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

[johnrellis]

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?

[johnrellis]

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

[johnrellis]

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?

[johnrellis]

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

[Roebü]

I was having a similar problem with my DNG image files in one particular folder and, despite spending a lot of time trying to fix this, was unable to find a solution. However, I finally tried using Bridge to open these files and, whatever it did, the problem disappeared straightaway.

[Stefano Sacchelli]

I've been experimenting an issue for many years without being solved , i've posted also same issue in the past but never found solution for that . All my original RAW files are stored into NAS from Synology. The lightroom catalog is on the Mac device ( backuped on TimeMachine) . When i modify pictures in lightroom a big part of the images (not always) show the metadata conflict symbol claiming for " an external device has modified the picture " and asking for overlay the metadata on it. This is annoying and require manual intervention for each single picture. Any idea how to solve with long lasting intevention ? This problem started at a certain Lightroom version . Possible that the App is creating some bug because of the non-native Apple Silicon version in use ( i know that apps typically have two codes into for allowing old mac Intel base users running the app ). 

Version of App: 14.4 

Current OS version Sequoia 15.5 

Basic step to reproduce the issue: open lightroom , modify an image 

Expected results: no syncing issue appearing on the right corner of the images being modified. 

[johnrellis]

There are many reports in the past few years about Metadata Status showing the wrong status and Save Metadata To File not correctly updating the status.  Adobe acknowledged one bug a year ago, but it hasn't been fixed:

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

There are likely other instances with other causes, but it doesn't seem to be a priority for Adobe. Some ways to cope with the situation:

1. If you're sure you haven't changed the files outside of LR, then when you do Metadata > Save Metadata To File, click Overwrite Settings.

2. Disable Catalog Settings > Metadata > Automatically Write Changes To XMP. This is a matter of religion here on the forums, with passionate believers on both sides of the issue. I prefer to keep it enabled for several reasons (and I've done so for 15 years) but I have it turned off right now because of a severe performance bug with that and the new Denoise in LR 14.4. 

3.In View > View Options > Grid View, uncheck Cell Icons > Unsaved Metadata. Then the conflict-detected badge won't annoy you.

[Stefano Sacchelli]

Thank uou for the reply and details provided . I know there are some workaround but i hope the the issue will become a topic to be solved as well from Adobe. These correct behavior of Lightroom set foundation for customer/users basic experience. 

[gyaku_zuki]

I'm using Lightroom Classic 14.5.

I have a catalogue with around 15000 photos. There are thousands of photos that Lightroom Classic thinks have changed metadata. I do not have 'automatically write XMP changes' enabled.

For these photos, I have tried manually saving the changes using "Metadata > Save metadata to file" but it immediately changes from 'up to date' for a split second, back to 'has been changed' no matter how many times I try.

I can verify, though, using Explorer, that the XMP file has been updated, from the modified timestamp. So it is writing the file, but then immediately seems to think it isn't up to date.

I've tried restarting, optimising catalogue, editing the develop settings of the file. It doesn't help. It also doesn't affect all files. Some seem to be just fine.

It's not a dealbreaker but it is very irritating as I like to ensure my metadata is up-to-date, and it makes checking the metadata status unreliable.

[johnrellis]

There are many reports in the past few years about Metadata Status showing the wrong status and Save Metadata To File not correctly updating the status.  Adobe acknowledged one bug a year ago, but it hasn't been fixed:

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

There are likely other instances with other causes, but it doesn't seem to be a priority for Adobe.

Until Adobe fixes this (if ever), you could disable the metadata-status icon in the upper-right corner of thumbnails, since it's not conveying useful information.  Go to View > View Options > Grid View and uncheck Cell Icons > Unsaved Metadata. Then it won't continually annoy you.

[johnrellis]

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

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

[johnrellis]

Also, if you're using Denoise on more than a handful of photos, beware that there's a severe performance bug that will explode the size of your catalog file by two orders of magnitude:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-automatically-write-changes-to-xmp-can-t-be-...

This will happen with both Automatically Write Changes To XMP and manual Save Metadata To File.

So I recommend not saving metadata until/if the bug is ever fixed. (I always saved metadata, but not now.)