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Aperture Caption

Aperture Caption is a free AppleScript that makes it easy to caption and keyword images in Aperture using just the keyboard.

The Problem

Aperture has no keyboard shortcuts for entering captions and moving between images. To edit captions for multiple images, you have to:

  1. Click on the image or image thumbnail
  2. Press the right-arrow key
  3. Click on the caption field in the metadata pane
  4. Enter the caption
  5. Repeat steps 1-4

If you have to add different captions to multiple images, following the steps above quickly becomes very time-consuming and tedious. Aperture Caption has been designed to streamline the captioning process.

Installation and Usage

  1. Download Aperture Caption
  2. Decompress the archive and install it in the following location:

    ~/Library/Scripts/Aperture Scripts/

  3. Make sure that you have the Scripts menu activated by running the AppleScript Utility application in the /Applications/AppleScript folder.

    AppleScript Utility

  4. Launch Aperture and select an image you wish to caption
  5. Choose Aperture Caption from the Script > Aperture Scripts menu.

    Aperture Caption in Script Menu

  6. Aperture Caption display the following dialog box on launch:

    Aperture Caption Welcome

  7. Click Captions Only to only add captions to your images. Click Captions & Keywords if you want to add both captions and keywords to your images.

    Enter your caption

  8. After entering your caption, click OK or press Return. If you launched Aperture Caption using the Captions & Keywords, another dialog prompt will appear allowing you to enter keywords for the current photo.

    9. Enter keywords for this photo

  9. Aperture Caption will then caption and keyword your image, replacing any existing caption or keywords in the image.
  10. Aperture Caption will now go to the next image until you hit Cancel.

    Aperture Caption will automatically go to the next image until you hit Cancel

Tips

This section highlights tips and tricks to make Aperture Caption suit your workflow.

Skipping Images

If you do not wish to caption or keyword an image, pressing OK or pressing Return in the dialog boxes will cause Aperture Caption to skip over the image.

Keyboard Shortcut

If you want to add a keyboard shortcut for Aperture Caption, download FastScripts Lite from Red Sweater Software. The standard Scripts Menu in Mac OS X does not let you assign a keyboard shortcut using the Keyboards and Mouse System Preference.

Changing Default Button

If you want to have Aperture Caption default to Captions Only instead of Captions & Keywords, follow these steps:

  1. Open Aperture Caption.scpt in Script Editor
  2. Look for the following line:

    display dialog msgWelcome buttons {"Cancel", "Captions Only", "Captions & Keywords"} default button "Captions & Keywords"

  3. Change the line to read:

    display dialog msgWelcome buttons {"Cancel", "Captions & Keywords", "Captions Only"} default button "Captions Only"

  4. Save the file and quit Script Editor