Keywording in Adobe Bridge

[Martyn]

I've fairly recently discovered keywords in Adobe Bridge and realised how powerful they can be.

I shoot a bit of motorsport and the work we shoot is usually split up by driver, so assigning keywords (driver name(s)) to each image is useful (especially when there's more than one driver in the shot).

I'm struggling a little bit though, because although it speeds my workflow up in some areas, it has slowed me down in others and I'm wondering if it's just my technique.

I'm used to opening Bridge in the filmstrip view, using the left and right arrows to scroll through the images, then using a shortcut key (like ctrl+6) to set a label on the file.

The problem with keywords is that there's no shortcuts for them. I can understand that since the amount of keywords is limitless, and that's not my problem...

I don't seem to be able to quickly assign keywords to files while scrolling through them, because once you click the tick box on the keyword, the filmstrip panel has lost focus, so the left and right keys no longer function as expected.

I like to use the mouse as little as possible and this is just quite annoying for me. I'd like to be able to have the mouse pointer hovering in the keywords panel, and be able to just keep scrolling through the images and assigning keywords quickly as I go.

I hope that makes sense... has anyone got any suggestions?

Cheers!

 

[Surrey Sam]

Hi there,

The way I do this is to select all the images you want to assign the keyword to first by using ctrl and then click image in the filmstrip. Once selected you can assign the relevent keyword or multiple keywords to the selected images.

Simpler and quicker, hope that helps a little.

Sam

 

[DazJW]

Can't you just click the file you have selected again? It's only one more click and a small movement in addition to ticking the keywords.

Personally I do what Sam has said and batch select, but I pretty much always have more than one image in a row that needs a certain keyword. I also have too many keywords not to have to use the mouse a lot anyway because they take up more than the full height of my screen - make, model and any additional model info in a hierarchy setup (e.g. Mk2 is a sub keyword of Escort which is a sub keyword of Ford) and car numbers grouped by hundreds.

It's a strange oversight on Adobe's part though, I can't see any use for the arrow keys in the keyword panel.

 

[Martyn]

The way I do this is to select all the images you want to assign the keyword to first by using ctrl and then click image in the filmstrip. Once selected you can assign the relevent keyword or multiple keywords to the selected images.

Simpler and quicker, hope that helps a little.

Not really, unfortunately. That actually sounds slower than my labeling method (which is already too slow), as you have to hold down Ctrl and click on the images, which means each time you "add" an image to the group, you've got less space in the preview to see what it is!

Can't you just click the file you have selected again? It's only one more click and a small movement in addition to ticking the keywords.

You actually just have to click anywhere in the preview pane to bring focus back to it, but it's still annoying.

Maybe I just work quickly, but that extra click JUST to select a file then to send the mouse back over to where it just was is infuriating, considering it's for EVERY image. Even worse when you're using the trackpad on a laptop.


Oh well, I guess it's impossible at the moment. Annoying.

 

[maninsuitcase]

Does bridge have the "spray can" tool that Lightroom does? Just set it to the keywords and "spray"

 

[Martyn]

Not as far as I'm aware, but again, that sounds like you pick a keyword and then apply it to the relevant images, rather than flicking through the images and picking the relevant keywords.

The images that I'm working with are sometimes hard to tell which driver(s) are in them from the thumbnails, and there's quite a few cases where there's more than one driver in the image, too, or other non-driver based keywords need to be added.