What, When, Where, Who, Why

[cthomas]

I'm trying to figure out the best way to use the five W's. I created my data, named "New IMatch Database." Added the five W categorizes under the @ All category.  Then I did this see image. I then created a folder named "Ingest" in My Pictures folder. In IMatch I went to Commands> Add or update folders and there selected "Ingest." Then created the five Tabs see image. I selected an image
under Where see image and then in the Universal Catalog > White Sulphur Springs

[Mario]

What is the question?

In your screen shot, "White Sulfur Springs" is a child category of "USA" which is a child of "Travel & Geography" which looks like a child of @All (can't tell, not in the screen shot). If you have created a WHERE category, the "USA" category should probably go under WHERE. Or maybe under WHERE|Country. And then you will be able to pick it in the WHERE tab you have created. Or just add "Travel & Geography" as a tab, instead of WHERE.

[cthomas]

What is the question?

In your screen shot, "White Sulfur Springs" is a child category of "USA" which is a child of "Travel & Geography" which looks like a child of @All (can't tell, not in the screen shot). If you have created a WHERE category, the "USA" category should probably go under WHERE. Or maybe under WHERE|Country. And then you will be able to pick it in the WHERE tab you have created. Or just add "Travel & Geography" as a tab, instead of WHERE.

"What is the question?" Good question?  I suppose what I"m to get is ideas and suggestions is how best to use the five W's and the Universal Catalog to catalog my images. Or would you even  use the five Ws and use another quick and easy to way categorize my images.

[JohnZeman]

I've used the 5 W system for 10 years or so now and the concept is very simple.

Every photo has to be assigned to at least 2 of the W's.  The When and Where categories are always assigned to every image because every image was taken at some location (Where) and on a specific date (When).

The other 3 W's for me are optional for each image.
If there are people I know in the image then I assign them to a subcategory of the Who category.
If the image was taken at an event, for example a birthday party, then I assign that image to a subcategory of the Why category.
If the image shows a significant "thing" then it gets assigned to a subcategory of the What category.  For example a waterfall would be assigned to a subcategory under the What category (What > Nature > Waterfalls).

That's all there is to it.  You can make your 5 W's and their subcategories as simple or as detailed as you want.

[cthomas]

I've used the 5 W system for 10 years or so now and the concept is very simple.

Every photo has to be assigned to at least 2 of the W's.  The When and Where categories are always assigned to every image because every image was taken at some location (Where) and on a specific date (When).

The other 3 W's for me are optional for each image.
If there are people I know in the image then I assign them to a subcategory of the Who category.
If the image was taken at an event, for example a birthday party, then I assign that image to a subcategory of the Why category.
If the image shows a significant "thing" then it gets assigned to a subcategory of the What category.  For example a waterfall would be assigned to a subcategory under the What category (What > Nature > Waterfalls).

That's all there is to it.  You can make your 5 W's and their subcategories as simple or as detailed as you want.

Would you me what your set up looks like? Do you us Tabs? How do you assign your images?

[JohnZeman]

Would you me what your set up looks like? Do you us Tabs? How do you assign your images?

Sure, I'd be happy to show you how I do this Carl.  Attached are two images, the one called Category View shows the category tree when I have IMatch set to Category View.  Note while I do use the 5 W system I have renamed those 5 W's as follows.

Why is called Events.
What is called Things.
Who is called People.
Where is called Places.
When is called Years.

The second image called Category Panel shows how I have my category panel set up for assigning categories to images.  Yes, I use tabs, those tabs allow me to quickly jump to an often used section of the category tree.  For example I live in Sac City Iowa, and many of my photos are taken in this area so I have tabs set up for Sac City and Iowa.  The 2016 tab lets me quickly get to the year 2016 in my category tree.

Of course there are several other ways to assign categories to files, but this is the basic way to do it.

[cthomas]

Would you me what your set up looks like? Do you us Tabs? How do you assign your images?

Sure, I'd be happy to show you how I do this Carl.  Attached are two images, the one called Category View shows the category tree when I have IMatch set to Category View.  Note while I do use the 5 W system I have renamed those 5 W's as follows.

Why is called Events.
What is called Things.
Who is called People.
Where is called Places.
When is called Years.

The second image called Category Panel shows how I have my category panel set up for assigning categories to images.  Yes, I use tabs, those tabs allow me to quickly jump to an often used section of the category tree.  For example I live in Sac City Iowa, and many of my photos are taken in this area so I have tabs set up for Sac City and Iowa.  The 2016 tab lets me quickly get to the year 2016 in my category tree.

