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Keyword Consolidator Lightroom Plugin
Detects duplicates, similarities, plurals, and synonyms and offers choices for consolidation.
Quick Links (intra-page)
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Slow Links (off-site)
KeywordConsolidator Forum
See the readme file after downloading for usage and other notes.
ScreenShot #1 - Settings
- Plugin manager setup.
ScreenShot #2 - Initialization
- Initialization progress indicator.
ScreenShot #3 - Ignore Prompt
- Dismiss bogus similarities, forever, or just for this session.
ScreenShot #4 - Consolidation Form
- Remove obsolete keyword assignments in favor of other similar keywords, or a manually specified / newly created keyword.
These FAQs come partly from users, and partly from my imagination. Please let me know if there are errors or omissions in this FAQ - thanks.
NOTE: The following Q&A's assume that the plugin is working as I expect... If, after your best effort, still "no go", please let me know.
Question: Why would I ever need or want such a thing as KeywordConsolidator?
Answer: If your keyword list is "write-only", and you never intend to organize it, then maybe you don't need KeywordConsolidator. However, if you want to keep your keyword tree clean, and make sure photos have not been assigned keywords that disagree with your keywording conventions, and catch common keyword entry mistakes, then KeywordConsolidator can help.
Question: How to use KeywordConsolidator?
Answer: After installing KeywordConsolidator, go to the Plugin Manager and configure settings. Then de-select all photos (to do whole catalog), or select desired target photos and press Alt/Opt-F,S,S (in Lightroom). i.e. File Menu -> Plugin Extras -> KeywordConsolidator -> Consolidate.
Question: What does KeywordConsolidator do?
Answer: Presents options for reassigning similar but more favorable keywords to your photos, or create a new one to take the place of obsolete ones. Or, you can just have it log similarities, duplicates, and other keywording anomalies - then you can look at the log file and consolidate as you see fit.
Question: How extensive is the plural detection.
Answer: Not sure exactly, but it gets 99.9% or more I'd guess. Certainly gets things like Wolf & Wolves, Cactus & Cacti, Cherub & Cherbum.
Question: Is there a performance penalty for using KeywordConsolidator.
Answer: Initialization generally only needs to be done once before first use of the session - your choice whether it does it in the background initiated upon Lightroom startup, or initiated upon first use. Be fore-warned: It takes a long time if you have a lot of keywords, since it is comparing each keyword to every other keyword. Once initialized, subsequent consolidations are quick.
Question: What does test mode do?
Answer: The concept of test mode is to allow a dry run non-destructively. In the case of keyword consolidator, it means two things:
Question: Why would I want to enable/disable Auto-Init?
Answer: If you check/consolidate each photo or set of photos immediately after entering keywords, every time - you may want to enable auto-init. On the other hand, if you only consolidate your keywords once in a blue moon, you might as well leave it unchecked, in which case keyword consolidation will be initialized before first use.
Question: Where is the log file?
Answer: Log files are written to the root of 'Your Documents' folder - non-negotiable (plead with Adobe if you don't like them there). They will have a '.log' extension during consolidation, and a '.txt' extension once consolidation is complete.
Question: If I choose "Log" instead of "Consolidate", then what do I do?
Answer: In this case, Keyword Consolidator doesn't do the consolidation, but you can - Open the log file in a text editor and use Lightroom to consolidate as desired (there's another FAQ with more details about how to do that)
Question: What does 'Not this time' mean? (regarding the ignore/consolidate prompt)
Answer: Similarities are ignored for this run only - they will be presented again next time.
Question: What does "Never" mean? (regarding the ignore/consolidate prompt)
Answer: Similarities to ignore are saved in a file for next time. The list will grow "forever" until you hit the 'Reset Ignore List' button in the plugin manager or load the file into a text editor and delete the lines that represent the similarities you no longer want to be ignored (look in directory with catalog).
Question: What does the 'Reset Ignore List' button do? (plugin manager)
Answer: Deletes the file that contains all the keyword similarities that should be ignored. After hitting that button, you'll see similarities that you may have forgotten about next time you consolidate. - Do not hit that button during initialization - not sure what will happen at the moment - but I don't recommend trying it. You can also delete it using your OS to accomplish the same thing. Perhaps more useful however is to go in and delete just certain lines that shouldn't be there (lines that got there when you said 'No' but you really meant 'Yes').
