P: Metadata panel doesn't display captions containing double quotes

[John R Ellis]

Captions (or any field in the Metadata panel, including GPS) containing double quotes disappear from the Metadata panel. Setting the option Catalog Settings > Metadata > Automatically Write Changes Into XMP works around this bug.  The programmer probably forget to properly escape double quotes when constructing a SQL update query.

To reproduce:

1. Create a new catalog.

2. Disable the option Catalog Settings > Metadata > Automatically Write Changes Into XMP.

3. Import a single photo.

4. In the Metadata panel, enter this into the Caption field:

a"b

5. Do Edit > Select None.

6. Select the photo and observe that the Caption field is incorrectly blank.

8. Use the Show Catalog Metadata plugin's Show command to see all the photo's metadata as recorded in the catalog. Observe the line:

caption = "a\"b", 

indicating that the caption actually got recorded in the catalog.

9. Do Metadata > Save Metadata To File. Observe that the Caption now correctly shows:

a"b

Note on GPS Coordinates

This bug strikes all fields in the Metadata panel when they contain double quotes, including the GPS field.  LR's default display of coordinates uses double quotes for seconds, e.g.

37°47'45.3354" N 122°25'18.433" W

If you try to copy/paste such coordinates, they'll disappear from the Metadata panel, even though they in fact get copied. A workaround is to paste the coordinates into Google Maps and copy/paste the decimal form of the coordinates:

Tested on 11.3.1 / Mac OS 11.6.2.

[Pat0san]

Using LrC 11.3.1 with macOS 12.3.1. 

This issue is happening erratically. Sometimes LrC behaves normally, and sometimes, I have the following problem. 

In Grid mode, I am trying to change the text for the initially entered Title and Caption for a series of selected photos using the View and Edit mode in the Metadata panel on the right side. 

"Selected Photos" is chosen. 

LrC accepts the entered text and displays the upper left progress bar. But none of the entered text is saved and the original titles and caption remain the same. 

The same happens when using the Edit Only option. 

The Catalog has been optimized and no issues were reported. 

This started just a few days ago and the latest update did not fix the problem. 

Any suggestion or help would be appreciated. 

[reliable_Serenity1549]

Same problem.
contacted adobe support Case ADB-24218605-P5N2 but we found no solution.

When using XMP files it was working as expected, but this is no choice for me.

[nickynqns]

Something is wrong with my Lightroom.

Please see/watch video at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/PyWvDkhaMZ2M4pyJ8

You can observe a few odd behaviors in the software:

* at 0:05 you see the title pre-populates because I've already typed it, before creating this screenshot

* at 0:09 you can see the title is committed

* at 0:19 you can see I return to this same image and the title is gone

* at 0:29-0:39 you can see I'm playing with the "Rating" and randomly clicking into other fields, but all the while the title is still gone

* at 0:42 I click away from this image with the title gone

* at 0:54 I click back to this image and the title is now committed

* the first and second image all the while never save any data

No matter how many times I click into the Title and Caption fields of the first two images, it never saves any data in those fields; the 3rd image saved, but it reappeared on its own after it displayed empty.

What is going on with Lightroom?

[sea-gal]

Captions that I add to photos are disappearing from view on my PC (Windows 10). They still appear when I look at my photos in my library at lightroom.adobe.com, but the are not visible in the metadata in Lightroom on my PC. If I start to type the caption in the now blank field, the existing caption auto fills and I can hit enter to insert it, but if I leave the image and come back, it is gone. Some captions "stick", but most now disappear. I am using the most recent update.

Caption as entered:

What I see when I leave and come back to the image:

As you can see, it appears with the image in my library at  lightroom.Adobe.com:

[John R Ellis]

How precisely did you add those captions?  Did you type a caption for each photo individually, or did you use metadata Auto Sync (at the bottom of the right column in Library), metadata Sync, or metadata Copy/Paste?

[John R Ellis]

Did you use metadata Auto Sync to originally copy the same caption to these photos? There's a known bug with that.

If not, try resetting LR's preferences:
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/articles-page/how-do-i-reset-lightrooms-preferences/

LR sometimes soils its preferences file, and resetting it can fix all sorts of wonky behavior. That article explains how to restore the old preferences if resetting doesn't help.

[John R Ellis]

When you have multiple photos selected, is Auto Sync highlighted in the bottom right corner?

LR 11.3 introduced a bug with Auto Sync. If you confirm that it's enabled, let us know and I can supply a workaround.

[nickynqns]

Thanks for the assist, johnrellis.

Unfortunately the bug still persists...

I have however narrowed it down a bit. It specifically is an issue with new (not former) Titles & Captions that start or end with "quotation marks" - here's a video:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/GCaYn9uutDdBW7h29

* I zoomed in; you see the first image title/caption has no "quotes" - but the second one does (this was the original image where I wrote the "Title" and "Caption" and then wanted to copy them to the other files, that are not committing the save

* at 0:13 I click into the first image's caption, and insert "quotes" at the beginning & end

* at 0:22 going off advice from this thread I then go to menu > Metadata > Save Metadata to File

* at 0:31 I commit the save, and then you can see the "quotes" disappear from the file's caption

I can commit Titles and Captions, as long as they are wrapped in "quotes" - which was possible up until the moment that it wasn't possible - and I don't know what changed.

