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Should be a simple question

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dragnil

New Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2009
Messages
20
Location
Lincoln, UK
Lightroom Experience
Intermediate
Lightroom Version
Lightroom Version Number
6.14
Operating System
  1. Windows 7
I've been using LR since the beginning, but have stopped at 6.14 on my desktop, so I really should know the answer, but confusion means that I must ask.
I import my dng files and apply keywords etc; I press CTRL+S and the metadata is saved - but to where?
What is written to the image file and what is stored in the catalogue?
This is prompted by a wish to send a set of image files on a disk so they might be used by another person later. That person may not have LR available so saving a copy of the catalogue on the disk might not be a solution.
Thanks for any help and advice on this.
David
 
Lightroom always saves edits and other metadata to the catalog. You do not have to do anything to accomplish that. Lightroom can also save edits and other metadata to the files. You press Ctrl-S to do that.
 
I import my dng files and apply keywords etc; I press CTRL+S and the metadata is saved - but to where?
In that Instance Lightroom writes SOME of the metadata to the XMP section of the header of the DNG file. If the RAW is a Proprietary format (NEF, CR2 etc.) Lightroom create a separate text file and writes the same metadata to this. This separate text file has and extension ".xmp".
 
Hi Cletus,
That's what is confusing, you say "SOME" of the metadate goes into the dng file or the sidecar - but which data are we talking about.
I think Johan is saying that all the data is written to the file after CTRL+S, but please correct me if I've misunderstood.
So, is it all or some - and if the latter then which data?
 
Hi Cletus,
That's what is confusing, you say "SOME" of the metadate goes into the dng file or the sidecar - but which data are we talking about.
I think Johan is saying that all the data is written to the file after CTRL+S, but please correct me if I've misunderstood.
So, is it all or some - and if the latter then which data?

Metadata covers much more than the information in the develop attributes. Things that are stored in the Lightroom Catalog that are not included in the XMP section/file are Collection memberships, develop history and perhaps others that might be important in rebuilding a Lightroom Catalog.

Johan says that Lightroom. Save edits (develop attributes) and other metadata ( Keywords, Titles and Captions). He did not say ALL.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Almost all. :p

If I remember correctly, the only thing not written to XMP (apart from proprietary metadata) is flags. And remember that virtual copies cannot be written to XMP, because a file can only have one XMP file, not two.
 
Thanks, Johan, I'm unconcerened about develop history or collections etc, so it seems that keywords and the data in the Metadate panel are written to xmp, either in the dng or the sidecar file. That should be enough for my needs I think.
 
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