Looking for a fast way to assign categories for Where, What and Who

[knight166]

Hello,
usually, I am assigning keywords for Where, What and Who to my images. This is a pretty long process, because my categories tree is pretty big. For each of the three categories, I have to scroll and/or to expand/ collaps parts of the tree.

My idea is to have on one of my monitors three windows, each showing the category panel, the first focussed on Where, the second on What and the third on Who.

Is there a way to have multiple Categorie windows? Or is there another way to fasten the process

Thanks for your help

[Mario]

(...) because my categories tree is pretty big.

You assign keywords via @Keywords categories to your files?
Or do you use categories instead of keywords?

The Keywords Panel is the best feature to assign keywords quickly to many files.
It makes suggestions from your thesaurus as you type, you can quickly select keywords from your thesaurus etc. This should be a lot quicker than scrolling through a long list of categories. The IMatch Thesaurus is the key for an efficient keyword workflow. Assigning one keyword can assign additional synonyms and any number of other keywords linked to that keyword.

You can create Favorites for frequently assigned keywords and categories, even assign entire sets of  keywords and categories with a single click or the press of a key.

You cannot open more than one Category Panel.

[knight166]

Mario, thanks for your fast reply!
No, I'am not using keywords so far because I am only using the keywords within IMatch, and because it started to use them in 2005 or earlier....
Another reason is, that I do not want to change the files due to my backup-system. It ist based on hash values and would create copies every timeI change metadata within the files. 

-> 2 Questions:
   Is there an easy way to convert my hierachical categories into Keywords, stored in each file?

   Is there a fast way to assign categories , if i stick with categories?

Regards 

Martin

[Tveloso]

Is there an easy way to convert my hierachical categories into Keywords, stored in each file?

Mario answered that very question in this post:

    https://www.photools.com/community/index.php?msg=78630

In it, he gives links to both an example from the Help System:

    https://www.photools.com/help/imatch/#md_templates.htm?dl=hid-13

...and to a community topic that ultimately points to this one (which contains a detailed procedure for doing it):

    https://www.photools.com/community/index.php/topic,3428.msg.html

Even though this post is quite old, it contains some good advice, and it also addresses the Thesaurus options for Group and Exclude
__PRESENT

[Mario]

It ist based on hash values and would create copies every timeI change metadata within the files.

IMatch maintains keywords like categories in the database. Only when you write-back metadata the files on disk (or the sidecar files) are modified. But that's the purpose of writing back - to make the metadata available to other applications.

I'm not sure how often you change metadata in files. Usually this is done only once?
Unless you need to re-arrange keywords or change metadata in other ways for some reasons often.

Is there a fast way to assign categories , if i stick with categories?

Faster than with the Categories Panel and/or Category Favorites?

Do you use additional tabs in the Categories Panel to get quick access to different sections of your category hierarchy? See: Working with Additional Category Tabs for more info.

Do you use Category Favorites to quickly assign one or multiple categories with a mouse click or keyboard shortcut?

If not, these are features to assign categories quicker.

That being said, categories offer none of the advanced keyword features like the thesaurus, synonyms and keyword links.
If you open this page in your browser and scroll down to the Very Smart Keywords topic, you'll see how fast it is to assign multiple keywords to an image by adding only one keyword. The rest is done via the thesaurus, synonyms and links.

When IMatch evolved to support hierarchical keywords (IMatch 5) many users moved too, replacing categories they used like keywords into 'real' keywords. Not all users, though. Some see no need to use keywords and that's also fine.

I've written about the advantages of keywords vs. categories in the corresponding section of the Metadata for Beginners help topic: Keywords vs. Categories

[knight166]

Thanks Mario and Tveloso!

Your advice is very helpful! 
I'am sure, I will now be able to finde the best way to use categories , keywords and @keywords in my database!

Martin