Bridge is not writing Metadata to TIFF Files!

[AxemanGraphics]

Hi guys, hoping you can help me!

Up until today this has not been a problem, and things have always written fine.

I have multiple folders of TIFF images that I am trying to update Metadata. Files are all ~150-200Mb.

When I enter the metadata and hit return, I do not get the usual 'flicker' at the status bar, but metadata looks like it has saved. Clicking off the file and back on again, and everything entered has not saved. There are no seperate XMP files created or anything like tht, it simply does not stick to the file!

This is happening with multiple files, scanned and saved on different days, but is sporadic, in that, some files DO save the metadata, so it is not a blanket rule. Files are not locked (I checked) or otherwise inaccessible, as I have batch unlocked everything...

Things I have already tried:
Resetting Bridge to factory settings / erasing cache etc
Trying a different version of Bridge (I use 2020, I also tried 2022 - I cannot upgrade further, as I am on a MacBook Pro 2012 - OOLLLDDDD!!!)
Rebooting my MacBook 3 times
Logging out and back in again
Moving files to a different location (hey, lets rule out a locked folder option?)

The ONLY fix I have discovered (but hopefully only a temporary fix!) is to open each file individually in Photoshop, update one field of metadata in the File Info, then exit and save the file. This causes Metadata in Bridge to become saveable once more. I have over 3000 files to do, so hopefully there is a better solution!

Please help me ObiWan! You're my only hope!! 🙂

[Stephen Marsh]

@AxemanGraphics 

What if you selected 2 or more problem files for testing, then added different metadata, such as a label, or keyword or rating? Does this then "fix" the metadata like opening/adding metadata via the File > File Info method?

If not, I can help you with testing via ExifTool, where you can easily batch-update metadata entries.

[AxemanGraphics]

I've tried fixing multiple files at the same time, but neither hold their data. 
I have the exiftool but haven't tried it yet

i have literally thousands of files (~85Gb!) so finding a solution is my number one priority. 🙂

[Stephen Marsh]

@AxemanGraphics 

OK, try a test similar to the following...

On your desktop, create a folder called 'test'

Inside that create 2 sub-folders, 'Folder 1' and 'Folder 2'

Inside each of the two folders, copy/duplicate 1 or more problem files into each folder (always work on copies until you are sure of what you are doing).

test
   Folder 1
      test 1.jpg
   Folder 2
      test 2.jpg

I'm using JPG files, but you will use TIF.

 

Now we'll add the keyword 'test' to the files.

If you have installed ExifTool on your Mac, open up a new Terminal.app window and paste or type in the following command line code:

exiftool -overwrite_original_in_place -subject=test -r 

Although you can't see it above, you must have a word space after the final -r flag/argument. You can see this in the screenshot below.

Then drag the parent top-level 'test' folder from the desktop into the Terminal window to add the folder path so that you don't have to manually type it in:

Then you can press return to execute the command line code. If successful, you should see something like this:

Now you can try using Bridge on these images to see if you can now work as expected. ExifTool will rewrite/restructure all metadata, which can fix inconsistencies in your files.

There are additional flags/arguments that can be added, such as to only process TIFF files, or to ignore various named folders under the top-level/parent directory being processed. You may not wish to add a keyword such as test, you may prefer to add an Adobe Bridge label or rating using ExifTool, there are many possibilities.

[AxemanGraphics]

Thank you for those instructions, they really helped! (I have had EXIFTool for a while, but never delved into it at all)
I did as you asked, and got the expected result, however Bridge would still not edit anything (I had the 'test' keyword in there, but could not update anything at all, even after running the command as requested)

Its very strange, as I have done several thousand images exactly the same way in the past 12 months, and have only hit problems in the past few days!

So far the only thing that is working is the 'open in photoshop, edit data in there, then save' trick...

[Stephen Marsh]

So far the only thing that is working is the 'open in photoshop, edit data in there, then save' trick...

By @AxemanGraphics

It's curious. Bridge also uses the same File > File Info.

This could be scripted.

Which field are you entering data into in File > File Info?

[AxemanGraphics]

Several, but for this issue, just IPTC Core - Headline, Description, Keywords, Date, Title. One at a time, all together, makes no difference.

My MacBook just Blue-Screened, and when it returned, the problem files worked, but others have now stopped working...
But again, the photoshop 'trick' is working on these ones!
I might do a 'repair permissions' script on the entire system tomorrow, just to be sure that is not the issue...

I do appreciate the time you are taking on this. My mental health is grateful too!

[Stephen Marsh]

The following Photoshop script will batch all TIFF files at the top/root level of a selected folder, adding the word "test" in the description metadata (replacing any existing description). This writes the metadata directly to the file without opening the file into Photoshop, so it should be very fast.

#target photoshop;

var inputFolder = Folder.selectDialog("Please select folder to process");
if (inputFolder != null) {
    var fileList = inputFolder.getFiles(/\.(tif|tiff)$/i);
    for (var a in fileList) {
        setDescription(fileList[a], "test");
    }
}

function setDescription(file, descStr) {
    if (!ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript) ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript = new ExternalObject('lib:AdobeXMPScript');
    var xmpFile = new XMPFile(File(file).fsName, XMPConst.UNKNOWN, XMPConst.OPEN_FOR_UPDATE);
    var xmp = xmpFile.getXMP();
    xmp.deleteProperty(XMPConst.NS_DC, "description");
    xmp.setLocalizedText(XMPConst.NS_DC, "description", null, "x-default", descStr);
    if (xmpFile.canPutXMP(xmp)) {
        xmpFile.putXMP(xmp);
    }
    xmpFile.closeFile(XMPConst.CLOSE_UPDATE_SAFELY);
}

If the previous script doesn't work for you, then we can open the files into Photoshop, add the metadata to File > File Info and then save/close the file, but that would be slower. This adds the keyword "test" replacing existing keywords:

#target photoshop;

main();

function main() {
    var inputFolder = Folder.selectDialog("Select the folder to process:");
    if (inputFolder === null) return;

    // Add or remove file extensions as required
    var fileList = inputFolder.getFiles(/\.(jpg|jpeg|tif|tiff|psd|psb|webp|png)$/i);

    for (var i in fileList) {
        open(fileList[i]);
        var theKey = ['test'];
        activeDocument.info.keywords = theKey;
        app.activeDocument.close(SaveOptions.SAVECHANGES);
    }
}

Both of these scripts are just hacks to see if bulk updating the metadata in Photoshop corrects the misbehaviour in Bridge, which you shouldn't need to do.

[AxemanGraphics]

You lost me

i dont know what that code is or where it goes...

[Stephen Marsh]

---

@AxemanGraphics wrote:

You lost me

i dont know what that code is or where it goes...

---

All is explained here:

1. Copy the code text to the clipboard
2. Open a new blank file in a plain-text editor (not in a word processor)
3. Paste the code in
4. Save as a plain text format file – .txt
5. Rename the saved file extension from .txt to .jsx
6. Install or browse to the .jsx file to run (see below)

https://prepression.blogspot.com/2017/11/downloading-and-installing-adobe-scripts.html

[AxemanGraphics]

On another note, I just tried editing the same file (original and test) in "Lyn", and that worked... makes me think it is a Bridge issue, and not a file issue?

[Stephen Marsh]

Are you working to a local drive or directly to a networked drive or NAS drive?

[AxemanGraphics]

100% local, but was on my network last week and it was also working fine... This is literally a folder on my desktop.