Pending Metadata Write-back Question

[RogueMD]

Mario, or others,
Again, new user question for which my searching failed to find an answer.

I have completed over the last week or so import of some 20,000 photos. Unfortunately these photos may have had EXIF or IPTC information written to by several other programs (Lr, Photomechanic, Aperture...) I am in the process of cleaning up bad keywords but keep coming across this group of 598 files that appear in this category.

I have tried individually to fix files, but despite me removing all keywords and doing a write-back with the pen, or with the command, it does not appear to update and returns with generally the same keywords as before.

Any ideas or suggestions?

PS, there does appear to be a unifying factor. They are all raw files but from Oly, Sony, Canon and Nikon ...  I am unable to attach those files here. The thing which cannot be written appears to be XMP::dc\subject and I don't see any data there, so this field could be erased somewhow?

If this failed write back appears somewhere else in the support forum I apologize, my searching didn't find it.

[Mario]

The typical case for this are out-of-sync keywords in legacy IPTC, XMP and hierarchical keywords. And IMatch being unable to solve this.
"New" keywords are being created on every re-import after the write-back, causing another write-back.

In many cases, doing two write-backs solves the problem.
But sometimes IMatch cannot synchronize keywords because of the data in the file an the combination of options the user has configured for keyword flattening, import and thesaurus mapping.

Point the mouse cursor at the pen icon. What does the tooltip show? Keywords to be written?
If yes, this is the problem.

Select one of the problem files and open the ExifTool Command Processor (Tools menu > ExifTool Command Processor) (ECP).
Select the "All Keywords" preset in the drop-down at the upper left and execute it with <F9>.
This shows all keywords contained in the various metadata formats on the right.
If you see IPTC keywords, they are usually the cause of the problem.
Show us what you see (copy/paste the right side of the ECP).

The easiest solution is usually to either delete the legacy IPTC keywords in the file. Or the entire legacy IPTC block, unless you really need it for a customer or agency.
1. Make a copy (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V in a File Window in IMatch) of one of the problem files.
2. Start the ECP.
3. Run the "Delete legacy IPTC (IIM) metadata" preset with F9.
4. Close the ECP.

If the file has a pen, click it.
Else switch to the Keyword panel and click the pen icon in front of the input field where you normally type keywords. Press Ctrl+S or click the red arrow button in the toolbar.
This marks the keyword as modified and activates the pen.
Write back.

Problem gone? Pen stays off? If yes, the keywords in the legacy ITPC data where the problem.

If you don't need the legacy IPTC data, select all the problem files in batches of maybe 100 and strip the legacy IPTC data in the ECP.

Make a backup copy of the files before - just in case. Always a good idea to have backups.
Test the repaired files in all your other applications. Send test examples to clients or agencies or services. Just in case one still needs the old legacy IPTC data (defunct for over 15 years now).

[RogueMD]

Thank you. Loving that this program has solved every single DAM issue I have had with any/all other programs I have used before.

In this case the trick was to Delete XMP Metadata from the ECP. Problem solved. The problem was that XMP Subject field, which was corrupted by some program in the past.

Dennis.

[sinus]

Thank you. Loving that this program has solved every single DAM issue I have had with any/all other programs I have used before.

In this case the trick was to Delete XMP Metadata from the ECP. Problem solved. The problem was that XMP Subject field, which was corrupted by some program in the past.

Dennis.

Cool, that you could solve your problem.
And I agree, I have almost never found a problem, what I could not solve with IMatch.
A really clever and very powerful program, indeed.

[jch2103]

Thank you. Loving that this program has solved every single DAM issue I have had with any/all other programs I have used before.

In this case the trick was to Delete XMP Metadata from the ECP. Problem solved. The problem was that XMP Subject field, which was corrupted by some program in the past.

Dennis.

Glad to see that this worked for you. The IPTC issue is quite familiar to many users here, including me. Fortunately, it's usually easily cleaned up.

[Mario]

Thank you. Loving that this program has solved every single DAM issue I have had with any/all other programs I have used before.
Dennis.

Very good 
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