Of course there are several other ways to assign categories to files, but this is the basic way to do it.

Why do you use Data-driven Categories? As you can see I'm just using regular categories.  What is the naming of you categories. Can you show me and explan your tabs in detail.

[JohnZeman]

I use quite a few data-driven categories, formula categories too.

A data-driven category is useful when you want a summary of something.  For example I have a data-driven category that shows me how many photos in my database were taken with my Canon 5D Mark III camera.

But Carl if I were you I wouldn't think about data-driven or formula categories just yet.  Get your regular categories set up and organized the way you want first.  You can always create data-driven or formula categories later on if you decide you need them.

[Mario]

I support this.

Carl, don't try too much at a time. If you plan to use the Universal catalog and 5W categories, that's a good start.
Assign a few hundred of your files and see how things work out. Categories make it easy to change things as you go.

If you plan to categorize many files, also look into how to create Favorites. Using favorites for categories and assigning keyboard shortcodes instead of assigning categories/keywords manually with the mouse will be a a big time saver.

But as I said, start simple but start.
Data-driven and formula-based categories can add additional functionality - later.

[cthomas]

I support this.

Carl, don't try too much at a time. If you plan to use the Universal catalog and 5W categories, that's a good start.
Assign a few hundred of your files and see how things work out. Categories make it easy to change things as you go.

If you plan to categorize many files, also look into how to create Favorites. Using favorites for categories and assigning keyboard shortcodes instead of assigning categories/keywords manually with the mouse will be a a big time saver.

But as I said, start simple but start.
Data-driven and formula-based categories can add additional functionality - later.

"Carl, don't try too much at a time. If you plan to use the Universal catalog and 5W categories, that's a good start. Assign a few hundred of your files and see how things work out. Categories make it easy to change things as you go That's what i want to do. I have 69,000 images to categorize but for some reason I can't seem to get things set up and use it I have a folder named Ingest in My Pictures folder. I put about 100 images in my Ingest folder. And in Imatch I go to Commands > Add or Update Folders  and choose the Ingest folder but Where and What do I do? But do I have IMatch set up right so I can use "the Universal catalog and 5W categories"? Right now I'm so confused I don't know what to to do. A lot of people have tried to help me but I have to have things broken down and explained to me in plain detail.

My main goal is to get all of my images categorized. And then after that add some other things to mkae it better. Can't I do that?

Thanks Mario.

[JohnZeman]

The first step is to add the images to your IMatch database if you don't already have them in there.

And then once they are in your database select one or more of those images and assign them to categories using the Category Panel.

In other words you can see (view) the images you have assigned to your categories when you have IMatch in Category View.

And you can assign categories to the images using the Category Panel.

[jch2103]

The first step is to add the images to your IMatch database if you don't already have them in there.

And then once they are in your database select one or more of those images and assign them to categories using the Category Panel.

In other words you can see (view) the images you have assigned to your categories when you have IMatch in Category View.

And you can assign categories to the images using the Category Panel.

Carl, it sounds like you've already added 100 images to your Ingest folder, and if you've already added that folder to your IMatch database, it and the files it contains should show up under the Media & folder tab in IMatch. If that's the case, you should now be able to proceed with the other steps that JohnZeman has outlined.

[cthomas]

I support this.

Carl, don't try too much at a time. If you plan to use the Universal catalog and 5W categories, that's a good start.
Assign a few hundred of your files and see how things work out. Categories make it easy to change things as you go.

If you plan to categorize many files, also look into how to create Favorites. Using favorites for categories and assigning keyboard shortcodes instead of assigning categories/keywords manually with the mouse will be a a big time saver.

But as I said, start simple but start.
Data-driven and formula-based categories can add additional functionality - later.

That's what i want to do. I have 69,000 images to categorize but for some reason I can't seem to get things set up and use it I have a folder named Ingest in My Pictures folder. I put about 100 images in my Ingest folder. And in Imatch I go to Commands > Add or Update Folders  and choose the Ingest folder but Where and What do I do? But do I have IMatch set up right so I can use "the Universal catalog and 5W categories"? Right now I'm so confused I don't know what to to do. A lot of people have tried to help me but I have to have things broken down and explained to me in plain detail.

My main goal is to get all of my images categorized. And then after that add some other things to mkae it better. Can't I do that?

