Copying categories to meadata

[HansEverts]

IMatch 5 imported all my categories from 3.6, because I had them copied under the IPTC keywords logically they appear in the metadata of 5 under the keywords. I tried to move them up the hierarchy to bring them directly under @All, but that does not work. Then I tried to recreate them, but I get stuck with the following.
I created a template as attached, which copies the 'old' categories in the metadata category field. So far so good. But I do not manage to copy the test category, as child of @All, I assigned to some images.
I hope this is understandable.

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[Mario]

I'm not sure what you want to achieve, in the end.

Copying IMatch categories into the IPTC record as keywords was used by some users as a sort of "backup", instead of using the standard IMatch 3 category export function.

IMatch 5 will automatically import your IPTC keywords, and thus they will show up under the @Keywords category, like all other keywords. @Keywords mirrors the keywords in your files. It is a very special categories and not all operations (like drag and drop) can be performed, or at least work differently. See the IMatch help for details.

Or do you somehow want to restore your IMatch 3 categories in IMatch 5, as regular categories? This is not how to do it.

Just export your categories in IMatch 3 and then import them into IMatch 5. This is explained in this FAQ

But please note that in this case you will end up with every of your categories twice - once as a keyword and once as a regular category.

I think you first need to make up your mind to determine what you really want - keywords or categories.

[Ferdinand]

Perhaps it's time to remind people again, that categories and @Keywords are different.  They might look the same, they might behave in many similar ways, they might be listed alongside each other in the categories panel and categories view, but they are different.

@Keywords are showing what is stored in your file.

Categories are stored in the database.

Mario is of course right, but if you really wanted to turn @Keywords into categories there are several ways.  One is copy and paste (not drag and drop), and another is to create a data-driven category based on one of the keyword fields, and then turn it into a regular category using the right-click menu.

[HansEverts]

 I think you first need to make up your mind to determine what you really want - keywords or categories.

I think you are right there. I think by starting at the wrong footing, I kept on fiddling around.
I do find it handy to include the categories in the metadata. This improves compatibility with other programmes, like the server based image software at work. It also means you do not loose everything in case the database crashes. I have backups, but it just makes me feel safer having the data in the images.

So I started with a fresh new database. Deleted the keywords and imported the categories from 3.6 on basis of check-sum, because I changed folders. Wonderful!!! I see that by not following the proper procedure earlier I have given myself a lot of extra work.
However, I did encounter a problem.
I had to switch between the old and the new databases to transfer the settings. But after 2-3 switches the new database crashed and can't be opened anymore. I created a third database, but have the logfile of the crash attached.
Thanks for the advice and best regards

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[Mario]

I think that crash has been reported multiple times already and marked as fixed for IMatch 5.0.108.

If you need interoperability, you should use keywords, not categories. IMatch 5 supports hierarchical keywords, and keywords are stored in the image file automatically. Using IMatch 5 categories and then thinking about ways to persist them in metadata is useless. Let IMatch 5 do the work for you.

You can use IMatch 5 categories on top in order to use advanced features like formulas or data-driven categories. This is usually a good mix.

[HansEverts]

Point well taken.