Field Names in Export to Text

[BanjoTom]

I have two sons to whom I'd like to copy many folders worth of files - family photos and more.  They don't use Windows PCs at all, though; if they did, I'd just buy them IMatch and copy the databases.

Since they don't, I'm thinking of copying all the files to an external USB drive, folder by folder, and providing in each folder an exported text report based on this:



The two problems I have are:
1. I have to make a folder on the destination drive to which I can easily  copy the files from IMatch by using Control-C.  But I still have to then update the "Filename" field so the results of the Export end up in the right place. 

2.  With the settings shown, I get the Fieldnames on the final report, like this:

[ORIGINAL PATH]:            D:\Grafx_Adler\Hi-Res\1950\
[FILENAME]:            Betsy Sept. 1950.jpg
[DATE]:                September 26, 1950
[HEADLINE]:            Betsy Mosby
[DESCRIPTION]:          Sept. 1950
[COPYRIGHT]:         
[SIZE]:                    594.13 KB
[DIMENSIONS]:        1,050 x 1,518
[COVERAGE]:         
[PERSONS Name (Age)]:            Elizabeth Mosby (3)

But! I have to use the square brackets in the Export Text prompt screen; if I don't, the capitalized field name, like FILENAME, simply doesn't show up in the text report that's created.  I'd like them to look about like this:

FILENAME:  Betsy Sept. 1950.jpg

Any suggestions?

[BanjoTom]

 Here's how my Export to Text settings look:

[sinus]

I am not sure, if I understand this correctly.

If I send pictures to my clients, but also to my family, they must have the file and the information.

For this I mostly create a pdf with "Design & Print". There I can choose, what information is in it.
And the size of the pics.
In generally, if I have 500 files, this gives anyway a very convenient overview of all pictures.

Because clients wants work with the hi-res-images, of course I send them too these hi-res-images, with the same filenames like in the pdf.
And these files have of coure the metadata, what I have in IMatch.
And these metadata they can also read (even Windows shows a lot of them) and copy. And if they have another DAM they can see it of course too.

This is enough for them, I think. But I do not know, could this be a solution for you.
Just an idea. 

[Mario]

The "Write first line as header" is the problem, I suppose.
The help system says:

The optional Field Name: is the name of the field in the output file if you use the Emit first line as header option or XML output. The text after the : text specifies the contents of the field....

You have set this option to off and don't use XML, so the result is not what you would expect.
Not sure why braces and upper-casing make a difference. I have not looked at this module for many years. I shall have a look.

Which output format do you want to create?

Update

When the : is used, the text export tries to determine the field names. The first non-character breaks this process and the name found is used. In your case, [NAME] breaks immediately at the [ and so the name becomes "F1" and the rest remains as part of the output expression.
For something like Name: the filed name is determined as "Name" and removed from the output expression.

The : formatting is only designed for "Emit first row as header" and XMP, as it says in the help system.
You can make it work using Date= and Name= etc., anything but the : character, which is special and separates the name from the value.

[ubacher]

Why do you say they can not see the data without Imatch. In Windows you can right click - Properties - Detail and there you can see all the metadata you plan to export. 

Suggestion:  Copy the images to the external disk using the renamer! This allows you to maintain the directory structure.
If you include the copy in your database (temporarily) you can then work directly of the files.

2. Other ideas, inspired by Sinus: Using Design and Print or Batch processor you could add a canvas at the bottom of each image
and there write the info of interest. And, of course, you could write the metadata onto a separate jpg file with the same name plus postscript.

I'm not quite clear as to what you actually try to accomplish. Do they have to be able to search within the metadata?

Maybe we have experts here which can enlighten us on how one best searches image files on Windows.

[Mario]

Maybe we have experts here which can enlighten us on how one best searches image files on Windows.

Metadata support in Windows Explorer (Windows 11) is meh!
It can display XMP title, description ^, rating and keywords in the Details Pane when you have written back in IMatch:



Windows Explorer does not seem to offer the standard Headline tag, though. Which is stupid.
And it shows only flat keywords and names them tags. No word-wrap either (see the description which just vanishes into the infinite). Shoddy, half-assed implementation.

It can also display this information in tabular form, you can enable the individual columns.

And you can search for metadata, like:

Code Select Expand

title: Elderly
It will take a long time if the Windows search engine is not enabled for the folder and there are more than a few dozen files. But it will find it.

But I agree. I would let IMatch embed the data in the image and use whatever the OS offers to see it.