Edit Multiple Photos

By now, you have probably edited some properties of the photo entries in your database already. It's simple, just select the photo and click the Edit Photo Properties button on the button bar.

But what if you want to set one of the photo property fields to the same value for a number of photos in your database?

Editing properties for Multiple Photos... at the same time!

For example, you may want to set the Event field to "My 30th Birthday" for all your... well... 30th birthday pictures! Or you may want to set the Photographer field for all your photos... ouch... the prospect of having to edit them one by one isn't very appealing.

So I created a better way, here it is:

• First, make sure the photos you want to edit are listed in the "list panel" on the right side of the screen.
• Now select the ones you want to edit. You can use the Windows standard method of Ctrl-clicking and Shift-clicking to select multiple photos.
• From the menu, choose Database / Batch Edit Properties. This opens the Batch Edit Properties screen, which is the same as the normal Edit Properties screen, but with all fields shown as empty.
• All values you enter here will be applied to all selected photos. If you leave a box empty, that field will be left untouched for all selected photos.
  Tip: you can clear a value for all photos in your selection by putting your cursor in the field and then hitting F8.
• When you're done making changes, click OK.

That's it, you have changed multiple photos in your database in one go.
Very powerful feature.

But a word of caution here...be careful, it's possible to overwrite or wipe out a lot of data with a few button clicks.
Like Uncle Ben said: "With great power comes great responsibility ..."

Editing photo-properties one by one without ever leaving the Edit screen

I can almost hear you thinking now:
"What if I need to change one field for multiple photos, but to *different* values? Like when I want to set the Caption or People fields."

Good question. And that's where the Next and Previous buttons come in handy:

• Again, make sure the target photos are visible in the list panel.
• Select the first one and click the Edit Selected Photo Properties button.
• Go to the field you want to modify and make your changes.
• Now, instead of clicking OK like you're used to, click the Next button.
• Photo Collector will automatically show the next photo in the Edit screen. And, this is the smart part, it will keep your cursor in the box that you just edited. Which makes editing the same field for multiple photos a breeze.

Power Tip: Instead of clicking the Next button, you can also use the Alt-N keyboard shortcut, so that your hands never need to leave the keyboard.