Transfer keywords from a Word table

[westk28239169]

I have scanned approximately 1500 vintage family photographs.  I have documented the details of the images in a Microsoft word table.  Each image has a row in the table, with the columns containing information about the image.  For example, columns are 'file number', 'persons in image, listed left to right', 'comments written on image', 'comments about image', and 'scanning details'.  I would like the information for each image to appear as keyword data, so a future user could search the images by keyword.  What is the easiest way to transfer the words from the table to the associated images?  Thanks.

[john beardsworth · Accepted solution]

westk28239169  wrote

I have scanned approximately 1500 vintage family photographs.  I have documented the details of the images in a Microsoft word table.... What is the easiest way to transfer the words from the table to the associated images?

Cut and paste, maybe. Or try https://www.photographers-toolbox.com/products/lrtransporter.php - you will have to convert the Word document to a CSV or tab-separated file first.

John

[westk28239169]

After a bit of familiarization using the link you provided, it appears that you have provided a very powerful solution to my question.  Thanks!

West

[westk28239169]

John -

I saw your name in a related chain regarding the fact that LR forces keywords to be alphabetized.  I would prefer them not to be alphabetized.  Are keywords imported using Irtransporter rearranged by LR to be alphabetized?  Thanks again.

[johnrellis]

Are keywords imported using Irtransporter rearranged by LR to be alphabetized?

No matter how you assign keywords to a photo, whether within the user interface or via a plugin, when you export a photo, LR will always alphabetize the keywords. 

If you want an option for LR to preserve the keyword order (e.g. for dealing with stock agencies), please add your me-too vote and details of why you'd like that feature to this feature request in the official Adobe feedback forum: Lightroom: Custom sort order of keywords (instead of alphabetic). | Photoshop Family Customer Commun...

[westk28239169]

Another question.  I discovered that one can apparently paste a rather lengthy set of text into the ' captions' metadata.  It also appears that the text is not changed by LR when exporting.  Furthermore, it appears that it is generally possible to search for images with specific words used in the captions metadata.  It also appears that the text is not always called 'captions' by various software used to view images.  In summary, it appears that entering text into 'captions' will meet my need to list persons in a photo from left to right, etc., and use search techniques to find images with specific names etc listed.    So the new question is:  can LRtransporter be used to import from a table into captions?

Thanks again for your patience.

[johnrellis]

LR/Transporter will import the captions from comma-separated values (CSV) file.  I don't believe Word can generate a CSV file -- you'd have to put your table of captions in Excel (or perhaps Google Docs) and then save the CSV file from there.  The free trial of LR/Transporter will let you try up to 10 files at a time, so you can make sure you've got a workflow that works for you before paying for the license.