Labelwell™ User Guide

What Labelwell is

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. You get a caption on every photo without typing it, ready to search and to deliver.

Labelwell comes two ways, with one license for both:

• The Lightroom Classic plug-in: Library > Plug-in Extras > Read captions... and Read captions from photo backs...
• The Labelwell app, for Windows and Mac. It opens in your web browser and writes the captions into the photo files, with no Lightroom needed.

Everything is read on your computer. What it writes is a draft: you see every caption and can correct it before it is saved, and Edit > Undo (or Undo this run in the app) takes a run back.

Quick start

1. Install Labelwell (see Install).
2. On album pages, run Squarewell™ first (Library > Plug-in Extras > Auto Crop now: album pages), so each print and each label has its own copy. Crop single prints yourself, keeping the border with the writing on it.

In Lightroom Classic

1. In the Library, select the photos: Squarewell's album page copies, single prints, or both.
2. Choose Library > Plug-in Extras > Read captions... and click Read.
3. Check each caption in the window that follows, fix any typos, and click Save.
4. Every photo that got a caption has the keyword Labelwell > Check caption, so you can find them again. Edit > Undo takes the whole run back.

In the app

1. Start Labelwell from the Windows Start menu or Applications > ThePictureOrg on a Mac.
2. Click Choose a folder and pick your scans.
3. Click Read the captions, check and correct each one, then click Save captions.
4. Undo this run puts every caption back as it was.

Next: Read the captions on album pages, Read the backs of prints, Copy a caption to nearby photos, Write captions into the photo files with the app, Read hard handwriting online.

Read the captions on album pages

Labelwell reads the part of each photo that Lightroom's crop shows, so run Squarewell™ on the pages first. It makes a copy for each print ("Photo 2") and for each label beside it ("Photo 2 note"). For 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).

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 Correct captions before they are saved).
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. When it's done, Labelwell says how many captions it wrote and how long it took.

Read the backs of prints

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, 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.

Correct 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. With a front and its back, the back is shown large so you can read its writing. 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.

Copy 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.

Write captions into the photo files with the 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.

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. The app's menu also has User Guide and Other -well tools.

Read hard handwriting online

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 Claude, OpenAI or Google Gemini. Step-by-step instructions for each are in Getting an API key below.
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.

Getting an API key

An API key is a long password that lets Labelwell use your account with the service. A chat subscription such as Claude Pro or ChatGPT Plus does not include one: the key comes from the service's developer site, which has its own sign-in and its own pay-as-you-go billing. You only need one key, from one service. The sites change their menus from time to time, so a button may be worded a little differently from what is written here.

Which one to choose

• Claude (Anthropic) is the one we use in our own studio. It reads handwriting best in our tests, costs about 5 to 10 cents per thousand labels, and what you send on a paid account is not used to train its models.
• Google Gemini has a free key with no card needed, which is a good way to try reading online. On the free key, Google may use what you send to improve its products, and people at Google may look at it, so don't use the free key on photos you'd want kept private. With billing turned on, Google doesn't use what you send.
• OpenAI works the same way as Claude: a paid account with credit added first.

Claude (Anthropic)

1. Go to console.anthropic.com and sign up (or sign in) with your email or Google account. This is a separate account from a claude.ai chat subscription, though it can use the same email.
2. Open Settings > Billing and click Buy credits. Add a small amount; $5 is the least you can add and lasts a long time for reading labels. Reading online won't work until the account has credit.
3. Open Settings > API keys and click Create key. Give it a name you'll recognize, such as Labelwell.
4. Click Copy and paste the key into Labelwell straight away (it starts with sk-ant-). The site shows the key only once; if you lose it, delete it there and create a new one.

Google Gemini

1. Go to aistudio.google.com and sign in with your Google account. The first time, accept the terms. A work or school Google account may not be allowed to make keys; a personal Gmail account works.
2. Click Get API key (or go straight to aistudio.google.com/apikey), then Create API key. If it asks about a project, choose to create it in a new project.
3. Copy the key (it starts with AIza) and paste it into Labelwell.
4. The free key has daily limits, about a thousand or so readings a day, which is plenty for most jobs. To lift the limits and keep your photos out of Google's product improvement, turn on billing for the key's project in AI Studio.