[sea-gal]

I typed each caption individually. I have been doing this for several years and have only had the problem since the recent update. Some captions "stick" and but most disappear. 

[sea-gal]

It seems if I "Save Metadata to File" (create the sidecar/smp files, then the captions appear in the caption field. I have never had to do this before. Very odd. 

[sea-gal]

xmp file. Typo. 

[Pat0san]

Hello John, 

Thank you for your reply. 

Auto-Sync is only highlighted when Target Photo is selected above (and not Selected Photo).   When Selected Photos is selected, the only option I have is Sync Metadata. 

I have tried various ways to get the text in Title and Caption modified, but so far, it's just too erratic and I am still lost. In some cases, it works normally once or for a while, and then it stopped working completely and no text can be changed and registered. 

I tried to enter new text for only one photo and it didn't work.

For several selected photos, trying with both Target Photo and Selected Photos, and it didn't work.

I tried using a Metadata Preset to enter the new text, and it didn't work.    

I tried selecting several photos and using Sync Metadata, but it didn't work. 

Any suggestion for a workaround would be welcome. 

Best,  --Patrick 

[John R Ellis]

"It specifically is an issue with new (not former) Titles & Captions that start or end with "quotation marks"

Good detective work.  I found that any caption containing a double quote anywhere (not just beginning or end) triggers this bug.  

I filed a bug report. I believe the bug is one of several discovered so far with LR 11.3's attempt to speed up the display of metadata by caching it in the "<catalog> Helper.lrdata" file. If you exit LR, delete that file, and restart LR, the caption will properly display.

A more convenient workaround is to set the option Catalog Settings > Metadata > Automatically Write Data Into XMP.  Or roll back to LR 11.2.

[John R Ellis]

Next troubleshooting steps:

1, Do the problem captions you're entering contain double quotes?  Someone else just identified that particular bug.

2. If they don't contain double-quotes, then after entering the new caption but before typing Return, make a screenshot of the Metadata panel and post it here.

3. After observing a newly entered caption disappear, select that photo and do the menu command Metadata > Save Metadata To File. Does the newly entered caption now appear in the Metadata panel?

[John R Ellis]

Someone else just discovered that captions containing double quotes trigger this bug -- your screenshot shows the caption containing a double quote.

A workaround is to set the option Catalog Settings > Metadata > Automatically Write Data Into XMP.  Or roll back to LR 11.2.

[John R Ellis]

Moderators, @Rikk Flohr: Photography, please merge with the existing bug report:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/metadata-panel-doesn-t-display-captions-contai... 

[Pat0san]

John, 

1. Indeed, the captions I was trying to enter without success do include double quotes. Once these double quotes are removed, the text is entered and saved normally.

That may explain the somehow erratic behavior I was facing. 

2. As the text did contain these double quotes, I did not check this point. Let me know if you'd like me to. 

3. Here also, pressing Command-S (menu command Metadata > Save Metadata To File) does make the entered caption appear in the Metadata panel. 

OK, now I do have a workaround. If the caption I want to enter does contain double quotes, then I need to enter Command-S after entering the text. 

Thanks,  --Patrick 

[John R Ellis]

OK, so you're tripping over the known bug.

An alternative workaround is to set the option Catalog Settings > Metadata > Automatically Write Changes Into XMP.

[John R Ellis]

Moderators, @Rikk Flohr: Photography, please merge this into the existing bug:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/metadata-panel-doesn-t-display-captions-contai... 

[Pat0san]

Thank you for confirming this. Now that I know what is happening, I can use the workaround waiting for the next update (hopefully it will be fixed then). 

I understand the suggested alternative, but I rather not have all these XMP files around...

Thank you. 

Best,   --Patrick 

[DdeGannes]

I also no not wish to use that option.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Under Review - bug number assigned. 

[charleso8270058]

Hi there,

I've noticed an odd bug (I think) where captions I have just entered into a photos metadata in the metadata panel dissapear after clicking away and clicking back on the image. However it's not consistent across photos. Some captions stay, some dissapear. I'm wondering if anyone has insight on why this might be happening? It seems like a pretty serious bug if I'm not missing something... The lightroom catalogue is saved to the computer's internal hard drive and most of the media is saved to an external hard drive. Machine specs are below:

Mac Pro (Late 2013)

3.7 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5

64 GB 1866 MHz DDR3

AMD FirePro D300 2 GB

[nickynqns]

Many thanks, @John R Ellis -- I appreciate your assistance.

Confirming that deleting the "<catalog> Helper.lrdata" file worked for me...for the time being 🙂 

Looking forward to squashing that bug!

Regards.

[John R Ellis]

"Confirming that deleting the "<catalog> Helper.lrdata" file worked for me...for the time being"

I think that fixes the display of existing captions in the catalog, but if you enter new ones containing double quotes, the problem will occur with them.