Today’s Question: I realize you can filter photos based on a particular keyword on the Keyword List in Lightroom Classic. But is there a way to see a list of only keywords that have been applied to images in a specific folder, so I can then filter just those images based on keyword?
Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can most certainly filter based on a list of keywords for photos in the current folder or collection using the Metadata tab of the Library Filter bar in the Library module.
More Detail: On the Keyword List on the right panel in the Library module in Lightroom Classic you can click on the arrow that appears to the right of a keyword when you hover your mouse over that keyword to filter your entire catalog of photos so that only those with the selected keyword are displayed. However, this is a filter based on your entire catalog, which may not always be the approach you want to use for your image search.
To filter within a selected folder or collection based on keywords, and to actually see a list of only the keywords assigned to images within that location, you can use the Metadata tab of the Library Filter bar. First, of course, you’ll want to navigate to the folder or collection you want to search in.
If the Library Filter bar is not displayed above the grid view in the Library module you can press the backslash key (\) to display that filter bar. You can also select View > Show Filter Bar from the menu.
On the Library Filter bar choose the Metadata tab. You can then use metadata criteria from several columns to define your search. In this case, for example, you could click the heading for the far-left column on the Metadata tab and choose Keyword from the popup list.
At this point that Keyword column will list only the keywords that are actually applied to the photos in the current folder or collection. You can click on any of the keywords on that list to filter photos so that only those with the selected keyword applied are displayed.
Keep in mind that you can also mix-and-match various metadata values to filter by, including using multiple options from the Text, Attribute, and Metadata tabs of the Library Filter bar. You can also select multiple items from a list within the Metadata tab. For example, you can click on the first item you want to select and then hold the Shift key on the keyboard while clicking the last item you want to select and all values in between will also be selected. You can also hold the Ctrl key on Windows or the Command key on Macintosh while clicking on a value to toggle the selection on or off for that value.
