XMP files did not move from old folder to new folder

[tpayres]

I recently  migrated from Elements 14 to Lightroom CC and had to restructure my entire catalog's folder structure. In Elements I used tags to organize everything and did not care about folders. In Lightroom folders are king. So within Lightroom I built new folders and moved all the files (6,000 of them) into the new folders. I worked fine but the XMP files did not move. The old folder names are based on date the photos were taken and the new folders are based on event name and date so it would be very difficult, but not impossible, to manually identify which XMP file belongs in which new folder.

Anyone know why Lightroom did not move the XMP files and are there any suggestions about how to "efficiently" get the XMPs into the folder with the original photo files. What happens if I do not bother?

Thanks for your help, Tom

[bob frost]

No idea why the xmps didn't transfer, but why not just make new xmps in your new folders?

Bob Frost

[tpayres]

Bob thank you for your response. The only thing that I can think of as to why the XMPs did not come over is that I was in the "All Photographs" view and moved the files from that view into the various new folders. If I had been in the original folder and moved them from there maybe the XMPs would have come over.

Since I am not really sure how the original XMPs got created I need some help about how to recreate/create them in the new folders. I know that they contain Metadata and other information about the original photo file but beyond that I am too much a novice to know.

Any suggestions?

Thanks again, Tom

[dj_paige]

In Lightroom folders are king.

I'm sorry you got this impression, but this is the exact opposite of the truth. You could have transferred all of your PSE photos and tags into LR without rearranging anything. If you have backups of all of your photos from before you did this rearranging, i would restore those and start over from scratch, transfer the PSE catalog to a LR catalog via the Lightroom command File->Upgrade Photoshop Elements Catalog.

I worked fine but the XMP files did not move

You haven't told us the steps you used to do this, and so we would need to know the exact steps you followed for us to be able to help you.

[tpayres]

My Elements collection of photos were both on my hard drive and stored offline on some CDs. In reviewing the answers to my inquiry I now realize that I did not have the "automatically write to XMP" option active which may be the primary problem. Here is what I did:

1) I imported directly from the CDs into Lightroom. In some cases I changed the Filename and Updated some Metadata (adding copyright info) during the import.

2) I used the File>Import a Photoshop Elements Catalog option to bring in all the photos that were in Elements that were on my hard drive.

Then from within Lightroom I created a master folder called Lightroom and them various subfolders which reflected the "Event Tags" that I had used in Elements. I then moved selected files from the All Photographs view into the various subfolders. The files that were on the hard drive were in folders under the Master folder called "Adobe" and various subfolders mostly labeled with the date that eh photo was taken.

I had backed up the photos prior to the transfer, and of course the files are still on the CDs, but after all of the folder creation and file moving I backed up the new version and old version is not easily recovered. It was not until some time later, when I went to the old folders using File Explorer to delete them that I discovered the XMP files.

In some cases I can identify the XMP files that go with the photo files in the new folders and I can move the XMPs to the new folder. I am not sure what that gets me do you think there is benefit in doing that?

After doing all the work I am happy with the new organizational structure and I can use Keywords and Collections to do what my Tags did in Elements, so unless I am missing something that you know, I think I will just leave it alone.

I do think Lightroom should have given me a warning about not having "automatic" option selected as soon as it encountered XMPs, that would seem to be a normal part of the "Import a Elements Catalog" process.

Thank you for you feedback and help.

Tom

[Laura Shoe · Accepted solution]

I'm glad that you are set, Tom. Since this is the case I'm not going to try to dissect the process. 

I do want to stress that you do not and did not need to have the "automatically write to XMP" option checked for the import process and reorganization to work correctly or for you to work successfully in Lightroom going forward - I don't agree with that hypothesis  (which can be tested by turning off the preference, selecting a photo, doing Cmd/Ctl-S to save the work to XMP to create the XMP file manually,  moving the photo to a different folder, and checking to see if the XMP file moved.)

Assuming you don't work in Bridge and Camera Raw (which you don't need with Lightroom) and as long as you back up your catalog regularly - don't ignore the prompt when you close Lightroom - you don't need to have Lightroom automatically write all your work to XMP files and Lightroom will run faster if you don't.  Ideally you'll set LR to prompt you to back up the catalog once a day or every time you close Lightroom, and you'll only skip the backup if you haven't done any significant work. This setting is in Preferences (Lightroom (Mac) or Edit (PC) > Preferences.  That said, if you don't have the discipline to do these backups, writing to XMP with that preference can save you as it does retain some of your Lightroom work (but not all) and can be used to restore that work from if your catalog becomes corrupted.

[tpayres]

Thank you to everyone who helped answer this question. Happy New Year and Happy Photo Shooting.

[Just Shoot Me]

They didn't because possibly you didn't have the option to Auto write changes into XMP checked in the Catalog Settings of LR.

If that option is not checked then LR doesn't create XMP files and won't move XMP files when you move images files.

[Laura Shoe]

The "automatically write to XMP" setting doesn't need to be on for Lightroom to move the XMP files.

It's also not because you were in All Photographs view, tpayres. I don't know why it is, though.

Do you see your Elements edits in Lightroom? If so and if you want XMP files (most Lightroom users  don't need them, as LR stores this  information in its catalog), you can recreate them by selecting all your photos - go to All Photographs, then Cmd/Ctl-A to select all -  then go to Metadata>Save Metadata to Files, or Cmd/Ctl-S.

[dj_paige]

The "automatically write to XMP" setting doesn't need to be on for Lightroom to move the XMP files.

The XMP files need to be present for Lightroom to move them. It sounds like they were not present.

But you are right, the XMP files not being present shouldn't be a problem, Lightroom can re-create them if needed.

And it sounds to me like the best solution at this point is to restore the backups from before this started and properly upgrade the PSE catalog to a Lightroom catalog by using the Lightroom menu command File->Upgrade Photoshop Elements Catalog.