Labelwell™ Caption Reader

Labelwell reads the writing on old photos and album labels into each photo’s Caption: the handwritten slip beside a print on an album page, the back of a print, and a caption written on a print’s white border. It works in Lightroom Classic, and as a standalone app that writes the caption into the photo files themselves, with no Lightroom needed. Everything is read on your computer, and nothing is sent anywhere unless you turn on reading online with your own API key.

What it writes is a draft. Every photo it gives a caption also gets the keyword Labelwell > Check caption, so you can find them all and check the spelling before you deliver.

Before you start

Labelwell reads the part of each photo that Lightroom’s crop shows. So:

• Album pages: run Squarewell™ on the pages first (Library > Plug-in Extras > Auto Crop now: album pages). It makes a copy for each print (“Photo 2”) and for each label beside it (“Photo 2 note”).
• Single prints: crop them as you like first, keeping the border with the writing on it. (Squarewell keeps all four borders of a print that has writing on its border, and gives it a blue label.)

Reading captions

1. In the Library, select the photos: the album page copies, single prints, or both.
2. Choose Library > Plug-in Extras > Read captions…
3. Leave Replace captions already written unticked unless you want to overwrite captions you or someone else typed. A copy whose caption is only its album page’s own caption counts as empty.
4. Leave Let me check and correct each caption before it is saved ticked (see below).
5. Click Read. A progress bar shows each photo; Cancel stops after the current one, and the photos read so far keep their captions.

What goes where:

• A label copy (“Photo 2 note”) gets the writing on the label as its caption.
• The label copy also gets the keyword Labelwell > Label slip, so you can remove the label copies when the project is done.
• The print beside it (“Photo 2”) gets the same writing too, even when you didn’t select it. If the print also has writing on its own border, that comes first, then the label’s.
• Any other photo is read like a print: only writing on plain light paper counts (a caption on the border), not a shop sign in the picture.

Everything a run changes is one step, so Edit > Undo takes it back.

Correcting captions before they are saved

With Let me check and correct each caption before it is saved ticked, Labelwell shows each photo with the caption it read, 20 photos at a time, before anything is saved. Fix any typos in the box. Clear a box to leave that photo as it is. Next moves to the next 20, Save on the last page saves them all, Save all, skip checking the rest saves without showing the remaining pages, and Stop saves nothing.

Fronts followed by their backs

When you scan each print’s front and then its back (or a note or scrap of paper that belongs to it), Labelwell can put the writing from each back on its front:

1. Name or number the scans so that each back comes right after its front in file name order, for example Scan 001 (front), Scan 002 (back), Scan 003 (front), Scan 004 (back). Squarewell’s “Photo 2” and “Photo 2 note” copies also pair up this way.
2. Select the fronts and backs together and choose Library > Plug-in Extras > Read captions from photo backs…
3. The window lists the first pairs it found. Check that each front sits beside its own back; if the order is wrong, rename the files or change your selection, then try again. A photo left over at the end, with no back after it, is left alone.
4. Click Read. If a back already has a caption, that caption is copied to the front as it is. Otherwise the back is read whole, and the writing goes on the back as well as the front.
5. Check and correct the captions (see above), then save.

Every back gets the keyword Labelwell > Back of photo, so you can hide the backs or keep them with the fronts. A front whose caption was read from its back also gets Labelwell > Check caption. A front that already has a caption keeps it unless you tick Replace captions already written on the fronts.

Reading online (optional)

Handwriting is hard for any computer. If you have an account with an online AI service, Labelwell can ask it to read the label slips and photo backs your computer isn’t sure of. You use your own API key, so what it costs goes on your own account: usually a few cents per thousand labels.

1. Get an API key from one of these services: Claude (console.anthropic.com), OpenAI (platform.openai.com) or Google Gemini (aistudio.google.com). A chat subscription such as ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro does not include an API key; the key comes from the service’s developer site, with its own pay-as-you-go billing.
2. In Lightroom choose File > Plug-in Manager, select Labelwell, and find Reading online.
3. Choose the service, click Enter API key… and paste the key. It is saved on this computer only, in your own folder.
4. Choose Only when this computer isn’t sure (cheapest, the usual choice) or Every label slip and back. Model can stay blank; type another model’s name only if the service has asked you to move to a newer one. In the app, the same choice is in Menu > Reading online…, and the plug-in and the app share the key.
5. In Read captions… or Read captions from photo backs…, tick Also read … online. (in the app, Read online when this computer isn’t sure).

Only label slips and photo backs are sent, never a print or the front of a photo. If the service can’t be reached, the reading made on your computer is kept. To stop, choose None in the Plug-in Manager or click Remove key. On Google’s free tier, Google may use what is sent to improve its products; on a paid key it does not.

