Question about XMP sidecar files

[pjamedia]

I appreciate that without the 'Automatically write changes into XMP' option set in Catalog Settings, by default all meta data is written into the catalog only, and XMP is ignored, and that by right-clicking a thumbnail and choosing 'Metadata', 'Save Metadata to files' writes out the metadata to XMP so you can open the raw image in ACR (for example) which uses the XMP data.

In my case though most of my images were originally adjusted using ACR, as only recently imported these into Lightroom 1.4.1 so all images have XMP files already available.

My question is this: In the Metadata panel, each of my existing images displays, under the filename: 'Sidecar files: .xmp' Does this mean that for these images it will just use the xmp files? Or will it just write any further changes to the Catalog, requiring me to use the 'Save Metadata to files' option to write to xmp?

I would prefer for performance to just use the catalog, and to write data to XMP when I need it. Any suggestions using my existing files how I would achieve this, given the xmp files are already present?

Thanks,
Paul A

 

[Sean McCormack]

The XMP is in addition to the Catalog. Save out the XMP when you need to using Control S on the selected images you require.

 

[bwlr]

I came across this posting, and it asks basically the same question I'd like answered... here is my situation:
I am moving over to Lightroom from a different image management program and workflow. I found that the best way to migrate some photo information over into Lightroom was via the XMP sidecar files generated by the other program. Now that I've imported the photos into Lightroom I have no need for the .xmp files. I have proven to myself that when I delete them, all the keywords stay intact within Lightroom, which is perfect.

But, my question is this: After deleting the file I still see the "Sidecar file XMP" listing in the Metadata pane. (See below.) Can anyone comment on whether there would be any consequence of having this shown in the Metadata pane?



My concern is this: Some of the .xmp files have edit information in them from the old program. I know from experience that if I make edits in Lightroom, and then synchronize the folder for whatever reason, Lightroom overwrites its own edit information with that found in the .xmp file, which has the effect of resetting the edits on the file. So, long story short, having gotten what I need from the .xmp files, I want to delete them to prevent future issues.

(Side note: Lightroom did a nice job of reading in the metadata,which I stored as IPTC keywords in the other program. Lightroom also let me run a few different imports (via Synchronize folder) all at once without crashing, overall some 5,000 images. Nice!)

 

[johnbeardy]

My concern is this: Some of the .xmp files have edit information in them from the old program. I know from experience that if I make edits in Lightroom, and then synchronize the folder for whatever reason, Lightroom overwrites its own edit information with that found in the .xmp file, which has the effect of resetting the edits on the file. So, long story short, having gotten what I need from the .xmp files, I want to delete them to prevent future issues.

I'm pretty sure that this will be fixed if you create a new catalogue, then do File > Import from Catalog and bring in the current catalogue (which you can then discard).

Your fear is slightly wrong. It depends what you try to do. There is a way to overwrite the catalogue's information from the sidecars (Metadata > Read Metadata). But if you do a Sync, LR will import any extra files it finds in the folder and will import their xmp but won't unnecessarily update the catalogue's information on files that it has already imported (I'd have to test, but I don't think it will even do it if those xmp files are more recent than the data in the catalogue).

John

John

 

[bwlr]

Hello -

Thanks for the thoughtful response....

You are correct that my fears were unfounded... I just tried this again: Import file into Lightroom, perform edits in Lightroom, do a Synchronize folder, and specified "Scan for Metadata Updates" in the synchronize dialog. This did not overwrite the edits... I thought it had in prior instances, but it's likely I just lost track of what really happened...