Published Jul 16, 2023, 6:30 AM EDT
Adilia is a lawyer and a tech enthusiast who loves to talk about music, movies, and books. She's enjoyed reading about tech since she got her first smartphone, the Nokia Lumia 520.
Despite that, she started to feel interested in writing about tech when she could afford her first MacBook.
You'll find her binge-watching her favorite Netflix shows when she's not writing or trying to read a new book.
Apple's Photos app offers many different ways to keep your favorite pictures organized. You can use albums, folders, and even locations to keep tabs on those amazing moments you captured.
And while those are great, there are two specific features that will let you both customize and find your pictures. These are called captions and keywords, and here, we'll teach you how to put them to good use on your Mac.
What Are Captions and Keywords in Photos?
If you really want to master the Photos app on your Mac, you need to start using captions and keywords, but what are they exactly?
You've probably heard of captions before. You can actually use captions in the Photos app for iPhone and iPad. These captions work as descriptions for your photos.
You can use captions to add quick reminders for each photo. For instance, you can write a good memory about the photo or the names of the people in the picture.
As for keywords, think of them as tags. You can create any keyword you want and add them to your pictures so they're easy to find in the future. For instance, you can create keywords for school, family, or trips and then add these keywords for any pictures you want.
How to Add Captions to Your Favorite Photos on a Mac
Adding captions to your pictures is pretty easy to do. Follow these steps:
- First, open the Photos app on your Mac.
- Control-click (right-click) the picture you want to add captions to.
- Select Get Info.
- Click on Add a Caption.
- Write the caption you want and exit the Info window.
And that's it. Next time you open the Info window, you'll see the caption you added to your picture. You can change this caption whenever you like or delete it by following the steps above.
How to Create and Manage New Keywords in Photos
To add keywords to all your photos, you'll first need to create them. You do this by using the Photos app's Keyword Manager. Don't worry; it's actually pretty simple. Here's what you need to do:
- After opening the Photos app, click Window in the menu bar.
- Select Keyword Manager from the dropdown.
- Click Edit Keywords at the bottom of the Keyword Manager.
- Click the plus (+) button at the bottom of the new window.
- Enter the keyword you want to use and then hit the Return key.
- When you're done creating new keywords, click OK in the bottom-right corner.
If you repeat the same steps and go back to edit your keywords, you'll notice a few extra buttons at the bottom of the window.
If you want to delete a keyword, all you need to do is select it and click the minus (-) button. You can also select Rename to change the name of a keyword.
How to Add Keywords to Your Photos
Now that you've created all the keywords you want, the next step is to add them to any photo you want. This is how you do it:
- Open the Photos app.
- Control-click (right-click) the picture you want to add a keyword to.
- Go to Get Info.
- Click on Add a Keyword.
- Enter the keyword you want to use. You can start writing the first letters, and Photos will list all the keywords available.
- Once you finish, close the Info window.
If you don't want to type the keywords for all the photos, a quicker way to add keywords is to go to Window > Keyword Manager and then, with the Keyword Manager window open, select all the photos you want.
Finally, click the keyword you want to use, and your Mac will automatically add that keyword to all the selected photos.
Why Using Captions and Keywords Is Important
If you have a lot of photos in your library, you might want to consider using captions and keywords to organize and find them easily. Besides adding a bit of customization, searching for a photo by its keyword or caption is far more convenient.
Instead of searching for a photo manually, you can use the search bar in Photos and enter the keyword or the caption you used. In the search results, the Photos app will have a separate section for Captions and Keywords, making it easier to find any important picture.
Find Your Favorite Pictures in a Flash
As you can see, using keywords and captions is pretty straightforward. Setting up your keywords might take a few steps, but you'll reap the benefits afterward. On the other hand, captions are extremely easy to use, and they sync across all your Apple devices, thanks to iCloud.
Sure, you can use folders and albums to organize your pictures, but if you want to find them in a flash, these two features will certainly make the job easier.