Photo management software with hierarchical tags and approximate dates for scanned family photos
Asked 7/13/2021
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2 answers
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I’m scanning old family photos and want software to organize them without moving or renaming the original files. I need customizable tags, ideally with hierarchy/grouping such as:
- person > fred jones
- holidays > christmas
- places > disney world
I’d also like to record approximate dates from notes on the back of prints, such as “1985,” “summer 1986,” or “december 1987,” and then sort or filter by that information. Is there photo management software that supports hierarchical keywords and a practical way to handle these fuzzy dates?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
4y ago
2 Answers
2
Digikam, Photools iMatch, Adobe Lightroom will all import your photos into their catalogue, without moving them. These are just some of the available programs, look for photo management software that will allow hierarchical keywords/categories. You can use Summer and 1986 as tags, then filter your photos based upon the tags (also called categories and keywords). Digikam is free, the others cost money. If you really need to sort on fuzzy dates, I would suggest that you allocate an actual date to each one. e.g. 1st June 1986 and 25th December 1987. The software will allow you to change date created on any photo to any valid date. I hope this helps, let me know if you need any more info. Steve
Originally by user99826. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user99826
4y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes. Catalog-based photo managers such as digiKam, photools iMatch, and Adobe Lightroom can organize photos without necessarily moving the originals, and they support hierarchical keywords/categories for tagging.
For your examples, you could create keyword groups like person > fred jones, holidays > christmas, and places > disney world.
Approximate dates are harder because photo software generally expects a valid date rather than a fuzzy one. A practical workaround is:
- assign a real placeholder date for sorting, such as 1 June 1986 for “summer 1986” or 25 December 1987 for “December 1987” if that best represents the note
- add the original wording (“summer 1986”, “1985”, etc.) as tags/keywords so you can still search and filter by the exact uncertainty
If fuzzy-date sorting is essential, using tags for the approximate date information is the simplest approach. Of the options mentioned, digiKam is free; iMatch and Lightroom are paid.
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