Lightroom not reading Keywords from Photo Mechanic

[Averil2]

I work on a MacBook Pro laptop and have the latest update of Lightroom Classic. I also have the latest Photo Mechanic. I load my photos into PM and put keywords in the IPTC catalogue as well as copyright info and when I add the photos in Lightroom the keywords etc are not there. Is there something I have to set in Lightroom in order for LR to bring the keywords with the photos?

[johnrellis]

Lots of people use Photo Mechanic with LR. If you upload a sample keyworded photo to Dropbox or similar and post the sharing link here, we can take a look at what might be going wrong.

[Averil2]

Thanks John for replying. I have been using PM for a couple of years now and just noticed the keywords weren't being brought over. I don't know what loading a picture would show except a picture with no keywords.

[johnrellis]

I don't know what loading a picture would show except a picture with no keywords.

It would show if you are successfully getting the keywords written to the file before importing it into LR.  (That is often the cause of failure to import keywords  -- they're not actually in the imported file at the time of import.)

But it's more likely your import metadata preset setting Copyright is clearing the keywords.  Edit the preset, scroll down, and clear the check to the left of Keywords:

[Averil2]

Yes mine is checked. So by golly that could be it. I will uncheck it. I have a couple of big sports events this weekend so I will see if it is the answer to this. I knew it had to be something simple. I will update you. Thanks!

[john beardsworth]

Averil2  wrote

Is there something I have to set in Lightroom in order for LR to bring the keywords with the photos?

Are you applying a Metadata Preset in LR's Import dialog? Review it, because it might be setting the keywords to blank.

[Averil2]

Hi John Beardsworth, yes I do have metadata in the Lightroom. Not keywords but copyright info. That would block the metadata coming from LR?

[john beardsworth]

What I asked was "Are you applying a Metadata Preset in LR's Import dialog?" If this preset has keywords ticked, it would blank the keywords you'd added in PM.

[Averil2]

Sorry, yes I did have the keyword box checked. So I will uncheck it and see how it goes. I have a couple of big events this weekend and I will see how it goes. Thanks. I will update you all.

[john beardsworth]

Leaving the keyword box (or other box) checked is a very common reason for the problem you've described. As a general rule, I suggest unchecking all items with the Check None button, and then ticking only those you want.

[Averil2]

So I shot my two events this weekend. I use PM and keywords and when I brought it over to LR I unchecked the keyword box. And voila the keywords from PM came through! So thinking about it more, if I check the keyword box and have no keywords in it  then duh it will over right what PM has. How did I not think of this sooner?!!!. Thank you to both of you Johns for your help. This has helped me tremendously

[Averil2]

Oh also I set up a new preset in LR called Photo Mechanic which is actually no preset. I unchecked all the boxes in the metadata. I apply this every time I bring something from PM. Hope this helps others