[Mario]

I would start by indexing all images in IMatch.
Did you do that? Or have you so far only added a few test images from your "Ingest" folder?

To add all your images to IMatch, use the "Add or Update Folders..." command again, but this time on the folder containing all your images.

[cthomas]

I would start by indexing all images in IMatch.
Did you do that? Or have you so far only added a few test images from your "Ingest" folder?

To add all your images to IMatch, use the "Add or Update Folders..." command again, but this time on the folder containing all your images.

Next: all images are indexed. Next now what do I do.

[JohnZeman]

See my attached screen shot. 
Note my Category Panel is on the right side of IMatch, yours might be there too or it may be somewhere else.  Go to the menu command of View > Panels > Categories to turn on the Category Panel if you do not see it.

[jch2103]

Carl -

To build on JohnZeman's note:

It looks from your screenshot that you've also already added 43,000 files from your My Pictures folder to your IMatch database. After you've worked on the files in your Ingest folder, you should be in a good position to start tackling your other files.

[cthomas]

Carl -

To build on JohnZeman's note:

It looks from your screenshot that you've also already added 43,000 files from your My Pictures folder to your IMatch database. After you've worked on the files in your Ingest folder, you should be in a good position to start tackling your other files.

See below. I was doing what Mario asked me to do. Before I only had the  Ingest folder.

"I would start by indexing all images in IMatch.
Did you do that? Or have you so far only added a few test images from your "Ingest" folder?

To add all your images to IMatch, use the "Add or Update Folders..." command again, but this time on the folder containing all your images."

[cthomas]

See my attached screen shot. 
Note my Category Panel is on the right side of IMatch, yours might be there too or it may be somewhere else.  Go to the menu command of View > Panels > Categories to turn on the Category Panel if you do not see it.

John how in the world did you make such a good Screen Shot?

[JohnZeman]

John how in the world did you make such a good Screen Shot?

I use FastStone Capture (http://www.faststone.org/).  You can create screen shots in Windows too of course but I much prefer using FastStone instead.

[cthomas]

See my attached screen shot. 
Note my Category Panel is on the right side of IMatch, yours might be there too or it may be somewhere else.  Go to the menu command of View > Panels > Categories to turn on the Category Panel if you do not see it.

Ok John I see this but how do I use the 5 Ws and the Universal Catalog? I can select some files in the Ingest folder but how and where do I go now? And when and how do I us the Tabs.

[JohnZeman]

Carl after looking at your last screen shot I think we should take a different approach.

Forget the 5 W's for now, they are just confusing you at the moment.

You have 7 images assigned to your Universal Catalog > Transportation category.  You did it!  Now how did you assign those 7 images to the Transportation category do you remember?  That's important because however you did it is probably the way you can assign other images to other categories.

[cthomas]

Carl after looking at your last screen shot I think we should take a different approach.

Forget the 5 W's for now, they are just confusing you at the moment.

You have 7 images assigned to your Universal Catalog > Transportation category.  You did it!  Now how did you assign those 7 images to the Transportation category do you remember?  That's important because however you did it is probably the way you can assign other images to other categories.

"Now how did you assign those 7 images to the Transportation category do you remember?"

I went to What > Universal Catalog > Transportation > Automotive > 2010 Suzuki Grand Vitara category

[cthomas]

I would start by indexing all images in IMatch.
Did you do that? Or have you so far only added a few test images from your "Ingest" folder?

To add all your images to IMatch, use the "Add or Update Folders..." command again, but this time on the folder containing all your images.

Mario, all images are indexed. Next now what do I do.

[Mario]

Mario, all images are indexed. Next now what do I do.

Very good. Now start assigning them to categories via the Categories Panel.

[cthomas]

Mario, all images are indexed. Next now what do I do.

Very good. Now start assigning them to categories via the Categories Panel.

I have been doing that. How do I start using the 5 W and the Tabs?

[cthomas]

Carl after looking at your last screen shot I think we should take a different approach.

Forget the 5 W's for now, they are just confusing you at the moment.

You have 7 images assigned to your Universal Catalog > Transportation category.  You did it!  Now how did you assign those 7 images to the Transportation category do you remember?  That's important because however you did it is probably the way you can assign other images to other categories.

Good morning John. Did you get my answer to this?

[JohnZeman]

Sorry Carl, yesterday was my wife and my 40th anniversary so we drove to Sioux Falls South Dakota to spend the night.  While there I spent some time taking nighttime photos (see attached) in the city park.

