Metadata entry on lots of images

[birder]

Hi, I am titling lots of images at present and I wonder if it is possible to set up Photo Mechanic (6) so that once I have clicked 'Apply Template to Selected' that the text I have entered in the Description / Caption section disappears. For example, suppose I want to enter Scenery as free text, but have the variables {location}, {country} after the word Scenery. When I come to my next image, which I want to call, for example, sunset, I have to first click on the Description / Caption field, and get my cursor to the word Scenery and then delete it. I would like the word Scenery to delete automatically after clicking Apply Template to Selected.
Is there a way of doing this?
Many thanks
Kevin

[Kevin M. Cox]

There isn't a way to do that. What about using a Snapshot and selecting it? That might be faster than deleting the part you want to delete.

I'm just in the habit of clicking Command A then Delete each time the Metadata Template loads so I can write a caption from scratch. You could create a Code Replacement that includes the variables you want after the free text to easily add them in each time after you type the free text.

[birder]

Hi Kevin
Many thanks for that. Are you able to describe how to do this please? I use Mac and PC but would be happy with just the PC route.
Kevin

[Kevin M. Cox]

Which part, the Code Replacement? Here is the documentation: https://docs.camerabits.com/support/solutions/articles/48000223660-introduction-to-code-replacements-in-photo-mechanic

They are plain text files and so far yours would be pretty simple, just one line, something like this.

Code: [Select]

a    {location}, {country}.
So when you are captioning you type:

Code: [Select]

Free text blah blah blah /a/
And that gets expanded to "Free text blah blah blah {location}, {country}."

This way when the Metadata Template window opens, you can just select all with Command A (Mac) or Control A (Windows), hit delete, then start typing in an empty caption box. Using the code replacement will expand out your variables so you can insert them with only three keystrokes and not have to retype them each time.

[Kevin M. Cox]

You can get pretty fancy/complex with code replacements as well. Something like this would allow you to just insert specific variables if you didn't want to insert all of them at once:

Code: [Select]

a     {location}, {country}.
c     {country}
l     {location}


[birder]

Hi Kevin
Very many thanks - I am a newbie to Code Replacement so I try give your advice. Once again thank you.
Kevin

[Kevin M. Cox]

Sure thing, code replacements are very powerful once you get the hang of them.

[Graham1]

Another route might be to use Find and Replace. Select the images in which you want to delete Scenery.  Ctrl-Shift-F to bring up the dialogue box, make sure Description/Caption is the only field checked if this is the only place you want to make a change), in Find type in Scenery and Replace keep blank (or insert a space if you need a space instead of the text you are replacing).  Ok, it's not automatic, but it takes only seconds.  The Find and Replace tool is very versatile.

Graham

[birder]

Thanks Kevin and Graham - great advice - and it works!
Kevin