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yoodlethenoodle
Known Participant
August 1, 2022
Answered

Cannot import captions into Adobe Elements Organizer 2022

  • August 1, 2022
  • 1 reply
  • 311 views

I am having trouble getting existing captions to import into Adobe Elemenets Organizer 2022 for Windows. I have approx 28,000 pictures I'm trying to import where I set the captions in another software, but the captions don't show up when I import them into Elements.

I discovered exiftool. There's a bit of a learning, curve, but it does allow me to look at the current metadata on the file. Before importing, I can see that the caption is set in the following areas:

EXIF:ImageDescription
XMP:Title
XMP:Description
IPTC:Caption-Abstract

But, when I import the picture, the caption does not show up on the right (Under "General" when selecting a file in the Grid) or in the single image view. But, if I set the caption in Elements, write the metadata to the file, and then look at it using the exiftool, it shows the new caption under:

XMP:Description
IPTC:Caption-Abstract


I don't understand why it wouldn't import these if they are already set in the metadata fields that Elements writes to when it updates the file. I really don't want to have to re-input 28,000 captions!  Is there some way to get Elements to recognize these existing captions?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer MichelBParis
quoteI don't understand why it wouldn't import these if they are already set in the metadata fields that Elements writes to when it updates the file. I really don't want to have to re-input 28,000 captions!  Is there some way to get Elements to recognize these existing captions?

By @yoodlethenoodle

 I can imagine two different scenarios:

1 - You use exiftool to batch copy the metadata to the location known to the organizer (I suppose it's the same in other Adobe softwares). Only then, you import the modified files in your catalog. Logically, the captions should import ok. If not, could you provide examples?

 

2 - The original files are already imported in the current catalog and you have done the metadata copy externally afterwards. Then there should be no 'resync' to the metadata. You would have to select batches of files and use the little known solution to 'Update Thumbnail'. That should update the catalog.

1 reply

MichelBParis
MichelBParisCorrect answer
Legend
August 2, 2022
quoteI don't understand why it wouldn't import these if they are already set in the metadata fields that Elements writes to when it updates the file. I really don't want to have to re-input 28,000 captions!  Is there some way to get Elements to recognize these existing captions?

By @yoodlethenoodle

 I can imagine two different scenarios:

1 - You use exiftool to batch copy the metadata to the location known to the organizer (I suppose it's the same in other Adobe softwares). Only then, you import the modified files in your catalog. Logically, the captions should import ok. If not, could you provide examples?

 

2 - The original files are already imported in the current catalog and you have done the metadata copy externally afterwards. Then there should be no 'resync' to the metadata. You would have to select batches of files and use the little known solution to 'Update Thumbnail'. That should update the catalog.

    Y
    yoodlethenoodleAuthor
    Known Participant
    August 3, 2022

    Thanks for the response @MichelBParis!
    I'm not totally sure why, but it's working now.  Using the exiftool, I copied the existing caption to the XMP:Description field, and then did an "Update Thumbnail" on the file, and the caption appeared.

    I swear I tried this before, and it didn't work.  I even tried deleting the files from my catalog and re-importing them, but the caption still didn't appear.  The one thing that changed was that I tried creating a new catalog, just to see if the captions would appear if I imported into a new catalog.  They did.  But, then, when I switched back to my original catalog, the captions appeared, and the "Update Thumbnails" started working when I reloaded the catalog.  It's something to try if anyone else comes across this issue anyway.  Hmmm... now that I think of it, I also removed a bunch of missing files from my catalog and did a catalog backup, so I guess one of those things could have fixed it as well.

    Oh, and in case anyone is interested, this is the syntax I used to copy the caption from XMP:Title to XMP:Description using the exiftool:
    exiftool "-xmp:Description<xmp:Title" "C:/Users/username/Pictures/filename.jpg"

    Hopefully this helps someone else!

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