4 Replies Latest reply: Dec 9, 2008 6:42 PM by hrh gracie RSS

    Selecting images for "Save metadata to file"

    hrh gracie Community Member
      To improve performance we're being "encouraged" to turn off "Automatically write changes". Which means I now have many images scattered throughout the catalog that have metadata changes of some sort on a regular basis. I agree that with the automatic write turned on, LR's performance is horrendous for any kind of metadata change, but turning it off means having to regularly and frequently manually save changes.

      Is there some mechanism that can be used to select ONLY those images that NEED to have the file updated rather than displaying all 36,000 images and starting the "Save metadata to file" and rendering LR unusable for hours? There HAS to be a better way than this blind, sledgehammer approach.
        • 1. Re: Selecting images for "Save metadata to file"
          Ian Lyons CommunityMVP
          >Is there some mechanism that can be used to select ONLY those images that NEED to have the file updated rather than displaying all... There HAS to be a better way than this blind, sledgehammer approach.

          Lightroom will only update those images that need to be updated. In other words, only those images were the metadata change date stored in the catalog is newer than the metadata change date stored in the file. The same criteria applies to the auto write to XMP feature. Furthermore, selecting a folder and choosing Save Metadata from the folder context menu is much faster than selecting the files and choosing the Save Metadata to File command found under the Metadata menu.

          It's also worth noting that any time you select multiple files Lightroom will spend time "accumulating" existing metadata. IMO, this is one of Lr's most painful and unnecessary performance drags. The more files you select the longer Lr will take to accumulate the metadata. So, you really should avoid selecting large numbers of files. If you can't avoid making such a selection then it's best that you deselect them immediately after issuing the Save/Read metadata command. Doing so will save yourself a lot of time.
          • 2. Re: Selecting images for "Save metadata to file"
            Wolf Eilers Community Member
            Remember, you need to save metadata to a file only if you want that metadata to be used by some other program.

            For example, if you want Bridge/Camera Raw to process the development settings made in Lightroom, then those parametric changes will need to be saved to the image file.

            In my opinion, saving metadata to the image file as a backup strategy is of limited value. The Lr catalog contains all metadata in one convenient database. Backup the database!
            • 3. Re: Selecting images for "Save metadata to file"
              Denis0943 Community Member
              Wolf I agree with you, I see no value in saving to xmp since I only use PS CS.
              In addition I think I can live without DNG, even though I have tried it. My main use of Lightroom is as a raw converter.
              • 4. Re: Selecting images for "Save metadata to file"
                hrh gracie Community Member
                Thanks Ian. Someone else once suggested selecting everything, starting an operation, and immediately deselecting, but they didn't say why. Now I can see why it would be a performance advantage to deselect...

                BTW: I save my metadata because I use Bridge and CS3/CS4 extensively.