I had this problem too, and the only solution I’ve come up with is kind of crap: Don’t merge libraries.
In stead I export the masters from the original library and import them into the new one.
If you’ve made adjustments to the images, you may want to export the versions too, but keep in mind that Aperture 3 currently deletes several pieces of metadata when exporting versions.

Sorry for the lousy solution, but I guess we’ll have to wait for the apples to figure it out.
Morten
@afringedweller

While searching for a solution to a problem I have with duplicate keywords I found this thread. My problem is similar.

I have a simple 2 level hierarchy keyword structure. For example, on level 1 I have “Activities” and level 2 includes “Vacation”, “Birthday”, etc.

There are a few situations where I end up with new duplicate keywords appearing on level 1. For example, “Vacation” is on level 1 (not correct) and on level 2 (correct).

It took me a while to figure out what was causing this. Here are is what I have determined.

1. If I edit a image with my external editor (Photoshop) or if I edit with a plugin (Nik filters), I get a duplicate version of the image with all the keywords copied from the original. But if the original image has any level 2 keywords, such as Vacation, the new duplicate image was level 1 Vacation keyword.

2. Also if I try to apply a level 2 keyword during import, I get a new duplicate keyword on level 1.

If I view the metadata of image in the inspector panel there is no way to tell the difference between the level 1 keyword “Vacation” and the level 2 keyword. In fact, I can tag an image with both keywords and only one “Vacation” is displayed in the metadata.
If I filter my images I will see both keywords listed - “Vacation” and “Vacation (Activities)”. I can verify that both keywords can be assigned to a image.

Without looking in the Keyword HUD or the filter popup it was hard for me to even notice this was occurring.

Joseph, I was excited to see your suggestion of dragging to merge the duplicate keywords in the HUD. Unfortunately, when I try to do that I am asked if I want to “Move” the keyword. Then it ends up as a new keyword under the correct keyword. It doesn’t ask me if I want to “Merge” the keywords. Am I missing some keyboard magic?

I have been using filters to find these duplicates and remove them and add the correct one. It been a real PITA. Simply dragging would be nice to clean up things but figuring out how to avoid these issues is my real goal. Before I dump my 2 level keyword hierarchy just wanted to check to see I am missing something in my understanding.

Aperture Expert(s) please help.
Jim

Joseph,
You are correct. I was dragging “on top of its mate, not to its parent”. Merging works fine. Thanks.

Any thoughts on why I get all these duplicates?

Jim

Joseph,
I don’t do much with exporting and importing libraries. I have just one big library on my Mac Pro.

From my experimenting it appears that Aperture just doesn’t handle a keyword hierarchy very well. While not directly related to the issues I am having, a real simply example is that you can have a single keyword on both level 1 and level 2 but when you want to tag an image you have no way to distinguish which keyword you meant (without using the keyword HUD). For example,
Vacation
- Vacation
If you try to enter Vacation in the metadata inspector you only get the level 1 Vacation. There is no way to type in the level 2 Vacation.
Same thing happens in the Metadata Presets during import.
You can drag the level 2 Vacation from the Keyword HUD to the photo, but when you look at the keywords in the metadata inspector you just see Vacation. You can’t tell if this is the level 1 or level 2 Vacation.

Aperture distinguishes between the two different keywords in some places by placing the level 1 keyword in parenthesis behind the level 2 keyword, e.g. Vacation (Vacation). You see this when you try to filter on keywords. You also see this when you edit the button sets in the Keyword Control Bar.
If you try to enter Vacation (Vacation) in the metadata inspector you just get a new keyword.
While this in not something you would probably want to do, I think it does demonstrate problems with the keyword hierarchy functionality and probably the problems I have.

It is nice that I can simply merge the keywords when they get out-of-wack.

Jim

Agreed.
I had searched the Apple discussion forums previously on these issues and hadn’t seen the same issues I was having. Now that I dug around in this issue I see similar reports on the keyword hierarchy/duplicates issues.
Too bad these issues weren’t included the hundreds of issues fixed with 3.1. Maybe 3.2.
Until then I will using the handy merge keyword trick to keep my keywords tidy.

Thanks again for all your help,
Jim

How do I “flatten keywords”?