There is a quick and easy way in Lightroom to ensure that you have applied the same keyword, or set of keywords, to a group of images.

An easy way to be sure that all of the images are key-worded correctly is to look for the asterisk (*) symbol following a keyword in the keyword Tag window.

In the example above all of the thumbnails have been selected and a summary of the keywords which have been used is shown in the bottom right Keyword Tags box.

Note that there is an asterisk (*) following all of the keywords except the word Devon.

What this is telling us?

a) all of the images have been tagged with Devon
b) keywords which are followed by an asterisk have been applied to only a selection of the images.

So how do you quickly apply the keywords to the whole selection?

Simple. Just select the asterisk for each keyword that you want to apply. Delete the asterisk and press Return.

This applies the keyword to the whole selection of images.

This is very useful in situations such as when you want to mark a whole set of images as being shot in a specific location.

Let me know if this tip helps you.

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Tags: Keywords, Library Module

Lightroom should automatically launch and display the contents of memory card or other connected device such as a camera.

You can find that this no longer happens. If you are having to force Lightroom to read your media cards rather than them open automatically the read on.

To restore the auto launch behavior just do the following:

On a Mac

Run the application Image Capture.
Select Preferences and under the Camera setting set Lightroom as the default application to open when a new USB connection is established.

Make sure the Show import dialog when a memory card is detected box is checked under the Import tab in Lightrooms' Preferences.

On a PC

Under Windows XP select the Removable Drive icon which corresponds to your memory card whilst in My Computer.
Right click and choose Properties.
Select the Autoplay tab, choose Pictures from the drop down menu and then click the Restore Defaults button.

Now when you insert the memory card. Lightroom will Auto Run. You must also have the Show import dialog when a memory card is detected box checked under the Lightrooms' Preferences for this to work.
Try it and see for yourself.

Let me know if this tip helps you.

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Update: Lightroom 1.4 Pulled by Adobe due to EXIF timestamp and DNG issues.

See March 17th post in the Adobe Lightroom Journal Blog

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Lightroom 1.4 and Camera Raw 4.4 have been updated, mainly for new camera models but also compatibility with Leopard 10.5 and Epson drivers: at last.

In addition changes to greyscale conversion and camera profile calibration tools.
Download the Lightroom 1.4 updates from Adobe at (Mac, Win)

See also The Adobe Lightroom Journal blog

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I recently had a problem whereby I opened Lightroom when I found that many my images were all messed up. Lots of wrong thumbnails and Lightroom was telling me that my files could be damaged. Scary!

No problem, just return to recent backup you say. Well, yes, but I had pruned my backups, and my last two backups had the same problem.

I tried relaunching and optimizing in Lightroom but it did not fix the problem either.

So how did I get out of this mess?

First I made sure that I could not use any of my backups.

I then tried resynchronizing the top level folder; that did not work either.

Then I created a new empty Catalog and then imported my folder structure using the File menu item
Import Photos from Disk.

I expected to have to re-rate and re-edit hundreds of images. I did not have to!

The reason being that I had retained my previous ratings and edits was because I had selected Automatically write changes to XMP in my catalog settings.

The primary purpose of Auto writing XMP changes is to keep in sync other XMP compatible software such as Bridge. However, it also writes all the rating and editing information as well into the XMP file. So when my import was completed I was in good shape.

The only data I have lost are my Collections. Keywords and keyword tagged images are fine. All my Develop Module edits are intact. Collections are not hard to re-create.
So make sure you turn on that XMP setting as well as keep backing up.

Let me know if this tip helps you.

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Tags: General Tip, Catalog

The Image-Space Tips and Tricks collection

I have just completed an eBook which contains over a years worth of the Image-Space Lightroom Tips.

Containing over thirty of the Image-Space Lightroom Tips and Tricks in an easy to read or print ebook format.
Includes the Library Module, Develop Module and the general use of Lightroom.

It's free to download.

Download the Free Lightroom Tips eBook

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Tags: Lightroom, eBook

If you want to speed up the rating and flagging process try turning on Auto Advance setting in the Photo menu.

Now every time you rate, pick, unpick or set a flag; the current image will be tagged as normal, but the filmstrip will auto advance by one image.

This works in both the Library and the Develop Modules. It also works even if the filmstrip is not visible.

Let me know if this tip helps you.

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Tags: Library Module