Before you can use the 5 W's you need to set them up.  Assuming your Universal Catalog is the start of your category tree, you should move your Who, What, When, Where, and Why categories so they are directly under Universal Catalog.  So your category tree would look something like this:

Universal Catalog > What > Animals & Pets
Universal Catalog > What > Art and Architecture
(Continue on for other categories that are things or whats)

Universal Catalog > Who > People & Relationships
(Continue on if you have any other people categories)

In your screen shot I don't see where you have any date related categories so you wouldn't need a When category.
Same thing about Where, I don't see any categories in your screen shot that show a location so no Where category seems to be needed either.

That only leaves Why.  Why might include your Entertainment category, I guess it depends on what you have in your Entertainment category.

Take another look at my category screen shot in reply #5 up above here.  There you can see I have the 5 W's set up only I don't call them Who, What, When, Where and Why.  Instead I prefer to call them  People, Years, Places, Things, and Events.

I'm still using the 5 W's I just give them different names.

[cthomas]

Sorry Carl, yesterday was my wife and my 40th anniversary so we drove to Sioux Falls South Dakota to spend the night.  While there I spent some time taking nighttime photos (see attached) in the city park.

Before you can use the 5 W's you need to set them up.  Assuming your Universal Catalog is the start of your category tree, you should move your Who, What, When, Where, and Why categories so they are directly under Universal Catalog.  So your category tree would look something like this:

Universal Catalog > What > Animals & Pets
Universal Catalog > What > Art and Architecture
(Continue on for other categories that are things or whats)

Universal Catalog > Who > People & Relationships
(Continue on if you have any other people categories)

In your screen shot I don't see where you have any date related categories so you wouldn't need a When category.
Same thing about Where, I don't see any categories in your screen shot that show a location so no Where category seems to be needed either.

That only leaves Why.  Why might include your Entertainment category, I guess it depends on what you have in your Entertainment category.

Take another look at my category screen shot in reply #5 up above here.  There you can see I have the 5 W's set up only I don't call them Who, What, When, Where and Why.  Instead I prefer to call them  People, Years, Places, Things, and Events.

I'm still using the 5 W's I just give them different names.

Wow what a beautiful picyure!  What did you take this with? What are your settings?

"40th anniversary" Great Happy Anniversary . We are in a group that is very unique now days. We just had our 50th anniversary on the 19th of Nov. I wish you many, many more.

What is the difference between:
    Universal Catalog > What > Animals & Pets and

    What > Universal Catalog > Animals & Pets

What do yo mean by "In your screen shot I don't see where you have any date related categories"?

"I'm still using the 5 W's I just give them different names." I understand this.

This is how I have mine set up:

[JohnZeman]

Thanks Carl, and congratulations to you and your lovely bride for 50 years together. 

My photo: Canon 5D Mark III - EF35mm f/1.4L USM lens - Shutter 3.2 seconds and f4.0.  I would have preferred to have had the shutter speed at 1 second or so but I was standing outside in a cold freezing drizzle that night.  I didn't want to spend any more time out in that weather than I had to so I just made my initial camera settings and left them at that.

What is the difference between:
    Universal Catalog > What > Animals & Pets and

    What > Universal Catalog > Animals & Pets

You can do it either way but I wouldn't try to do both because it would get confusing.  You set up your categories the way you want them to be.

What do yo mean by "In your screen shot I don't see where you have any date related categories"?

Every photo I have taken this year has been assigned to my 2016 category.  Where is your 2016 category?  I don't see it in your category tree.

[cthomas]

How do you make the two quotes?

"You can do it either way but I wouldn't try to do both because it would get confusing.  You set up your categories the way you want them to be." No I'm not going to do it both ways. I'm going to send you some emails from Richard Brogger.

"Every photo I have taken this year has been assigned to my 2016 category.  Where is your 2016 category?  I don't see it in your category tree." You don't see it? All I know why you don't see it It's because I don't have one. 

Where can I get your email address?

[JohnZeman]

How do you make the two quotes?

You have to manually add the quote tags for more than one quote.  You can do that by copying and pasting.

I just sent you a private message with my personal email address here in this forum.

[cthomas]

Would you me what your set up looks like? Do you us Tabs? How do you assign your images?

