Assign keywords

Keywords are tags or labels you can add to your photos so that you can easily find all the photos in a specific category. iPhoto offers a selection of pre-set keywords (Birthday, Family, Favorite, and so on), which you can use or change. You can also create your own keywords.

To assign keywords to one or more photos:

  1. Select the photo or photos you want to add a keyword to.

    You can also select an Event. A keyword that’s added to an Event will be added to all the photos in the Event.

  2. Click the Info button in the toolbar to open the Information pane.

  3. In the Information pane, click Keywords, click “Add a keyword,” and then type your keyword into the Keywords field.

  4. Press Return.

  5. To set additional keywords for the same photo, repeat steps 3 and 4.

    You can add as many keywords as you like.

    Note:  If your new keywords don’t appear, choose View > Keywords.

  6. When you’re done, click the Info button to close the Information pane.

To add or change keywords in the Keywords list:

  1. Choose Window > Manage My Keywords. (If you’re in full-screen view, move your pointer to the top of the screen to make the menu bar appear.)

  2. Click the Edit Keywords button.

  3. To add a keyword, click the Add (+) button and type your new keyword.

  4. To edit a keyword, double-click the keyword you want to change and type your changes.

  5. When you’re done, click OK.

To delete keywords:

  • To remove a keyword from a selected photo or photos, do the following:

    1. Select the photo or photos.

    2. Click the Info button in the toolbar to open the Information pane.

    3. Select the keyword, and press the Delete key.

  • To delete a keyword from the Keywords list and from all photos to which it was assigned, do the following:

    1. Select the photo or photos.

    2. Choose Window > Manage My Keywords.

    3. Click the Edit Keywords button.

    4. Select the keyword and click the Delete (–) button.

Create or change shortcuts for favorite keywords:

You can make your favorite keywords even easier to use by assigning each keyword a keyboard shortcut, usually the keyword’s first letter.

If the first letter of a new keyword is already taken by another favorite keyword, iPhoto uses the second letter of the new keyword. You can also change shortcuts yourself.

Note:  New keywords you create are automatically placed in your Quick Group and assigned a shortcut.

  1. Choose Window > Manage My Keywords. (If you’re in full-screen view, move your pointer to the top of the screen to make the menu bar appear.)

  2. Click the Edit Keywords button.

    You can see the keyboard shortcut (if any) to the right of the keyword.

  3. Select the keyword that has a shortcut you want to change, or that you want to add a shortcut to.

  4. Click the shortcut field (to the far right of the selected keyword), and type a letter or character in the field.

    Image of shortcuts for keywords

    You can also select a keyword in the list and click the Shortcut button to open the shortcut field.

  5. Press Return after each shortcut addition or change.

  6. When you’re done, click OK.

To use shortcuts:

  1. Choose Window > Manage My Keywords to open the Keywords pane. (If you’re in full-screen view, move your pointer to the top of the screen to make the menu bar appear.)

  2. Select one or more photos you want to add a particular keyword to and press the shortcut key for the keyword you want.

    The keyword is assigned to the photo or photos.

If you want to add or change shortcuts, see the previous task.