Import only IPTC keywords

[grole00]

I'm currently testing iMatch for a specific purpose and so far I'm pleased with it. I have about 90,000 jpeg files which I want to make searchable and so far the import process is quite time consuming.

I want to know if there's a way to limit the amount of data which is written to the database for each photo. I need ONLY the IPTC keywords. My intention is to use the software only to search and filter existing files. I won't be performing any other function or editing. Not even viewing except for thumbnails.

Thanks in advance

[Mario]

IMatch imports only relevant tags. This includes EXIF, GPS, legacy IPTC, XMP with the standard namespaces (including IPTCCore and IPTCExt).
Most tags not suitable for humans or all the fluff Adobe and other RAW processor adds (sometimes every brush stroke!) is left out.

See The Tag Manager for more information about how IMatch controls which data gets into the database. DO NOT change anything here unless you know exactly what you are doing.

Leaving out some metadata will not change much (if at all) regarding the ingest time - and it would severely hamper with IMatch's superb metadata processing capabilities.

The number of tags per file is about 200 to 400, so for only 90K files this is not really much. 90K files is less than the average number of files users manage.
You did not include a ##log file so we don't know why and what is so slow. Or if you only think it is slow.
ZIP and attach a log file to your reply, then we can see how IMatch is performing.

Note: Virus checkers constantly scanning the database can badly ruin performance. Make sure you make the folder (!) containing the IMatch database an exception in your AV.
See IMPORTANT: Virus Checkers for more info.

Another issue that can slow down IMatch's ingest speed are many files with badly corrupted metadata. Which cause ExifTool to apply corrections or maybe even crash ExifTool so IMatch has to restart it often. The log file will show us if this is the case.

JPEG files are usually processed at a speed of 60 to 250 files per minute - 1 to 4 files per second (files on local disk, database on SSD if possible).
For 90K files this means approximately 6 to 24 hours to ingest all 90,000 files - depending on the speed of your computer, the size of your files etc. And assuming the standard settings for metadata and cache in IMatch (which you will use unless you have changed anything).

[grole00]

Thanks for the quick and detailed response!

If there is no significant speed increase I'll leave the settings as they are. I didn't mean to suggest it was taking longer than it should, it just seemed long to me. The speed seems to be within the limits you mentioned.

Interesting to know that the excellent Exiftool is behind some of the processing.

I'll let it run overnight and my collection should be complete. I assume any updates would be much faster.

Just for explanation: I've been diligently adding keywords to our family photos for years according to who is in them with the intention of being able to filter some or all of the collection and show, for example, only photos of person A. I haven't actually tried this until now, and was shocked to find out how poorly and cumbersome my go-to software does this. I could perform a lethargic search for Person A, but could not exclude Person B, C, D etc. from the results. This led me to IMatch and so far it's doing what I need.

[Mario]

IMatch uses ExifTool for reading, writing and mapping metadata for many years.
ExifTool is the gold standard for metadata processing and using it enables IMatch to create high-quality, compatible and standard-compliant metadata.

See Introduction to Metadata for more information.