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Applying keywords in Bridge

Michael Ninness

This video shows you how to create and apply keywords to images in Bridge. You learn how to add a new category of keywords, and how to use the Filter panel to sort and view images by keywords.

Requirements

To follow along with this article, you will need the following software:

• Adobe Bridge CS3

Watch this tutorial in the Adobe Creative Suite 3 Video Workshop.

Applying keywords

1. In Adobe Bridge, open any folder of images on your computer.

2. Choose View > Keywords to open the Keywords panel (see Figure 1). The panel displays some of the default keyword categories or set sand keywords built into Adobe Bridge. You can also create your own.

   

   Figure 1: The Keywords panel displays built-in sets of keywords.

3. Click the New Keyword Set button, the folder icon, at the bottom of the Keywords panel to create a new keyword set.
4. Type a name for the set name. Use a name that describes the images. In this example, I used the set name family. Choose something that describes the images you have in your folder.
5. To add keywords to the set, click the set name you created and then click the New Keyword button at the bottom of the panel.
6. Type a keyword that describes some of the images in the folder. In this case, I typed Maija, which is my daughter's name..
7. Click the set name again and click the New Keyword button.
8. Type another keyword that describes some of the images in the folder. In this case, I typed Sofija, which is the name of my second daughter.
9. Select the one of the images in the folder and then hold down the Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) key as you click to multiple select images in the folder. In this case, I multiple selected all the images with my daughter Sofija.
10. Go to the Keywords panel and select one of the keywords you created. In this case, I selected the keyword Sofija..

11. Click away from the images to deselect them. Select one of the images you selected in the last two steps. Notice the keyword you selected is checked for this image (see Figure 2).

    

    Figure 2: You can assign keywords to individual images or batches of images.

12. Select a different image and then Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) to multiple-select additional, related images. In this case, I selected all the images of my daughter Maija.
13. Go to the Keywords panel and select the second keyword you created.

14. Choose View > Filter Panel to open the Filter panel (see Figure 3). Adobe Bridge lets you filter the current view of the folder contents based on keywords. A short report in the Keywords section of the panel lists the keywords and how many images are assigned to each.

    

    Figure 3: The Filter panel lets you filter the view of folder contents based on keywords.

15. Click the first keyword you applied (I am clicking Sofija) to filter the current view and view only those images.
16. Select the one of the images and choose the Keywords panel. To remove the keyword from this image, simply click the keyword again. Click to deselect the keyword.
17. Notice that the current view in the Content panel updates and the image is removed; the filter is still on.
18. To view all images, go back to the Filter panel and click to deselect the keyword.

Where to go from here

For more information and additional tutorials, visit the Adobe Design Center.