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jennid31
Participant
March 4, 2019
Question

I need help understanding xmp sidecar files

  • March 4, 2019
  • 1 reply
  • 2758 views

I'll try to keep this short...

I had an EHD crash a couple of years ago and all of the Lightroom files were/are in a Lightroom 4 catalog. I restored everything from a backup onto a new EHD and have just gotten around to going through the files in that catalog and pointing them to the correct folders ('find missing folder' in LR) in the new EHD, because I created a new catalog after the crash to keep things separate.

I've noticed for some, but not all, .xmp files are being created in the folders on my EHD. This happens periodically when I look an NEF file from the EHD and it opens in photoshop. When I go back to the file in the EHD there might be an xmp file along side of the original. Again, sometimes, not always.

Also, just to note, I get one of three different types per image that it decides to give an xmp file to...

One looks like a white sheet of paper and is blank, one looks like a white sheet of paper that has text and one is a black box that has exec in green letters in the upper left corner.

So my question is this (multi-parts):

Am I doing something wrong? Is there a way to avoid all of these extra .xmp files from showing up? Can I delete the ones that are there?

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    1 reply

    dj_paige
    dj_paige
    Legend
    March 4, 2019

    XMP files are created FOR RAW FILES ONLY when you tell Lightroom to save the metadata to XMP, either manually via Ctrl-S or automatically via an option in preferences. I believe they are also created if you send a RAW file to Photoshop from Lightroom via the Edit In ... command.

    You can delete them if you don't want them. It is entirely up to you. Lightroom really doesn't care if the XMP files are present or not. (Why do you care if they are present or not?)

    Some people create them automatically and feel they are a sort of insurance in case the computer crashes, you won't lose the editing you just did just before the crash; or if the catalog gets corrupted, you won't lose the editing you did between the last catalog backup and the time the catalog got corrupted.

    elie_dinur
    elie_dinur
    Participating Frequently
    March 4, 2019

    >> "I believe they are also created if you send a RAW file to Photoshop from Lightroom via the Edit In ... command."

    This ^

    They are created by PS's Camera Raw plugin, because unlike LR it doesn't store edits in a database.

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