Need assistance for category export

[greg]

I'm trying to export all categories to create a duplicate set of categories, primarily keywords, on my notebook computer. I've read help for this function, but I must have overlooked something. I go to the categories panel and select @All and it becomes highlighted in blue. I drag that to the Category Export box (Drop categories here). The export categories dialog pops up. I check the include child categories box, not file assignments and enter the destination field. The result is 14 categories. Examining the export file there appear to be only predefined categories, not including my keyword hierarchy.

My intent is to export the current keywords to my laptop so I can apply keywords on the current shoot when away from my desktop. The end game is to include file assignments so I would be able to import the new photos and update the categories on my desktop. This assumes that importing handles duplicate existing categories with the new category import. For my use this appears to be a viable alternative to pack and go, which I also had trouble with, but not for this question.

Now I'm wondering if Thesaurus export/import would be the better solution.

Using IMatch 2017.14.2 (64-bit)

[Mario]

IMatch does not export data-driven categories. Which includes @Keywords.

@Keywords is automatically created and updated from the actual keywords in your files.
It is not intended to replace the thesaurus. If you want to maintain a controlled vocabulary for keywords or other metadata tags, use the thesaurus.

See this article in the IMatch knowledge-base for more info: https://www.photools.com/4588/free-controlled-vocabularies-imatch/

If you have not used the thesaurus before, you can fill it from the keywords in your database. See the thesaurus help topic for more info:

https://www.photools.com/help/imatch/#thes_basics.htm

[greg]

Thanks Mario. I just now tested Thesaurus export/import which looks to do just what I'm looking for. Merging the revised Thesaurus back to desktop works as advertised. Writing back metadata on the laptop and dropping the new image files on the primary iMatch installation picks up the new keywords. It's easy enough to do with a low risk of making a serious mistake in the process.