Copying a caption to nearby photos

Several photos often share one label: a roll from the same day, or a page of the same trip.

• In Lightroom: click the photo whose caption is right, then shift-click or Ctrl-click (Cmd-click on a Mac) the photos it belongs on, and choose Library > Plug-in Extras > Labelwell: Copy caption to selected photos. The caption is shown once so you can correct it; the photos you added get it and the keyword Labelwell > Check caption. A photo that already has a different caption keeps it unless you tick Also replace…. Edit > Undo takes it back.
• In the app: click Copy to… under a caption, then click each photo it belongs on (shift-click for a run of them), or use The next … photos or The rest of this folder, and click Copy. The boxes fill in, and you can still change any of them before you click Save captions.

The standalone app

The app does the same reading without Lightroom, on a folder of scans, and saves each caption into the photo file itself, where Lightroom, Bridge, Photos, Windows and most photo programs show it.

1. Start it: Windows Start menu > Labelwell; Mac Applications > ThePictureOrg > Labelwell. It opens in your web browser and works only on your computer.
2. Choose a folder, Choose photos, or paste a folder’s path into the box and click Use.
3. Say what they are:
   • Each photo on its own, either label slips, notes or photo backs (all the writing is read) or photos (only writing on their white border is read);
   • Fronts followed by backs: each back comes right after its front in name order (Scan 1, Scan 2…). The back’s writing becomes the front’s caption; a caption the back already has is copied as it is. Tick When saving, move the backs into a folder called “Backs” to put the backs aside once their writing is saved.
4. Click Read the captions. Nothing is changed yet.
5. Check every caption in its box and correct it. Untick a photo to leave it as it is. Photos that already have a caption are unticked, with the caption they have shown under the box; tick one to replace it.
6. Click Save captions. Each file is read back to check the caption is there.

What is written: the caption goes into the photo’s XMP description (Lightroom’s Caption), its EXIF image description, and its IPTC caption if it already has IPTC. Camera raw files get it in an .xmp file beside them, as Lightroom makes. No keywords are written into the files. Only the caption changes: the picture itself is never re-saved.

Undo this run puts every caption back as it was (and the backs back in their folder), and Menu > Undo an earlier run works later too. If the photos are already in a Lightroom catalog, select them there and choose Metadata > Read Metadata from Files to see the new captions.

Checking the drafts

In the Library filter bar choose Text, then type Check caption, or open the Keyword List and click the arrow beside Labelwell > Check caption. Correct each caption in the Metadata panel, then remove the keyword.

Handwriting is hard: on our test labels the reader got about three words in four right. Block capitals read best; joined-up writing and faded pencil read worst.

Updates

Labelwell checks once a day whether a newer version is out (it fetches only a short version list; nothing about your computer, photos or license is sent). When there is one, it tells you once, before a run. In File > Plug-in Manager > Updates you can check now, install the update from inside Lightroom (then restart Lightroom), or turn the daily check off. Each update is checked against The Picture Org’s signature before it is installed. In the app, Menu > Check for updates does the same.

If something goes wrong

• File > Plug-in Manager > Check my setup checks that everything Labelwell needs works on this computer and shows the result as text you can copy or save.
• Library > Plug-in Extras > Labelwell: Create an error log saves a text file on your Desktop with the selected photos’ names and captions, the setup check and the end of Labelwell’s log. Nothing is sent by itself: email the file to The Picture Org with a word about what looked wrong.
• In the app, Menu > Check my setup and Menu > Create an error log do the same.

License and free trial

Labelwell works fully for 21 days. After that, enter a license key in File > Plug-in Manager > Labelwell (the License section), or click Buy a license there. One license is for one person on up to 2 computers; Remove license from this computer frees a place to move it.

Where it keeps things

• The plug-in: in Lightroom’s own plug-in folder for your user (Windows %APPDATA%\Adobe\Lightroom\Modules\PictureOrgCaptionReader.lrplugin, Mac ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom/Modules/PictureOrgCaptionReader.lrplugin).
• The app (and on Windows the uninstaller): Windows %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\ThePictureOrg\Labelwell, Mac /Applications/ThePictureOrg/Labelwell.app.
• The app’s settings, its log (Labelwell-app-log.txt) and its undo files (Labelwell-undo) are with the license key.
• The license key and trial: %LOCALAPPDATA%\PictureOrg (Mac ~/Library/Application Support/PictureOrg).
• The log, for support: captionreader-log.txt in your temporary folder.

Removing it

Windows: Start menu > Labelwell > Uninstall Labelwell (or Settings > Apps). Mac: open Uninstall Labelwell from the download. Both remove the plug-in and the app. Captions and keywords it wrote stay; your license key stays on the computer in case you install it again.