Working with iMatch and iMatch Anywhere

[suttonbg]

Over many years, I have used iMatch exclusively for catloguing our family's photos. Since my wife recently retired, she has been keen to become involved in the task. For two of us to be simultaneously working, iMatch Anywhere appeared to be the answer and, in most respects, it has been.

The issue we face now is one of compatability between the two applications. Two fields of key importance to us are Title and Description for individual files. Basically, it appears that iMatch Anywhere writes these data into xmp fields, but iMatch itself uses (or, more correctly, I have been using) Attributes fields. The xmp fields do not show up in the Attributes panel (obviously) and the Attributes fields from iMatch do not show up in iMatch Anywhere.

I would appreciate your advice on how to proceed. I have a fair investment in the past construction of iMatch Attributes fields (about 300,000 images) but iMatch Anywhere appears to offer the best path to future matrimonial bliss and harmony. In short, what should we do to ensure the same information shows up in both applications in these fields, regardless of which application was used for data entry?

Kind regards,
Bruce Sutton

[Mario]

The issue we face now is one of compatability between the two applications. Two fields of key importance to us are Title and Description for individual files. Basically, it appears that iMatch Anywhere writes these data into xmp fields, but iMatch itself uses (or, more correctly, I have been using) Attributes fields. The xmp fields do not show up in the Attributes panel (obviously) and the Attributes fields from iMatch do not show up in iMatch Anywhere.

Attributes and Metadata are totally different concepts.
IMatch Anywhere does not allow to edit Attributes at this time. This is no requirement for the intended audience.

I recommend you use the official XMP title (or headline) and description tags. You access them in IMatch via the Metadata Panel and in IMatch Anywhere via the File Lens in the Describe tab. The File Lens allows you to edit metadata, keywords, rating, label and categories.

Using standard XMP metadata ensures that the data you enter is stored in the image file itself (or the XMP sidecar file, depending on the file format). This makes the data independent from IMatch and accessible also in other applications.

Attributes allow you to store data across all file formats, to store data independent from metadata formats, to import data from other systems like databases etc. Attributes are not restricted by metadata limits, but are only accessible in IMatch (except you export them).

For typical metadata fields like title, headline, description, credits etc. XMP metadata is better suited than attributes. And it works in IMatch, IMatch Anywhere and other applications like Photoshop, Lr, web services, RAW processors etc.

Tip: You can copy data from attributes into metadata using a Metadata Templates (source: the attribute, target: the corresponding tag).