Notes: Projects - Albums - Folders

Question

Is there a notes taking or description feature that allows descriptive notes to be attached to individual Projects, Albums or Folders?
With a large number of Projects, and in working with multiple drives, I indicate data I want to retain by very briefly stated changes in the Project/Album/Folder name, but this is really a compromise as it doesn't allow much clarity of info.
A great feature would be the ability to open the space for a few lines of text on a filename in order to be a future reference for info like content details, where used, date of sales, where transferred, etc.
If not a feature of Aperture 3, there a means for linking elsewhere to capture notes? At worst, I could start a file for notes where the reference would be the Aperture filename, but a link inside Aperture or even to an outside file would be very convenient tool.
How do others record relevant data for future reference on Aperture Projects/Albums/Folders?

Answer 1

DonLoveland wrote:
Kirby, this is very helpful.
Glad to help.
I was not previously aware of the Projects Info tab, so this is a great first step. I just upgraded to A3, may have been there in A2 but I didn't discover it.
According to the Apple "What's new" page, this is, indeed, new to Ap3. I never used a previous version.
As you suggested, I've created my own "status codes" so as to be standardized in checking off what I've done with individual projects.
Next recommendation (picked up from a helpful forum member): right-click in one of the text fields and select "Substitutions→Text Replacement". (I think you'll have to activate this with each launch of Aperture.) Then go to "System Preferences→Language & Text→Text" and add keyboard shortcuts for each of your status codes. This might seem cumbersome, but 1. it allows you to use longer status codes, and more importantly, 2. it ensures that there are no typos in your status codes.
What I've ended up with (still subject to change) is a long initial string coded as a series of "Not!Status" identifiers, where "Status" is each of the status parameters I track. This way it is easy to search either the Projects view or the Library tab for Projects which are not yet at a certain status. Then when the Project has reached a status, I simply double-click the "Not" and replace it with a space (which then lets me search for those Projects which have the selected status).
Project text searching is rudimentary. There are no operations allowed. The search is literal. Space characters are included.
I added a custom data field, "Comments" to the Metadata General section, it appears at the bottomof the fields group. I would like to rearrange this to be up near the top. A3 Help states that you can rearrange fields, but, I couldn't find any specifics on rearranging fields.
Easy. When you hover the mouse cursor over a field name on the Metadata tab of the Inspector, the name should show in reverse video. Click and drag the field name and put it where you want. (I smiled when I discovered this.)
For my Metadata Comments, I'm making up standardized tags for consistent status on certain actions, similar to the Projects Comments.
I use the built-in color labels to mark where along a standard progression of image development each Version is. The color labels are queer in that they are an "only one of" set of eight markers. Almost every other use of them I tried ended up failing because there were images I needed to mark with more than one color at the same time. I suggest using them for something image-specific and important to track -- tagging versions with colors is much more readily available than adding/changing status codes in a custom metadata field.
So this is very helpful for creating a track record of Projects process and Image processes for future reference. Thanks,
Let us know how you work this out.
Message was edited by: Kirby Krieger to add a bit
Message was edited by: Kirby Krieger