Sure, I'd be happy to show you how I do this Carl.  Attached are two images, the one called Category View shows the category tree when I have IMatch set to Category View.  Note while I do use the 5 W system I have renamed those 5 W's as follows.

Why is called Events.
What is called Things.
Who is called People.
Where is called Places.
When is called Years.

The second image called Category Panel shows how I have my category panel set up for assigning categories to images.  Yes, I use tabs, those tabs allow me to quickly jump to an often used section of the category tree.  For example I live in Sac City Iowa, and many of my photos are taken in this area so I have tabs set up for Sac City and Iowa.  The 2016 tab lets me quickly get to the year 2016 in my category tree.

Of course there are several other ways to assign categories to files, but this is the basic way to do it.

Mario why can't I open  any of these files?

As well as I can remember I used to open al of the images with no problems.

[JohnZeman]

Carl it looks to me like you did something to convert your png image into ASCII text.  Why were you using png images?  You used to use all JPGs.

[cthomas]

Carl it looks to me like you did something to convert your png image into ASCII text.  Why were you using png images?  You used to use all JPGs.

Why were you using png images? If you look at the Post I didn't put the images in the post. The only thing I did was to try to open the images like all ways.

[JohnZeman]

Well you have me totally lost as to what you are trying to do Carl.  In your reply #32 you posted a screenshot of an Adobe Photoshop error message that says your png image has been corrupted by ASCII conversion to text.

[cthomas]

Well you have me totally lost as to what you are trying to do Carl.  In your reply #32 you posted a screenshot of an Adobe Photoshop error message that says your png image has been corrupted by ASCII conversion to text.

"Well you have me totally lost as to what you are trying to do Carl." John I am trying to relearn some of the stuff you so graciously help me learn. Unfortunately I have lost a lot of it. Being in and out of the hospital  and dealing with crashing computers. I just lost a lot. And so now I am trying to put the pieces back together.
So I don't mean to bother you.

[JohnZeman]

You are not a bother to me Carl, I like to help you when I have time but as you know time is what I've been short of lately since I'm working long hours at the nursery these days.

[Mario]

I don't understand what you are trying to do. Which images do you want to open?

[cthomas]

I don't understand what you are trying to do. Which images do you want to open?

I was trying to open the images in « Reply #5 on: November 27, 2016, 07:56:43 PM » up above.

[cthomas]

You are not a bother to me Carl, I like to help you when I have time but as you know time is what I've been short of lately since I'm working long hours at the nursery these days.

Well thank you very much John. If you can squeeze out 30 or 45 minutes please let me know.

[Mario]

I don't understand what you are trying to do. Which images do you want to open?

I was trying to open the images in « Reply #5 on: November 27, 2016, 07:56:43 PM » up above.

Sometimes I delete attachments (images) for posts older than 2 years. The chance that somebody really needs to look at screen shots attached to posts several years old is unlikely and deleting all the stuff keeps the server fast.

[Stefanjan]

Would you me what your set up looks like? Do you us Tabs? How do you assign your images?

Sure, I'd be happy to show you how I do this Carl.  Attached are two images, the one called Category View shows the category tree when I have IMatch set to Category View.  Note while I do use the 5 W system I have renamed those 5 W's as follows.

Why is called Events.
What is called Things.
Who is called People.
Where is called Places.
When is called Years.

The second image called Category Panel shows how I have my category panel set up for assigning categories to images.  Yes, I use tabs, those tabs allow me to quickly jump to an often used section of the category tree.  For example I live in Sac City Iowa, and many of my photos are taken in this area so I have tabs set up for Sac City and Iowa.  The 2016 tab lets me quickly get to the year 2016 in my category tree.

Of course there are several other ways to assign categories to files, but this is the basic way to do it.

I'd be really interested in viewing these attachments, but when I download them they are not valid files. I guess that's because this is an old post. Could you or someone else post these examples.

[Mario]

You reply to a two year old post which referred to posts even older.
I suggest you create a new thread and ask your question. This will improve your chance to get answers.

Note that most users now prefer using hierarchical keywords for the 5 W's instead of categories. More modern approach, added benefits.
I also recommend: Free Controlled Vocabularies for IMatch

[JohnZeman]

I'd be really interested in viewing these attachments, but when I download them they are not valid files. I guess that's because this is an old post. Could you or someone else post these examples.

Stefanjan I'm the one who originally posted what you're looking for but like Mario said that was years ago.  And also like Mario said things are different now, I'm still generally using the basic 5 W concept however now I'm no longer using 5 regular categories to do this such as...

