Yellow Triangle - Metadata

[DONUSA]

I have several thousand photos and what seems like a few dozen of them have a yellow triangle.  The ones that do seem totally random.  The triangle shows an error message writing back metadata. There is no metadata to write, though there may have been previously as I see it has tags I created. The file type is the same as many others, so it is supported (JPG).  I checked in Windows Explorer and the file is not write-protected and I don't know of any reason why it would have been.  I can open and edit the file from Windows Explorer, so it does not seem to be corrupted.  I can also open and view in iMatch.  I can edit tags from Windows Explorer.  So, actually, my use of the file does not seem to be limited in any way that I can tell.  There is just this yellow triangle there telling me there is something wrong.  I ran database diagnostics = no errors.  I rescanned the photo, but the yellow triangle remains. 

Is there a way I can just view all the files with a yellow triangle?  This way I can see if there is something they have in common.

What can I do to remove the triangle? 

[loweskid]

This happened to me once.  I've no idea what caused it but it cleared after I closed IMatch and then re-booted the computer.  Never happened again.

[Mario]

The tooltip for the triangle may contain additional error info.

The Extra\ErrorInfo tag is filled by ExifTool when it encounters a problem reading or writing a file.
You can view it in the Metadata Panel in Browser mode and you can use it to find all affected files by using this tag with a Metadata Value filter in the Filter panel.

There is a dedicated topic for this in the 'Did You Know?'' App. Press <F9> in the app and search for error and then go to Identifying Files with Problems (Extra Error)

[DONUSA]

Thanks Mario, but I need more instruction than the "Did You Know" app provides.  In the Filter panel, I checked Filter Panel.  Below that, I checked Value Filter.  Below that, I checked "Files with values". 

From the instructions it looks like in the line below I need to either type "Extra\Error" or select it from the drop-down list.  The field does not allow me to type in it and there is no "Extra\Error" in the drop-down list or anything similar. 

[Mario]

Click on the ... button on the right of the tag name field in that filter.
In the Tag Selector, switch to "Search All Tags" and search for group named Extra. Then select the Error tag:



Then activate the filter with the check box in the blue caption bar and select the Database node in the Media & Folders View to apply the filter to all files in your database.

[DONUSA]

Hi Mario.  That worked to get the Filter to have Extra\Error but I get zero files in the search result.  I know I do have files with the yellow triangle by visually scrolling through my database.  Here is how the Filter looks.  Please let me know where I am going wrong. 

[Mario]

There seems to be no file with a non-empty extra error in the scope. Which scope did you use (File Window contents)?
What does the tooltip of the warning icon show when you hover the mouse cursor over it?

[DONUSA]

This is displayed when I hover the cursor. 

"There was an error writing back the metadata.  The file may be write-protected, the format unsupported or the file itself may be corrupted. 

I checked several of the files and the ones I checked all have the same message. 

The scope is my entire database and I am showing all levels in the hierarchy. 

Please see my initial post in this thread to see how I have tested to see if any of these errors are present. 

[Mario]

Ah, more info.
This is the error message IMatch displays when an error occurred while attempting to write-back to a file, but without ExifTool returning info in the Extra\ErrorInfo tag. So your findings are correct.
When this happens again, have a look at the #logfile immediately after. There might be some additional warnings (lines containing W> or E>.

IMatch checks for write-protected files (with the read-only file system attribute). But it cannot check if your user account has write access to the folder, or more likely, the virus checker or some other application has the files locked.

[DONUSA]

So it sounds like I won't be able to get a listing of the affected files using the Filter Panel.   In that case, I picked some files with yellow triangles and viewed the metadata in the Metadata Panel. In the metadata the field "Make (5)" and the field "Model" are "LEICA" and "digilux 4.3", respectively.  It looks like I can edit the fields or reset them.  But, I get a warning that this is "dangerous".   What bad thing might happen if I edit/reset these fields?  Would a reset remove the yellow triangle? 

By the way, these are rather old photos and these particular fields would not have changed since it was originally indexed years ago, but the yellow triangle is new. 

[Mario]

Since many software relies on make and model fields, it is not wise to change them.
If you want to mark the files for write-back, just change the label, and back. This marks the file for pending write-back again and when they write successfully, the warning icon will be removed.
Alternatively, you can select the files, press Shift+Ctrl+F5 and force a reload of the metadata.

[DONUSA]

OK, I gave that a try.  I erased the fields and wrote in the same data again.  The triangle went away.  The pencil icon is still there.  I then did the command to write-back metadata.  I got a popup box that says "0 file(s) have been updated.  There were 1 error(s) and 0 file(s) were off-line or read-only."  The triangle is back. 

[Mario]

So there is really a problem writing to that file.
If you would have attached the log file from that session (see log file) we probably would know more.

[DONUSA]

Here is the file.  Maybe you can tell me more.  It looks like it "may be corrupt", but it otherwise appears to be normal.  As I have quite a few files like this I'm wondering what could be causing it. 

[Mario]

ExifTool reports:

Warning: Error rebuilding maker notes (may be corrupt) - D:\DropBox\Images\IMatch Photos DataBase\DSCF0089-1.JPG

This means the file itself or the metadata is most likely messed up and you need to open and re-save it in an image editor.

I also see warnings like

Temporary file already exists: D:/DropBox/Images/IMatch Photos DataBase/DSCF0089-1.JPG_exiftool_tmp

which indicates that ExifTool was in a previous session unable to delete a a temporary file it has created. You need to open the folder in Windows Explorer and delete all files with exiftool_tmp in the extension.

By the name of the folder I guess that this is a folder monitored and controlled by the DropBox client for Windows.
I'm not sure, but it might interfere, temporarily blocking files while synching to the cloud. I don't recommend to use such folders for active image storage or even the IMatch database. The inner workings and locking mechanisms of DropBox are unknown to me, so ExifTool being unable to write to a file may well be caused by DropBox locking the file for some reason.

[PandDLong]

I had a similar issue - just a couple files in a small database however. 

By playing around, I am pretty sure it occurred as a conflict between OneDrive synching and iMatch doing the write-back.  I am using OneDrive folders for my photo storage (for simplifying backup) but I am reconsidering to move it out of OneDrive synched folders and just do a manual backup from time-to-time.   That is further reinforced by Mario's comments.

I am now wondering about whether the iMatch database itself can be in a OneDrive synched folder (which it is currently) or if that could create some problem in the future.

Michael

[Mario]

iMatch database itself can be in a OneDrive synched folder

I do not recommend this. OneDrive synching/locking may cause problems. IMatch is basically a database-server and your database is critical. You usually don't place the files managed by a database server into a folder monitored and synched and whatnot by software like OneDrive or DropBox. You'll never know what might happen. A live database file is not an image or document...

Also, the database system creates short-lived temporary files for journaling and transaction purposes in the database folder. This may trigger sync in DropBox/OneDrive, reducing performance and causing even more problems.

[PandDLong]

Done - moved the database and managed folders out of OneDrive synch folders.

May want to add a line or two on this in the Database Help Topic.

[Mario]

I have already for the 2021 help version.