the raw keyword . Click Create and it ’s tote up to iPhoto ’s keyword listing and assigned to the selected photo(s ) . ( you could choose to disable this ratification dialogue via Keyword Assistant ’s preferences , approachable via the iPhoto preferences dialog . you’re able to also choose whether these new keywords will be added to the end of the keyword list or sneak in alphabetically . ) And unlike iPhoto , where produce many keywords clutters the port and makes total keywords to photograph a trouble , Keyword Assistant makes it nearly as easy to use 40 keywords as it is to use four .
If you like to set apart people ’s epithet as keywords , an choice in Keyword Assistant ’s preferences will automatically look for Address Book for name calling when entering keywords . For instance , if I ’ve got a picture of Christopher Breen and Jason Snell , typingc - h - r Tab j - a - s Returnwill set apart their names to the photograph as keywords . ( observe that these names will be contribute to iPhoto ’s keyword list , just as if you ’d created new keywords . )
you could also take away keywords for an image : just type those keywords into the boxwood and hold down the Option cay ; this changes the Assign push button to Remove . Or you’re able to remove all keywords from an range of a function by prefer KA : murder All Keywords ( or pressing Control+Command+Delete ) .
While adding keywords , you’re able to navigate photos without having to interchange back to the principal iPhoto window by pressing Command+left arrow and Command+right pointer to select the previous or next picture , respectively . Unfortunately , you ca n’t add the transmutation key to these crosscut to select multiple photos , as you might expect ; for that , you require to switch to the main window .
Although the above description may not seem like a big time - recoverer , once you ’ve used Keyword Assistant for a few minutes , you ’ll line up yourself breezing through the process of designate keywords to item-by-item photos .
Keyword Assistant also prepare iPhoto ’s own keyword interface a routine easier to use by letting you alphabetise keywords — just take KA : Alphabetize Keywords . ( Although I found that I had to close and then re - open iPhoto ’s Keywords preferences window for the list of keywords to be udpated . )
So what ’s not to like about Keyword Assistant ? I already mentioned the unfitness to apply the keyboard to select multiple pic while the Keyword Assistant window is fighting . Keyboard Assistant also wo n’t work with keywords containing commas or with a space at the commencement or ending . last , because Keyword Assistant work on so closely with iPhoto ’s own code , novel version of iPhoto may “ break off ” Keyword Assistant , so you should make certain — by visiting the developer ’s situation or checking out the substance abuser reviews on VersionTracker.com or MacUpdate.com — that the latest version of Keyword Assistant is compatible with the version of iPhoto hunt on your Mac .
But these flaws are pocket-sized compare to the benefits Keyword Assistant offers over iPhoto ’s own keyword interface — enough of an advance for me that I ’ve in reality started using keywords . ( I ’d always want to but establish the summons of assigning keywords in iPhoto to be too wearisome . ) And that ’s a significant hurdle to clear : As the developer puts it , “ [ T]here is n’t anything you’re able to do in KA that you ca n’t do in iPhoto . But if you wo n’t do it in iPhoto , then it does n’t weigh . ”
Keyword Assistant 1.9.3 requires iPhoto 4.0.3 or later and Mac OS X 10.4.7 or afterwards . It is a Universal binary program .