Question: What does 'Yes' mean? (regarding the ignore/consolidate prompt)
Answer: Answering 'Yes' to the similarity ignore/consolidate prompt means the specified similarity will not be ignored, and will appear on the subsequent consolidation form.
Question: What if I say 'No' when I really mean 'Yes'? (regarding the ignore/consolidate prompt)
Answer: Hey - we all make mistakes. After quitting the Keyword Consolidator, you can load the 'RcKeywordConsolidatorSupport.lua' file that's in with your catalog and delete the lines resulting from a 'No' that should have been a 'Yes'.
Question: What if I say 'Yes' when I really mean 'No'? (regarding the ignore/consolidate prompt)
Answer: Just ignore the corresponding entry when consolidating - and next time: "Just Say No!". If you really want to, you could add a line to the support file to "fix" it.
Question: What happens when I click 'Quit'
Answer: The "similarities to ignore" list (basically a list of all the similarities you said 'Never' to) is saved and the consolidation session is ended.
Question: Ok, I give up - how do I consolidate my keywords using Lightroom proper.
Answer: In the Keyword List section - right-hand panel - Library Module:
Question: Not sure what to put in the keyword text fields... (on the consolidation form)
Answer: Allows you to specify keyword consolidation targets manually, or create anew.
- 1st item must refer to a top-level (root) keyword. It may or may not already exist. If it does not exist, it will be created. If it already exists, then synonyms and "include on export" will be updated if necessary. Note: this is a simple (single) keyword name.
- 2nd item must refer to a second-level keyword. It may or may not already exist. If it does not exist, it will be created. If it already exists, then synonyms and "include on export" will be updated if necessary. Note: this is a simple (single) keyword name.
...
- Last item will be the ultimate target keyword. It may or may not already exist. If it does not exist, it will be created...
If you want to specify a second target, then leave a blank line and specify a one or more entries that constitute your second target. Ditto for 3rd & 4th or until you run out of room on the form.
Notes:
-
Only one item is required to define a keyword target manually - i.e. the target can be a top-level keyword.
- Check 'Export' if you want the keyword to be included when the photo(s) are exported.
Question: What's with the make-shift combo box for keyword entry in the consolidation form?
Answer: There's a bug in Lightroom's combo box that effects keyboard text entry as the alternative to selecting a pre-defined list item. Hopefully any bugs in my make-shift work-around won't be as bad ;-}
Question: What exactly is a session? how about a run??
Answer: I'm not sure exactly, but the words center around whether you re-initialize the keyword base data, or just use what's already there. Ideally, one would re-initialize before each use, but since it takes so long, and since you may still get a lot of mileage without re-initializing, the option to re-initialize is optional. A good rule of thumb is:
Question: What does the 'Remove Parents' button do? (in the plugin manager).
Answer: Goes through all your photos that have keywords with descendents checked and removes the checkmark for all its parents for that photo. Say what? - The idea is to only check the leaf keywords. When you export, or search in Lightroom, the parents are considered to be included anyway. By not explicitly checking the parents, you can get a clearer picture of how your keywords are assigned.
For example: Lets say you have keywords Tree & Tree/Oak. And you have two photos: one of a tree that you don't know its type so you assign it to 'Tree', and an Oak Tree that you assign to Tree/Oak. By not having the later assigned to Tree as well, you can see that you only have one tree photo for which you did not know its type.
Question: Any workflow suggestions?
Answer:
If this is your first time using, I recommend:
Lots of different approachs depending on the keywords, the person, and the objective..., but I like to do it in phases:
Question: Anything I should know about migrating from Version 1 to Version 2?
Answer: Not really: Version 1 support file was named 'KeywordConsolidatorSupport.lua' and Version 2 support file is named 'RcKeywordConsolidatorSupport.lua'. Version 2 will read the Version 1 support file on first use, but then write the support file under the new name. So, you can keep the Version 1 support file as a backup if you like, or delete it after running Version 2.
Question: What does "Ignore Forever" mean (regarding keyword consolidation form).
Answer: All of the keyword paths, including synonyms (if synonyms preference is checked), that are on the form, will be saved in the ignore lists file, and ignored next time. To "undo" this action, quit, then either click 'Reset Ignore Lists' (big hammer: resets ALL ignore lists), or load RcKeywordConsolidatorSupport.lua into a text editor and delete the lines corresponding to the paths you do not want to ignore. (same folder as catalog).