Who (People)
What (Things like animals, nature, machines, objects, etc.)
When (Chronological dates of the photos)
Where (Locations of the photos)
Why (Events such as birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, celebrations, etc.)

Now instead of using regular categories I'm using an expanded combination of hierarchal keywords (@Keyword Categories) and data-driven categories which gives me the same results.

The Who, What, Why are now hierarchal keywords (@Keyword Categories).

Since every image was taken on a specific date and time, and since every image was taken in some location, the When and Where are now data-driven categories, IMatch generates them from the metadata in my images.

For me the primary advantage of using hierarchal keywords and data-driven categories is that information is stored within the metadata of each image.  So if for some reason I were to lose my IMatch database it would mostly be recreated when I created a new IMatch database and imported my photos to it.

Screenshot of my @Keyword and data-driven categories attached.

[Mario]

For me the primary advantage of using hierarchal keywords and data-driven categories is that information is stored within the metadata of each image.  So if for some reason I were to lose my IMatch database it would mostly be recreated when I created a new IMatch database and imported my photos to it.

Furthermore, as I always say: This also makes you independent from IMatch or any other DAM.
Although I'm definitely looking forward to keep you as a satisfied IMatch user forever, if you one day decide to ditch IMatch for something better, you will not be locked in by my software.

Hierarchical keywords (in combination with the fab @Keywords Category) usually handle the basic tagging/keywording.
Using IMatch categories and data-driven categories to automatically categorize your images adds a lot of extra organization, with very little effort.

[ubacher]

Interestingly I started out, during IM3 times, to use keywords - exactly for the reasons
Mario mentioned (independent of Imatch). Now I realize that using Categories is much more convenient
and I just add keywords to files which are archived for future generations.
Since very very few people know what to do with keywords, nor have a software which lets them use keywords,
I am convinced that keywords are only for "customers" who demand them.

Of course you can always use both - keywords for image "content" (preferably using a controlled vocabulary)
and categories for internal organization of you photos.

[Jingo]

Interestingly I started out, during IM3 times, to use keywords - exactly for the reasons
Mario mentioned (independent of Imatch). Now I realize that using Categories is much more convenient
and I just add keywords to files which are archived for future generations.
Since very very few people know what to do with keywords, nor have a software which lets them use keywords,
I am convinced that keywords are only for "customers" who demand them.

Of course you can always use both - keywords for image "content" (preferably using a controlled vocabulary)
and categories for internal organization of you photos.

Well.. keywords certainly have a big advantage if you frequently use other software to share/distribute and/or view images.  For example, my family gallery software automatically reads embedded XMP to display metadata on the gallery.  Also, the properties in explorer and such show you metadata info...  I sometimes use windows search software or XYPlorer to find images by keyword on my drives - skies the limit with embedded metadata!

[Stefanjan]

I'd be really interested in viewing these attachments, but when I download them they are not valid files. I guess that's because this is an old post. Could you or someone else post these examples.

Stefanjan I'm the one who originally posted what you're looking for but like Mario said that was years ago.  And also like Mario said things are different now, I'm still generally using the basic 5 W concept however now I'm no longer using 5 regular categories to do this such as...

Who (People)
What (Things like animals, nature, machines, objects, etc.)
When (Chronological dates of the photos)
Where (Locations of the photos)
Why (Events such as birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, celebrations, etc.)

Now instead of using regular categories I'm using an expanded combination of hierarchal keywords (@Keyword Categories) and data-driven categories which gives me the same results.

The Who, What, Why are now hierarchal keywords (@Keyword Categories).

Since every image was taken on a specific date and time, and since every image was taken in some location, the When and Where are now data-driven categories, IMatch generates them from the metadata in my images.

For me the primary advantage of using hierarchal keywords and data-driven categories is that information is stored within the metadata of each image.  So if for some reason I were to lose my IMatch database it would mostly be recreated when I created a new IMatch database and imported my photos to it.

Screenshot of my @Keyword and data-driven categories attached.

Thanks John, that's really helpful and sounds very much what I shall try and do. Need to figure out how to get the data driven stuff to work. I've been through the help and it's making my brain hurt but I shall perservere.

[ubacher]

The 5 W's is the way most people think of - but I think this is thinking rooted to
manual indexing systems.

There are many other reasons to catalogue - particularly for administration.

I will post  my suggestions in a couple of weeks when I'm back home.