Write-Back not working for 28 files

[Stefanjan]

I have 28 files "Pending Metadata Write-Back which I am unable to write back the metadata.

I try manually by clicking the pencil and they appear to write back and then revert to showing the pencil.

If I have "Write-back changes to metadata immediately" checked then imatch goes into an permanent loop making the application unusable.

There are no error messages.

Log attached.

[Mario]

When you point the mouse at the pen icon in the File Window, which tags are listed? Keywords?
In that case there are non-mergeable keywords in the file (usually in legacy IPTC or flat XMP keywords) which are so badly out-of-sync that IMatch cannot synchronize them by itself.

Run the Metadata Analyst on one of these files.
Does it reports problems?

[Stefanjan]

When you point the mouse at the pen icon in the File Window, which tags are listed? Keywords?

Yes, keywords and subject

Run the Metadata Analyst on one of these files.
Does it reports problems?

Yes it does:

"Flattened hierarchical XMP (embedded) keywords don't match IPTC keywords.
Imported Keyword Tags|Sue & John
Flattened hierarchical XMP (embedded) keywords don't match XMP keywords.
Imported Keyword Tags|Sue & John
"

Output attached.

Had a look at the metadata but can't work out how to fix it.

[Mario]

It always helps to have an actual sample image to look at.

Use the ExifTool Command Processor (ECP) to wipe out the keyword tag completely. Use this preset (backup your files before, etc.) :

# im-warn
-overwrite_original_in_place
-iptc:keywords=
-charset
filename=UTF8
{Files}

Or, if you don't need legacy IPTC data, delete it completely, this solves a long number of problems.
This has been explained numerous times here in the community.
There is a preset in the ECP for this.

Please let me know which software/applications you have used to create the original metadata for these files.

[Stefanjan]

This has been explained numerous times here in the community.
Please let me know which software/applications you have used to create the original metadata for these files.

Thanks this was very helpful and I was able to resolve for the example and other files with different issues.

Not sure which software did this, could have been ON1, Photolab or iMatch. Going forward I will only be using iMatch for updating metadata. I feel I have a much better understanding how this all works now and refining my workflow. There are some really clever time saving features which I love and the support in this forum is second to none!

I did search in Help and in the community but did not find the answer. I guess if you know what your looking for, it's easier! I do find the help search does not return the results I'm looking for. A search in the forum I now find often reveals one of Mario's links to the Help. Perhaps the search engine in the new help will fetch better results.

[Mario]

IMatch does not produce out-of-sync keywords, unless you really try hard by playing with the options.

The search function in the help has not changed for IMatch 2021 - because it must not.
It has a full-text index and a keyword index curated by me. This is as good as it gets.

You can also just use Google to search the IMatch help system. Google indexes the entire IMatch help system and search for IMatch write-back problems keywords produces some very good leads right at the top, all pointing at this community.

For such particular questions like "38 of my files have problems writing-back" you won't probably get any results in the IMatch help.
The "The metadata in my files is a mess and I don't know why" is usually something that comes up here in the community once a week or via support email.

For the 2021 help I have written a Metadata for Beginners topic, which has a special sub-section entitled Metadata Problems and Pitfalls.
Not that I think many users will read it - but I don't need to repeat the same info over and over and just can just post a link to the help.