Insert Category data into photos

[Josebr]

Is it possible to insert the values/data in Category into my photos? I ask this I wish because I want some protection/insurance against something happening to Imatch in the future. Or in case software companies continue to want to look at our media files and I move to Linux.

Second, is it possible to export the data in a categories for use importation into other programs? I have numerous backup of all my files, why not numerous tagging programs too?

[Mario]

A quick search for category export in the IMatch help reveals: Importing & Exporting Categories

You can use a Metadata Template to copy one or more selected category names into metadata using Category Variables as the source. But copying categories into metadata is usually redundant and a constant source of out-of-sync data, mismatching between categories and files.

I recommend you use hierarchical keywords instead of categories for your purpose.
Hierarchical keywords are written to the metadata of images automatically and mirrored in the @Keywords Category.
No need to copy category names manually.

[Josebr]

Mario,
Thanks for the response. My concern is that something can happen to you and then we are stuck with no way to continue our Imatch tasks. And I may wish to move from Windows as all these dam software companies want to be able to look at our data (Adobe and Microsoft) and be able to use our files for their benefit royalty free and against our will.

I am not concerned with redundancy. I just want the data inside each photo so that future program in any OS can read the data.

As for using keywords, it's too late to start over and keyword 100,000 photos.

So I want some protect against your not being around and against software companies.

[Tveloso]

As for using keywords, it's too late to start over and keyword 100,000 photos.

Keywords is the logical place for you to copy the categories into.  The post from Mario gives advice on how to go about doing it, and links to another post with more details on the process:

https://www.photools.com/community/index.php/topic,12800.0.html

Once you have "converted" your Categories to Keywords, you can populate the Thesaurus from the database, and carry on using Keywords for future files.

[Mario]

Thanks for the response. My concern is that something can happen to you a

See my famous What happens if Mario gets hit by a bus? from 10 years ago 

IMatch takes metadata very seriously and embedding your data into the metadata embedded in your files is one of the things IMatch does very well. For IMatch-only concepts like categories, IMatch provides one or more ways to "get" at the data, in case you want to transfer it into other applications.

As for using keywords, it's too late to start over and keyword 100,000 photos.

You can copy categories into hierarchical keywords using a Metadata Template. In the same way you can copy category names into a "free" XMP tag (description or whatever you like), if you don't want use categories as hierarchical keywords.
I would recommend to use hierarchical keywords instead of categories when you want to automatically persist the data in the files.

You can export categories and file assignments to an XML file Importing & Exporting Categories which can be easily processed by other applications. The file contains not only categories and assignments but also category properties like colors or formulas.

You can export file names and their categories to CSV files (with the Text Export), which can easily be processed/imported by other applications.

If you know a bit about programming, you can access all IMatch database contents from languages like JavaScript, Python, Perl, C++, C#, Java, even PowerShell and curl. See IMatch Developer Center.

I think, compared to other applications out there, IMatch covers exporting and importing data exceptionally well. No lock-in or other shady tactics for customers from me.