OpenAI

1. Go to platform.openai.com and sign up (or sign in). This is separate from a ChatGPT subscription.
2. Open Settings > Billing and add credit; $5 is the usual least amount.
3. Open API keys (platform.openai.com/api-keys) and click Create new secret key. Give it a name such as Labelwell.
4. Copy the key (it starts with sk-) and paste it into Labelwell straight away; it is shown only once.

Keeping your key safe

Treat the key like a password: don't email it, post it or put it in a screenshot. Labelwell keeps it on this computer only. If you think someone else has seen it, delete it on the service's site, create a new one, and paste the new one into Labelwell. The service's own billing page shows what you have spent, and you can set a spending limit there.

Check the drafts before you deliver

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. A word read as a jumble of capital and small letters comes out in small letters, ready for you to correct.

What Labelwell writes

• In Lightroom: the photo's Caption, and the keywords Labelwell > Check caption, Labelwell > Back of photo and Labelwell > Label slip. The keywords are never exported with your photos.
• In the app: 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.

Where it keeps things

• 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 plug-in's log, for support: captionreader-log.txt in your temporary folder.
• Removing Labelwell leaves the captions and keywords it wrote, and your license key stays on the computer in case you install it again.

Install

There are three downloads. The installers ask what to install: the Lightroom Classic plug-in, the standalone app (no Lightroom needed), or both. One license covers both, and you can run the installer again later to add the other.

Windows: the Setup program (ThePictureOrg-Labelwell-Setup-<version>.exe)

1. If you are installing the plug-in, close Lightroom Classic.
2. Double-click the Setup program. If Windows shows "Windows protected your PC", click More info, then Run anyway.
3. Accept the license, tick what to install and click Install.
4. The app is in the Start menu as Labelwell. For the plug-in, start Lightroom Classic. On album pages, run Squarewell first. Then select photos and choose Library > Plug-in Extras > Read captions...

Mac: the Install Labelwell app (ThePictureOrg-Labelwell-Mac-<version>.zip)

1. Double-click the zip to unzip it. If you are installing the plug-in, quit Lightroom Classic.
2. Double-click Install Labelwell, and click Open when macOS asks. It is signed and checked by Apple.
3. Choose what to install and click Install.
4. The app is in Applications > ThePictureOrg. For the plug-in, start Lightroom Classic. On album pages, run Squarewell first. Then select photos and choose Library > Plug-in Extras > Read captions...

On a Mac with an Intel processor, the installer also offers a one-time setup that downloads the image libraries (it needs Python 3 from python.org and an internet connection).

Updating and removing: run the installer from the new download the same way, or click Install now when Labelwell offers an update (see Updates). Your settings and license key are kept. To remove Labelwell, use Uninstall Labelwell in the Start menu on Windows, or the Uninstall Labelwell app in the Mac download.

Installing the plug-in by hand: on Windows, right-click ThePictureOrg-Labelwell-Win-<version>.zip, choose Properties, tick Unblock, and unzip it. On a Mac, right-click Install Labelwell, choose Show Package Contents and open Contents > Resources. Move the PictureOrgCaptionReader.lrplugin folder somewhere permanent, then in Lightroom Classic choose File > Plug-in Manager > Add and pick it. Use one way or the other, not both, or the menu appears twice.

Where it goes: the installers put the plug-in in Lightroom's own plug-in folder for your user account, where Lightroom finds it by itself (%APPDATA%\Adobe\Lightroom\Modules\PictureOrgCaptionReader.lrplugin on Windows, ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom/Modules/PictureOrgCaptionReader.lrplugin on a Mac). No administrator password is needed. If the Mac installer has a problem, it keeps a log for support in ~/Library/Logs/PictureOrg/Labelwell-install.log.

