Keywording is another feature in Pics.io created to simplify the process of storing, finding, and retrieving the necessary digital assets.
How to create keywords in Pics.io?
There are several ways you can create keywords in Pics.io:
Upload your own list of keywords with the help of Controlled Vocabulary option.
Create new keywords and manage your entire list of keywords in the “Keywords” section on the left side panel of the screen.
Create a new keyword in the Details panel when you open your file for preview. You can simply type in, or simply copy&paste the necessary keywords separating words with commas. These words will become keywords attached to this asset. And Pics.io will add them to your library of keywords.
Use Autokeywording option to assign keywords automatically to your assets with the help of computer vision.
The Details panel in Pics.io gives you a comprehensive view of your asset's keywords. Here, you'll find three distinct categories:
AI keywords, automatically generated by our powerful AI models;
Embedded keywords, parsed from your uploaded files' metadata;
Team keywords, which you or your team have created manually.
This section also provides a convenient way to manage your keywords. You can see the remaining assets for AI processing, select all keywords with a single click, and even copy them all for easy use.
If you need to add more keywords, simply type them in or leverage the AI's capabilities by clicking the "Tag with AI" button.
The following shortcut keys can be used to work with keywords:
Shift + Enter combination creates a totally new keyword;
Alt (for Windows) / Option (for Mac OS) + Enter combination locates an existing keyword in a dropdown list of suggested options (for users who have a long list of keywords with a cognate word);
Cmd + C / Ctrl + C combination lets you copy all keywords from a file;
Cmd + V / Ctrl + V combination lets you paste copied keywords into another file;
For even more granular control, hold down Cmd (Mac) or Ctrl (PC) while clicking to select multiple keywords manually, allowing you to copy or delete specific tags:
Where can I see and manage the entire list of keywords I have in Pics.io?
The “Keywords” section on the left side panel of the screen is the place where you can manage the entire list of keywords you have in Pics.io.
Default empty state of the Keywords section
When you first start using Pics.io, you might notice that the Keywords section is empty by default. Keywords are essential for organizing and retrieving your digital assets efficiently. To help you get started, Pics.io offers three options to create and manage your keywords:
Create your first keyword manually by entering theew name.
Generate keywords with AI where you will be prompted to select one collection for which you’d like to generate keywords.
Import your keywords list if you already have a predefined list of keywords.
Once you've created some keywords in Pics.io, a range of additional options becomes available to help you manage and optimize your keywords efficiently. Besides continuing to manually create keywords, generate them with AI, or import them, you can also:
Search keywords using the search bar at the top.
Sort keywords by name, creation time, or usage frequency.
Enable Controlled Vocabulary to limit the scope of keywords used by your teammates.
Enter Edit Mode to efficiently manage multiple keywords at once.
Export your list of keywords.
By hovering over a certain keyword, you will see additional actions you can perform with this keyword:
Create a sub-keyword. For example, if the top keyword was “animals”, your sub-keywords can be “elephant”, “zebra”, etc. Hierarchical lists of keywords are very helpful when searching for specific assets.
Add to Favorites. This button places the keyword in the “Favorites” folder on top, so that you can find it even faster.
Rename this keyword
Delete this keyword from the list. If you delete a keyword here, it will be detached from all the assets it was previously attached to.
NB! If you have the "Use controlled vocabulary" option enabled, you won't be able to make any changes to keywords. Please disable this option to be able to manage your keywords manually.
Each keyword also has a counter next to it, showing the number of assets with that particular keyword. By clicking on a specific keyword, you can see all the assets to which this keyword has been assigned.
How can I manage keywords of files with several revisions?
To keep your files up-to-date, you will probably be uploading new versions each time you make some changes. For users who update their files via Google Drive’s “Manage revisions” tool or via the “Add Revision” button in Pics.io, we have introduced managing the overwriting, which can be found by a pencil icon.
This icon can be seen on assets keyworded in Pics.io. It’s designed to prevent metadata overwriting for newly uploaded revisions of your files if they contain irrelevant/outdated metadata.
While hovering a pointer over this icon, the following text is displayed: “This field was edited by you. Pics.io will not overwrite this field even in case metadata is found in the original file. Please click this mark to allow overwriting”.
When you plan to add a new revision to an existing file, you should decide first whether you would like to update the metadata along with the file or just the file/content itself. Then, you might face the following scenarios:
the file you would like to upload a revision for has keywords attached to it and these keywords were added via Pics.io;
the file you would like to upload a revision for does not have keywords attached to it or it has original keywords embedded into a file (they were not added via Pics.io).
If you see the pencil icon in the Keywords section of a file that you would like to update, i.e. to upload a new revision for, it means that the keywords for this file were edited by you or your teammate via Pics.io and we will not display the metadata from a new revision for this file unless you click the pencil icon to allow metadata overwriting.
NB! To allow overwriting and see new keywords of a new revision, it is required to click the pencil icon in Pics.io UI prior to the revision upload.
If the pencil icon is not shown within the Keywords field, the metadata from a new revision will be automatically parsed and displayed within the Keywords section.
The overwriting restriction is enabled by default for all files where keywords were edited manually via Pics.io. In case you would like to update the metadata for new revisions without clicking the pencil icon each time prior to the revision upload, please contact support@pics.io, and we will enable the corresponding mode for you on our end.
How can I better organize my list of keywords?
When you open the “Keywords” section on the left side panel of the screen, you will find the sorting button. It will help you organize your keywords in several different ways:
The AZ button will organize the keywords by name, from A to Z or from Z to A, depending on the direction of the small arrow.
The calendar button will organize the files by creating time - from the most recently created to those added earlier.
The fire button allows you to search for keywords used mostly by your teammates.
You may also drag and drop your keywords and sub-keywords on top of one another to modify your tree of keywords. Or, you can add certain keywords to favorites, as it was described above.
A search box above your list of keywords will help you easily retrieve the keywords you need.
How can I attach a keyword to an asset?
First, you should open your asset for preview. Open the Details panel and find the Keywords section. The “paperclip” button here allows you either to attach an existing keyword or to create a new one. If you have a list of keywords written down elsewhere outside Pics.io, you can also copy and paste them into this field. Make sure, though, that keywords are separated by commas in this case. As well, you may simply drag'n'drop the assets to the necessary keyword and it will be attached to them.
If you want to attach a keyword to multiple assets, you need to do the following:
Select the necessary assets;
Find the Keywords section in the Details panel on the right. It displays all keywords used across your selected assets. Counters on each keyword indicate how many assets from the selection share this keyword;
You can apply keywords to the entire selection of assets with a single click using the "+" button, or remove them selectively using the "X" button:
Keywords will be attached to or removed from the selected assets.
Known bugs:
If you select more than 50 assets and want to attach keywords to them at once, the changes will be applied to the background and won't be displayed in real-time. You need to reload the page to see the keywords on these files.
In the event that you have generated keywords, initiated the process, but no keywords were generated in the end, please review your settings. This issue may occur if the 'Only Precise Keywords' option is selected, and adjusting this setting could resolve the problem.
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