Metadata not storing correctly?

[vernbeau]

I've recently upgraded to IMAtch 5 after using version 3 for many years.
The upgrade appeared to go rather smoothly.
All of my metadata, including keywords, imported as expected.
Now if I add new metadata, such as title, label, copyright, etc. will save and will reload
correctly but no other apps will recognize the data.
It works fine going the other direction.
Data written from others apps will load correctly into IMatch 5.
Any help would be appreciated.

-Vern

[jch2103]

It's hard to tell from your brief description, but it's possible your metadata changes haven't yet been written into your images (and hence aren't yet visible to other programs). Check the Collections tab for Pending Metadata Write-back. Files with pending metadata will have a yellow pencil visible. By default, metadata changes are stored in the IMatch database, but for performance reasons aren't immediately written back to the files.

[Mario]

Now if I add new metadata, such as title, label, copyright, etc. will save and will reload
correctly but no other apps will recognize the data.

Check the files in the file window. Do they show the pen icon?
This means that they have yet unwritten metadata changes.

Writing back metadata can be really time-consuming, depending on the number of files, the changes made, the file format etc.
By default, IMatch stores changes to metadata only in the database. You need to write-back the changed metadata explicitly by clicking the pen icon or by using the Commands menu > Metadata Write-back commands.

Type write into the help index and then click on the Write-back entry in the result to find the corresponding help topic which explains all this.

[vernbeau]

Thanks John & Mario for your responses.
I ran the Database Diagnostics and it reported the following warning:
Checking Metabase:
      Warning: 32 files marked as pending for write-back which have no data to write-back. Fixed.
I'm not sure why it thought that there was no data to write back.
Once the diagnostics completed and I restarted, the problem appeared to be resolved.
I also checked the option to Write-back changes to metadata immediately in the Background Processing Preferences dialogue.

[jch2103]

I also checked the option to Write-back changes to metadata immediately in the Background Processing Preferences dialogue.

Immediate write-back, as Mario has suggested in his note, is a trade-off. Depending on your metadata update patterns, it may work OK for you, or may end up being annoying and interfering with your workflow. Fortunately, IMatch provides the flexibility to choose what works best in your situation(s).