Smart Previews and Metadata

[adrianmarsh]

Hi,

I'm travelling and wanted to continue updating face/keywords on some photos whilst away..  So I created smartpreviews for all my photos on my NAS.

Whilst away, Lightroom worked offline, and I was able to tag faces etc.

What I expected: was that when I reconnected to the NAS at home, that lightroom would update the metadata within the original physical files on the NAS.  I'm looking at the modification timestamp of the files, and nothing is changing on its own.

Only when I select a photo and say "Metadata -> Save metadata to file" does that file get updated.

Under catalog, I already have "Automatically write changes into XMP".   The files are a mix of JPG and TIF files though.

So am I wrong? Shouldn't lightroom be automatically updating the original files ?  (I really like to keep the metadata in both the lightroom DB and the original files).  I know face-positional-metadata (etc) may not be in the TIF files, but keywords should be saved.

I don't want to have to go back through all the recently updated files and right-click,save meta on them (I've already lost track of those I updated).

[john beardsworth · Accepted solution]

No, that's how it works. Automatic writing doesn't wait until the images are online again and then catch up. Instead, it won't take you long to find those images - set up a smart collection based on the Edit Date, select them, and save the metadata.

Remember too that the XMP doesn't contain all your Lightroom work and that saving the XMP is primarily for data exchange with other apps, not backup. Ensure you backup your catalogue.

[adrianmarsh]

Hi John,

Yes everythings backed up in triplicate, files and catalogue.  Thanks for your very quick reply.

Thats a real shame.. I thought the whole idea of smart previews was to seamlessly work offline, and then be the same as if I had of been online at the time of editing (which would of updated the original files)...

[john beardsworth]

Well, as you probably know, while smart previews are great they don't allow you to do everything you would do if the originals were attached. Also, it's part of the Lr philosophy that the truth is in the catalogue, not in XMP. But with a smart collection, it won't take you long to find those images.

[adrianmarsh]

Hi John,

Yeah I just like keeping things in sync. The NAS allows a keyword search web-based system, but that only works on the original files.

I've spoken to support, and it seems if the files were RAW or DNG, then they would of automatically been updated (at least the XMP file), but with TIF/JPGs its not.  I have a link to the wishlist so I think I'll add it on. At the very least it needs to be clearly documented as to when and when-not it'll update the originals, but thanks for your answer!

[adrianmarsh]

I should add:

What I'm seeing:  The folder where I store the files, the original files are not being updated.  If I use a 3rd party viewer on the file, the keywords don't update until I tell lightroom to manually save.