Files are not automatically associated with their xmp sidecar when imported into a new catalog?

Question

I have opened a new catalog, in addition to my "Main" catalog.

I have imported some of the files (photographs) from my main catalog into this new catalog, using the "add" facility (ie add the file to the new catalog without moving it, as is).

For one of these files the xmp sidecar was taken into account and the adjustements which I made in the original catalog were fully taken into account. For the others, the xmp sidecars were ignored and a "standard" preset was applied instead.

I have checked that both files and xmp's are present in the folder and that their denomination is correct (see attached screenshot)

Is there a way to make sure that an xmp sidecar will be associated to its file and all the adjustments are taken into account and duly applied?

Many thanks!

richardplondon · Answer

You will need the previous catalog to have written all the editing you want out to XMP before the new catalog can read them in from XMP. If this had happened for some images, and not for others, only those some would reflect prior edits.

You can tell LrC to later re-read external XMP: Library module / Metadata menu / command 'Read Metadata from File'. Thus you could go back to the old Catalog, highlight those images, write metadata out (Ctrl+S), go to the new Catalog, read metadata in.

But but but: external XMP can only ever hold PART of the information that a Catalog holds anyway. There'll be quite a bit of invested work potentially lost: in the case of a virtual copy, the entire thing. Also all Collection membership and management will have been stripped away. And all the prior steps of your editing History for that image. A few other matters also. So external XMP is second-best to a Catalog based method.

You can use Import from Another Catalog to transfer your work into a fresh clean Catalog, or another working catalog, with some selectivity.

With better selectivity you can select just the particular images you are interested in within the old Catalog, use Export as Catalog to save those out to a new, more concise, differently named Catalog.

Then you can proceed with this as-is. Or else you can use Import from Another Catalog to merge that into some other Catalog. This is the most effective way IMO to transfer edited images between Catalogs, e.g. between a travelling setup and a main working Catalog back at base.

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