Marc,
Regarding the description field in a grooup of captions:
Is it possible to add or insert strings of text into the START of a group of captions?
Not easily. You could probably use some other fields to contain the current caption, overwrite the original captions with the new caption, and then append the original caption from the field you save the original caption into.
OK so how would I 'transfer' the existing description to another caption field? Also How do you erase a specific field in a group of captions?
You use the IPTC Stationery Pad and use the {caption} variable in another field like 'Special Instructions'
To erase any field, clear out the field in the IPTC Stationery Pad and then make sure its 'Apply' checkbox is set. When the IPTC Stationery Pad is applied to a set of photos, then those fields will be cleared out.
Additionally can one remove all the text after a certain point in a group of captions assuming the initial string does not change?
You could likely do this with variable substring notation. If you give me an example, I'll show you how it is done.
So if the caption contains:
Joe Blogs at the 485th Dweeb Awards
And I just want it to say Joe Blogs (ie the name could vary in length)
or
The 485th Dweeb Awards, Joe Blogs
and I just want it to say
The 485th Dweeb Awards
Because your strings vary in length, substring extraction can't accomplish your task. Using the Find and Replace panel might work for you instead.
-Kirk