How do hierarchical keywords work in Lightroom, and when are parent keywords exported?

Question

In Lightroom, I have a keyword hierarchy like:

- Locations
  - Europe
    - Scotland
      - Inner Hebrides
        - Isle of Skye

The top-level items are just organizational meta-tags and are set not to export. I expected that if I assign "Isle of Skye" to a photo, Lightroom would also visibly assign its parent keywords automatically. But the parent keywords do not appear as checked/applied in the Keyword List.

Have I misunderstood hierarchical keywords, or is there a setting required so parent keywords are included on export?

user2138 · Accepted Answer

The inherited ancestor keywords are second-class citizens compared to the keywords you explicitly apply. The ancestors won't show up as checked boxes in the Keyword List, for example. Instead, the ancestor keywords will be applied at export. There are (at least) two ways to verify that this is the case:

Export the photograph. For example, if you publish to Flickr, you should see the ancestor keywords in the photo's tags on Flickr.
In the Library module, in the Keywording pane, change the Keyword Tags drop-down to Will Export. This will show you both the keywords that you applied, plus the ancestor keywords that will export with them.

How do hierarchical keywords work in Lightroom, and when are parent keywords exported?

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