Add Metadata to Organize the Pictures on Your Vista PC

Add Metadata to Organize the Pictures on Your Vista PC
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Create and Use Metadata

Metadata includes the Tag name you create when you upload photos using Vista’s default upload tool, but you can add more metadata to organize further. For instance, you can add metadata manually inside Photo Gallery and include comments, event names, and subject names. You may even want to add metadata for the names of your pets, boats, or even neighbors. You can organize Photo Gallery with tags in similar ways to organizing photos on Facebook and other online social networking sites. Once the metadata is added, you can create and save Search Folders using that metadata, and you’ll always have quick and easy access.

Here’s another example. Say you have a group of pictures tagged ‘Seattle’, but some of the pictures are from a class reunion, some from a summit, and some of landmarks you visited. By adding additional tags you can separate with secondary criteria. You can then narrow down a search to find a picture that was taken during your trip to Seattle, but only of landmarks (or the summit).

Here’s how to create metadata:

  1. Open Windows Photo Gallery.

  2. Select a folder that contains the pictures you wish to add metadata or tags to.

  3. Select single picture or select multiple pictures. Hold down the Shift key to select contiguous pictures or the Control key to select non-contiguous ones.

  1. Right-click and choose Properties to access a dialog box for the selected pictures.

  2. Do some or all of the following:

a. Type a title name.

b. Type a subject name.

c. Apply a rating from one to five stars.

d. Add additional Tags separated by semicolons.

Note you can also access additional options by scrolling through the list.

  1. Click OK when finished.

You can now create searches and save the search results in Search folders. Each time you open a saved search folder it will be updated with any pictures that have the metadata applied that matches that search folder’s criteria.