Do Tags Added in Photoshop Elements Carry Over to Other Software?

Question: Do Tags Added in Photoshop Elements Carry Over to Other Software?

JJ asks:

I have about 15,000 digital photos (all personal family photos). I am starting to use Adobe Photoshop Elements 5 based on your descriptions in your articles. I am anxious to start tagging the photos but am concerned about two things:

1. If I tag these photos in Elements 5.0 will the tags be usable in other programs?
2. More specifically, will the tagging work that I do be visable in the new Microsoft Vista OS?

As you can imagine, 15,000 photos are difficult to navigate, I really don’t want to start the huge project of tagging if they will not be universal to different programs…

Answer: The answer is good news… yes, the tags you add in Photoshop Elements can be carried over to other software that supports the reading of keywords stored in the file metadata. However, Photoshop Elements only writes tag info to the file metadata when the files are exported or emailed. You can ensure that tags are always embedded in your files by periodically selecting all your photos, and choosing the File > Write Tag Info to Files command in Photoshop Elements.

The tags you add in Elements are also fully compatible with Microsoft Windows Vista so you will be able to perform searches on tag data and all your tags will automatically be displayed in the Windows Vista Photo Gallery application. Windows Photo Gallery will not recreate the same tag hierarchy that you had in Photoshop Elements, but you can recreate the tag hierarchy within Windows Photo Gallery by dragging and dropping one tag onto another to make a nested structure. I nested tags several levels deep in Windows Photo Gallery and did not encounter a limit.

I hope this puts you at ease about starting the process of tagging your photos with Photoshop Elements.

Questions? Comments? Post to the Forum!