P: Save Metadata To File doesn't always set metadata status to Up To Date

[John R Ellis]

The Save Metadata To File command doesn't always update a photo's metadata status to indicate it is Up To Date. To reproduce:

1. Download and open this catalog in LR:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/jokv9a8pfsdc2z0jrqlu5/save-metadat-bug.2024.05.25.zip?rlkey=z833g3ek2...

2. In Library View > View Options > Grid View, check Cell Icons > Unsaved Metadata.

3. In the Library Filter bar, open the Metadata browser with the column Metadata Status.

4. Observe that all 32 photos have metadata status Has Been Changed as indicated in the Metadata browser and on the thumbnails.

5. Select all the photos and do Metadata > Save Metadata To File.

6. Observe that 32 photos remain with status Has Been Changed, and Finder / File Explorer show the files or their .xmp sidecards have their Date Modified set to "now", indicating that LR wrote the files (but I haven't tested if they've been written correctly).

Tested on LR 13.3 / Mac OS 14.4.1 and Windows 11.

[Homy2024]

Metadata save stoped working after updating to Lightroom Classic 13.3 on Mac OS 14.5.

Anyone with the same issue?

[John R Ellis]

I observed that the Metadata > Save Metadata To File command saves the metadata to the file (or its .xmp sidecar) but LR 13.3 isn't updating the Metadata Status:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-save-metadata-to-file-doesn-t-always-set-met...

Select one of the files in your catalog that has Metadata Status of Has Been Changed. Do Metadata Status > Save Metadata To File. Does Finder show Date Modified has changed to "now"?

If it has, you're tripping over the same bug.  If it hasn't, it's a different bug and we should file a different bug report.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Setting status

[planosteve]

tried 13.3 today and immediately had problems with reflecting metadata changes. I sent a raw file to PS for editing and then saved the psd file. Back in LrC, it would not reflect the edits that I made. Even asking it to update the metadata failed to reflect the edits. Had to remove the psd file from the catalog and then synchronize the folder. Very awkward, so I've reverted back to 13.2.

[planosteve]

had the same problem. I've reverted to 13.2. The generative fill removal tool isn't that great anyway.

[Homy2024]

Customer care about this issue says: "(...)

reading and writing the metadata in Lightroom Classic 13.3. We have checked and discovered that this is a known issue in the latest version of LR and the team had identified it. the team is working on it and this should be fixed in the next release of LR."

thank you

[John R Ellis]

Adobe acknowledged that bug in the Bugs section here:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-save-metadata-to-file-doesn-t-always-set-met...

(I see the post above had an incorrect link -- I corrected it.)

[Klaus-Jürgen32479191h6ra]

Bei Lightroom Classic 13.3.2 funktioniert es immer noch nicht. Es nervt !!!!

[DdeGannes]

@Klaus-Jürgen32479191h6ra , When did you get an update to LrC 13.3.2, the latest update I see on Adobe Creative Cloud is 13.3.1.

[Klaus-Jürgen32479191h6ra]

sorry 13.3.1

[Homy2024]

Sudenly my corcens gone to this subject and what's happening on Adobe https://youtu.be/rEbgh-q7RCc?feature=shared

[henningmet]

For about 10% of my photos, the metadata status in Lightroom always immediately jumps back to "changed", even if I have just saved it and no other programme is open.

Together with the "Automatically save changes to XMP" setting, this causes an infinite save loop, which has an extreme impact on Lightroom's performance.

What could be the cause of this? Any idea?

[John R Ellis]

Adobe has acknowledged this bug in LR 13.3.  There's no known workaround, other than to disable Automatically Write Changes To XMP to avoid looping.

Moderators, @Rikk Flohr: Photography, @Rick Spaulding -, please merge with this bug:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-save-metadata-to-file-doesn-t-always-set-met...

[Homy2024]

on 1st of June 

Customer care about this issue said: "(...)

reading and writing the metadata in Lightroom Classic 13.3. We have checked and discovered that this is a known issue in the latest version of LR and the team had identified it. the team is working on it and this should be fixed in the next release of LR."

Can anyone confirm if the version 13.4 corrected this bug?

Thank you

[GSatch]

I'm on 13.4, and can confirm the issue is NOT fixed. 

[GSatch]

Update: been playing around with different combinations of actions (i.e., adding a keyword, removing a keyword, changing the spelling of the keyword, exporting as a catalog, opening it stand-alone, and re-importing back to main, force-saving metadata, allowing auto-save to do it, etc...) so I can't say which of these worked - but - it may be as simple as reading the metadata from the file, and then writing it back to the same file. 

I was fortunate in that I only had 1 file but, with that, I can't do further testing to confirm which steps worked. 

Hope this helps.

[Homy2024]

13.4 is working for me now