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In the Margins · Quick guide · October 2026

How to use In the Margins

In the Margins looks at your photos and adds keywords to them in Lightroom Classic, so you can search your whole catalog. Setup takes a few minutes. Here is everything you need.

Download this guide as a PDF

Step 1

Install

It takes about a minute.

  1. Unzip the download. You get a folder called InTheMargins.lrplugin. Put it somewhere it can stay, such as your Documents folder.

  2. In Lightroom Classic, choose File › Plug-in Manager.

  3. Click Add, pick the InTheMargins.lrplugin folder, and click Done.

Step 2

Choose your AI

You can use Claude, or an AI that runs on your own Mac. Set this up once in File › Plug-in Manager, with In the Margins selected.

  • Claude (recommended): best on every kind of photo, including night and underwater. About 13¢ per 1,000 photos in Batch mode, paid to Anthropic. Paste your Anthropic API key into API Key (get one at console.anthropic.com) and leave the model on Claude Haiku.

  • On your Mac: free and private, best on bright daytime photos. Install and open the free Osaurus app on an Apple Silicon Mac, then pick a model under Osaurus model.

In the Margins in the Lightroom Plug-in Manager, with the Claude settings below the license.
Step 3

Keyword your photos

Three clicks:

  1. In the Library, select the photos you want. One shoot, one year or the whole catalog all work.

  2. Choose Library › Plug-in Extras › Keyword Selected Photos…

  3. Pick a mode and click Run.

The Plug-in Extras menu in Lightroom Classic, showing Keyword Selected Photos.

The three modes:

  • Instant: keywords appear while you watch. Good for a few hundred photos.

  • Batch: half the price. The photos are sent now and the keywords come back later, usually within the hour. Best for big catalogs.

  • Local: runs on your Mac. Free and private, but slower. Keep your Mac plugged in.

The Keyword Selected Photos window with the mode menu and the Run button.

Leave “Skip the photos already keyworded” ticked. If a run stops partway, run it again and it picks up where it left off.

Step 4

Batch mode: collect your keywords

After a Batch run, come back later and choose Library › Plug-in Extras › Check Batch Status / Import Results… It adds the keywords for every batch that is ready. You can quit Lightroom in between.

The message after sending a Batch run.
Step 5

See the results

Keywords appear in the Keywording and Keyword List panels like any others, grouped as Subject › Animal › Cat, Light › Overcast and so on. Search them with the Library filter or a smart collection. Each run ends with a summary of how many photos were done and, with Claude, what the run cost.

A black and white cat photo in Lightroom with its new keywords in the Keywording panel.
The Keywording complete summary, showing the run's cost.
Step 6

Trial and license

The free trial covers 14 days or 200 photos, whichever comes first, and every keyword it writes stays when the trial ends. To keep going, buy a license for $30, one time. Polar emails you a key: paste it into License key in the Plug-in Manager and click Activate.

The License section of the Plug-in Manager with the Activate button.

Good to know

It is built to be safe to try on your own catalog.

  • Your keywords are safe. It only adds keywords, and a photo that already has a caption keeps it.

  • Undo by removing the keywords in Lightroom, like any other keyword.

  • People are described (child, diver, musician), never named.

  • Progress: every photo has a Keywording Status (Done, Batch Pending, Error) in the Metadata panel, under All Plug-in Metadata.

  • Imagine Caption (Library › Plug-in Extras › Imagine Caption…) writes a short, evocative title for your favourite photos. It uses Claude.

Questions? Email support@fododoto.com. In the Margins is not affiliated with Adobe or Anthropic.