Interpretation of periods in imported photo keywords

[joe]

Hi. I'm learning IMATCH. I've noticed when I have photos with keywords with periods in them, those are interpreted as @Keyword categories. Is this expected and why? I have many keywords like this. How should I modify them before importing for them to be retained? (I'm familiar with using exiftool.)

[Mario]

As explained in the IMatch help (@Keywords Category), the @Keywords category automatically mirrors the hierarchical keywords IMatch maintains for your files (period or not). This conveniently automatically organizes your files by keywords and gives you access to a number of additional commands and features.

See The @Keywords Category for detailed information about this IMatch feature.

The ; is used by the Metadata Panel to separate keywords for display purposes.

Please always use the Keywords Panel to add, edit and modify hierarchical keywords.

[joe]

I apologize I must not have explained the scenario well enough. I'm talking about adding a new folder with images and what the indexing or ingesting process does to the keywords in that document.

IMatch appears to convert periods to hierarchy indicators. Please see the sample I attached of keywords before and after. Thank you.

[Mario]

If you use 'real' periods in your keywords flat keywords (very unusual), make sure IMatch does not interpret them as hierarchical separators.

Open Edit menu > Preferences > Metadata and remove the tick in front of . in the hierarchy separator setting. Commit by pressing OK.

Now select the files where you have used . in keywords in a File Window and press Shift+Ctrl+F5. Use the "Reload Metadata" option. This reads the metadata again, this time not interpreting . as a hierarchy separator.