License and free trial

• Free trial: every feature works for 21 days on each computer. The Plug-in Manager panel and the app show how many days are left, for example "Free trial: 14 days left".
• After the trial: for 7 more days Labelwell still works, with a reminder. After that, it stops reading new captions. Captions already saved stay as they are. When a license key is needed, Labelwell says "the free trial has ended" and offers Buy a license and Enter key....
• Buying: click Buy a license in the License section of File > Plug-in Manager (select Labelwell), or on the license line at the top of the app, or go to thepictureorg.com/tools. One license is for one person on up to 2 computers, covers the app and the Lightroom plug-in, and includes complimentary updates within the major version (a version 1 key works for every 1.x release).
• Entering your key: paste the whole key from your order email into the License key box in the Plug-in Manager and click Enter key, or click the license line at the top of the app. Spaces and line breaks don't matter. It then says "Licensed to" and your name. The key is checked on this computer: nothing is sent anywhere, and no internet connection is needed.
• Plug-in and app: one license, one free trial. The plug-in and the app share the key and the 21-day count on each computer, so a key entered in either unlocks both.
• Bundle key: the Well Tools Bundle key covers Spoolwell, Squarewell, Pivotwell, Datewell and Labelwell. Entered in any one of them, it unlocks all of them on that computer.
• New computer: click Remove license from this computer on the old one (it asks first; a bundle key is removed from every app in the bundle on that computer), then enter the key on the new one.
• Where the key is kept: in your user account, not in the program's folder, so it stays through updates and reinstalling: %LOCALAPPDATA%\PictureOrg on Windows, ~/Library/Application Support/PictureOrg on a Mac.

Updates

• Automatic check: once a day Labelwell looks up the current version number on thepictureorg.com's download service, in the background when Lightroom starts and when you run it. Only that small version list is fetched: nothing about your computer, your photos or your license key is sent.
• When a new version is out: the next time you run Labelwell, a message says so once per Lightroom session: Install now (or Download), Not now (asks again next time you start Lightroom) and Skip this version (stays quiet until a later version comes out). Nothing is downloaded or installed until you click.
• Install now: Labelwell downloads the update, checks that it arrived whole and unchanged, that it carries The Picture Org's release signature and that it is newer than the version you have, and installs it into its own folder, with a progress bar. Then quit and restart Lightroom Classic to start using it. If anything goes wrong, every file is put back as it was.
• Download: opens the installer download in your browser; close Lightroom Classic and run the new Setup program (Windows) or Install Labelwell (Mac). Your settings and license key are kept either way.
• Plug-in Manager > Updates: shows your version and whether a newer one is out, with Check now, Install update, Download installer and What's new. Untick Check for updates automatically to turn the daily check off; Check now still works. When an update can't be installed from inside your version, the panel says to use Download installer for that one.
• The app checks once a day when it opens, and Check for updates checks at any time. When a new version is out, a bar lets you install it (the app installs it into its own folder, then restarts itself), download the installer, or see what's new. The plug-in and the app update separately: each installed copy has its own files.

Updates within the major version are complimentary.

Help

• Check my setup (in the app's menu, or in File > Plug-in Manager with Labelwell selected) checks that everything Labelwell needs works on this computer, and shows the result as text you can copy or save.
• Create an error log (in the app's menu, or Library > Plug-in Extras > Labelwell: Create an error log) saves a text file on your Desktop with what Labelwell did. Email it to The Picture Org with a few words about what went wrong. File names are in it; your photos aren't, and nothing is sent by itself.

Appendix: What's new

• 0.9.12: this guide starts with what Labelwell is and a quick start; buttons in Lightroom's Plug-in Manager for Labelwell's home page, the User Guide and our other -well tools; every finished job says how long it took.
• 0.9.10: several photos are read at once, about 1.7 times as fast on a 4-core computer, with the same readings; in Lightroom the plug-in appears as "tpo: Labelwell™".
• 0.9.9: on a Mac, a short line such as a date written on its own is no longer missed.

Earlier versions: see CHANGELOG.txt.

Appendix: License and credits

© 2026 The Picture Org LLC · thepictureorg.com. Labelwell™ is a trademark of The Picture Org LLC; see LICENSE.txt. Labelwell reads handwriting with RapidOCR and PaddleOCR's PP-OCR models (Apache License 2.0), and, on a Mac, with Apple's Vision. The app writes captions with ExifTool by Phil Harvey. These and the other bundled components keep their own licenses: see NOTICE.txt.