Question: What if I make a mistake, and I want to undo a consolidation?
Answer: No worries - all consolidations can be undone using Lightroom's 'Edit Menu -> Undo' menu item, after quitting the consolidation. Note: You may have to undo more than one item to get everything you want undone: there is a separate undo item for each keyword creation, and one for each consolidation. So, just undo the consolidation, then undo the keyword creations if desired.
Question: Any other hot tips?
Answer: Yes: Backup your catalog before using, and:
Question: I have a suggestion that I think would make KeywordConsolidator better...
Answer: Do tell, and please identify the product, until I get that automated - thanks.
Question: Uh-oh - KeywordConsolidator has a problem...
Answer: Please report problems to me - and please identify the product, until I get that automated - thanks.
Question: KeywordConsolidator is too cool for words, how can I express my gratitude non-verbally?
Answer: Send Money $$$ - thanks.
Question: KeywordConsolidator is too cool for words, but not cool enough for money - now what?
Answer: Just tell me what you think - and please identify the product until I get that automated - thanks.
Question: What are some of KeywordConsolidator's limitations and what are your plans for the future of KeywordConsolidator?
Answer:
- Added initialization of keyword name field to my make-shift combo-box.
(Lightroom's combo-boxes are not reliable at present when combo-box input comes from keyboard entry (as opposed to list item selection)- thus I have brewed my own for the time being).
- Also added a prompt if there are no sources checked for consolidation that nothing was consolidated.
Please let me know how it works or doesn't if/when you try it - thanks.
- Changed manual target keyword name field from simple text to combo-box like thingy.
(Lightroom's combo-boxes are not reliable at present when combo-box input comes from keyboard entry (as opposed to list item selection)- thus I have brewed my own for the time being).
- Added capability to update pre-existing keyword synonyms and include-on-export setting when specifying an explicit target for consolidation.
- Added 'Remove Parents' button to plugin manager.
- Added an optional prompt for whether paths should be consolidated.
- Added an "Ignore Forever" button to the consolidation form.
- Keyword form now supports multiple targets.
- Fixed bug induced in 2.4.2 whereby all selected photos were receiving the target keywords, instead of just the one's having corresponding source keywords.
- Constrained scope of consolidations to effect only selected photos, if not doing the whole catalog. (Previously, even though it only consolidated keywords assigned to the selected photos, it would empty all photos from an obsoleting keyword, and assign them the preferred keyword(s)). I could make arguments for either case, but I like the new way better.
- this version should not be used for consolidating selected photos - 2.5.0 should.
- Removed photos with zero photo count from consolidation source list.
- Fixed bug in "Consolidate And Stay" whereby sometimes the last keyword in the manual entry target hierarchy would not be seen.
- Constrained scope of consolidations to effect only selected photos, if not doing the whole catalog.
- Added photo count next to keywords - not unlike how Lightroom does.
- Added keyword form entry error checking, plus option to prompt before new keywords are created.
- Also added the option to consolidate and stay, instead of always moving on, so multiple consolidations can be performed before moving to the next set of similarities/duplicates.
- Added option to ignore synonyms.
- Added check for keywords wrapped in quotes.
- In addition to "duplicates only", added option for selecting plurals or other similarities individually.
- Also added the ability to suppress the ignore-prompt.
- And the biggie - you can now create a new keyword (or keyword branch) as the target of consolidation.
- Added option to deal with duplicates only - similarities are ignored.
- Reduced logging in non-verbose mode.
- Rewrite for plugin-assisted consolidation, instead of just logging for manual consolidation in Lightroom proper.
Fixed a bug that was causing suppression of important information from the log file, and seeing as the generation of information for the log file is all this plugin does so far, it was a rather serious bug!
Initial release.
acceptance of Download Terms & Conditions will be required
KeywordConsolidator Lightroom Plugin - Newest Release - recommended (unless it doesn't work for you).
A Previous Version - not recommended (unless newest release isn't working for you - in which case: please let me know!).
| Static content updated 2010-07-14 | Copyright 2007 - robcole.com - all rights reserved. | Dynamic content updated 07:20:22 AM |