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Metadata Changes to Random Images after Windows Update

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jeninigo

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Joined
Nov 15, 2020
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Lightroom Version Number
Lightroom version: 6.0
Operating System
  1. Windows 10
I recently updated Windows and when I opened LR after the update I have thousands of the 'metadata was changed by another application' on seemingly random images in my catalog. I store the images and LR on an external which I usually remove before updating the computer but forgot to this time. I'm guessing something in the windows update may have altered the metadata? I tried replacing the catalog with an older update to see if that would fix it but it didn't. From reading on the forum I've seen that this is common and some ignore it. I've been using LR for years and this has never happened and it is driving me crazy that all those arrows are there. Any ideas on a possible fix besides selecting all images affected and choosing to overwrite with catalog settings? I do sometimes edit photos for clients in PSE and DO want those to have the 'other application' edits instead of the catalog. I usually select that option during editing as I go but it looks like this issue is showing up on those as well so I don't want to accidentally overwrite external changes I want to keep. Or any idea how to try to avoid this happening again?
 
From reading on the forum I've seen that this is common and some ignore it. I've been using LR for years and this has never happened and it is driving me crazy
I would suggest that you haven't been paying attention because the 'metadata was changed by another application' has probably existed in your catalog for some time. A search of this forum will reveal how often this topic comes up.
There is a metadata field known as the Modified Data Tag (MDT) Any time an app opens the file to write, the MDT gets turned on signaling the file has changed whether any changes occur or not. I suspect the LrC catalog reads this. Your system backup will set the MDT every time it makes a backup.
ALL of your exports use the metadata in the catalog and the metadata in the original file is never used by Lightroom for exports. As long as the metadata in the catalog is correct, you need not concern yourself about the metadata state in the original file which should only be being accessed by your DAM tool (Lightroom).
To illustrate how trivial and unimportant the state of the metadata is in the original file, Adobe does not even offer an option to update the metadata in the original file in the cloudy version of Lightroom. I would venture to guess that if Adobe were developing LrC today instead of 14 years in the past, syncing metadata with the original file which should only be accessed by your DAM tool would not even be included and a function of the app.
 
Thanks for the response! I know it's not that I just didn't notice it because I upload photos then go back later and edit many at a time, so viewing multiple files at once and those arrows have only ever been there on PSE files I edited in PSE (which I create in LR in order to edit a PSE copy of the file with changes already made by LR). It's why the sudden change stood out to me since it's something I've always looked for to save changes I wanted to those PSE files (which I realize probably don't even need to be kept in LR catalog).

I imported a few photos after the Windows update and the ones I just imported did not have the arrow but all the ones in that same folder that I had just worked with a week before suddenly did. So I looked at older photos in other folders to see if it happened to them as well and it had. I had viewed those same images in different folders over multiple days a few weeks ago and there were no arrows. But if it's not important I'll just try to ignore it. You said the option is not even there in the cloud based subscription, but do you know if it still in the LrC subscription version? I'd rather not have it so it doesn't even show up.

Thanks again!
 
You said the option is not even there in the cloud based subscription, but do you know if it still in the LrC subscription version? I'd rather not have it so it doesn't even show up.
. Yes, the metadata sync option are still there in the current release of LrC.
 
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