advantages with "Automatically Write to XMP "

[Tom75]

Lightroom Version Number

CC Classic

Operating System

1. macOS 12 Monterey

Hi,

I saw the below in Victorias post about the LR update. I have so far not used the automatically write to XPM function and wanted to ask what the practical advantages are with using this?

Automatically Write to XMP – Previously, if this setting was enabled in Catalog Settings, XMP data was written every time you made an adjustment in the Develop module. Now it waits until you move to the next image. You can also now pause it in the Activity Center if there are a large number of photos to be updated.

Thanks and regards,
Tom

 

[David Gordon]

It was awful in the early days. Years ago they added some delays, so it waited for you to stop editing for a few seconds before it wrote to xmp rather than writing with every single change, which helped loads.

That was then...
this is now

Automatically Write to XMP – Previously, if this setting was enabled in Catalog Settings, XMP data was written every time you made an adjustment in the Develop module. Now it waits until you move to the next image.

What's New in Lightroom Classic 11.0 (October 2021)? | The Lightroom Queen

So we're back to how it was?!

 

[Paul McFarlane]

For me, David, having XMP means I just have that extra level of insurance. Catalog corruption is rare, considering the number of catalogs in use. Some fail one day and you just go back to the previous backup. Other times, there can be something that's been lurking and it's not that simple.

 

[David Gordon]

For me, David, having XMP means I just have that extra level of insurance.

I totally agree. Also. having the metadata outside LrC means you can use other apps such as Photo Mechanic which I find a lot better for metadata.
Or try other software or move / share /send images to someone else who you know doesn't use LrC.
[when I say 'outside', I know it's also inside.]

 

[clee01l]

For me, David, having XMP means I just have that extra level of insurance. Catalog corruption is rare, considering the number of catalogs in use. Some fail one day and you just go back to the previous backup. Other times, there can be something that's been lurking and it's not that simple.

I am in the other camp. XMP files are a nuisance. As a text file they are not compact even though they don’t need to be, it would be nice if they were a very small binary file. I have RAW files that get backed up only once and that folder needs not be touched again. If the folder includes an XMP file then my system back up needs to address every XMP change.

I back up my catalog every time I exit and really trust the catalog back up for recovery. In 10-12 years of using Lightroom in every version since v2, I have never had a corrupt catalog. I have made stupid user mistakes that required me to go to a 6 month old catalog backup to recover metadata. An XMP file would only contain the current state of the metadata and would be useless to recover metadata from 6 month back.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Writing to XMP is an even bigger nuisance if you have DNG files, because that triggers your backup software to copy the entire file again. And with panorama and HDR merge, who does not have any DNG’s nowadays?

 

[Paul McFarlane]

Very fair point with DNG files, Johan.

 

[PhilBurton]

Let's say you have a catalog corruption and have to go back several weeks. Anything imported since then has to be imported again (so no edits as they are all in the catalog) and any work on older photos also lost. So, no, for me belt and braces - XMP files are additional insurance.

+1

 

[Victoria Bampton]

So we're back to how it was?!

Not quite, just a "next step" in the quest for performance. Before, it waited a few seconds so if you were making lots of really quick changes, it wouldn't write them till you paused. Now it waits a bit longer, because it's waiting for you to switch photos.

 

[PhilBurton]

Tim Grey (email - Ask Tim Grey - Late Adoption of XMP - November 5, 2021) recently posted the following answer to this question:

I recommend turning on the "Automatically write changes into XMP" checkbox, which can be found on the Metadata tab of the Catalog Settings dialog in Lightroom Classic. The checkbox is off by default, but I consider it advantageous to have the option turned on. The primary reason I prefer to have this option enabled is that it provides a backup of your key metadata that you can recover from in the event of a corrupted catalog, for example. It also provides a degree of cross-application compatibility, such as enabling you to view key metadata values with other software such as Adobe Bridge. When you turn this option on, Lightroom Classic will start updating all existing images in the background. In my experience even with a large number of photos the process takes less than thirty minutes. You can quit Lightroom Classic and the process will resume the next time you launch Lightroom Classic again. The size of the XMP sidecar files for raw captures (or the increase in file size for other image types) is quite small, so updating a backup also won't require significant additional space or time. In other words, as far as I'm concerned there's really no reason to leave this option turned off, and I recommend turning it on.

 

[johnrellis]

Before, it waited a few seconds so if you were making lots of really quick changes, it wouldn't write them till you paused. Now it waits a bit longer, because it's waiting for you to switch photos.

My LR 11 is writing changed developing settings immediately without waiting for another photo to be selected. See this bug report:
https://community.adobe.com/t5/ligh...er-photo-to-be-selected/idc-p/12504839#M13177

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Tim Grey (email - Ask Tim Grey - Late Adoption of XMP - November 5, 2021) recently posted the following answer to this question:

I recommend turning on the "Automatically write changes into XMP" checkbox, which can be found on the Metadata tab of the Catalog Settings dialog in Lightroom Classic. The checkbox is off by default, but I consider it advantageous to have the option turned on. The primary reason I prefer to have this option enabled is that it provides a backup of your key metadata that you can recover from in the event of a corrupted catalog, for example. It also provides a degree of cross-application compatibility, such as enabling you to view key metadata values with other software such as Adobe Bridge. When you turn this option on, Lightroom Classic will start updating all existing images in the background. In my experience even with a large number of photos the process takes less than thirty minutes. You can quit Lightroom Classic and the process will resume the next time you launch Lightroom Classic again. The size of the XMP sidecar files for raw captures (or the increase in file size for other image types) is quite small, so updating a backup also won't require significant additional space or time. In other words, as far as I'm concerned there's really no reason to leave this option turned off, and I recommend turning it on.

I don’t know this guy, but I find his reasoning very poor and inaccurate. His main argument for writing to XMP is catalog corruption. As many people have said, catalog corruption should be dealt with by catalog backups, not by something that makes you lose quite a few things in your catalog. What he says about image backups is also inaccurate. True, the extra size of the xmp data is not a problem. That is fairly small. The problem is that your entire DNG file or RGB file (jpeg, tiff) gets copied to the backup again each time you made an edit. That does take quite a lot of time and if you have an incremental backup (a backup that keeps more that one version) it will take a lot of extra space too. So no, all this guy would do if I had not make up my mind already is make me not take his advice.