P: Save To File doesn't clear IPTC fields

[John R Ellis]

If you set Title, Caption, and Copyright to be non-blank strings and then later clear those fields and do Metadata > Save Metadata To File, the corresponding IPTC fields in the file will contain the previous strings rather than be empty.

1. Select a JPEG and in the Metadata > Default panel set Title, Caption, and Copyright to be "XXX". 

2. Do Metadata > Save Metadata To File.

3. In the Metadata > Default panel, delete the contents of the Title, Caption, and Copyright fields.

4. Do Metadata > Save Metadata To File.

5. Do "exiftool -iptc:objectname -iptc:caption-abstract -iptc:copyrightnotice file.jpg" and see that IPTC:Caption-Abstract those fields still contains "XXX".

6. In LR, do Edit In > Edit In Adobe Photoshop > Edit Original. 

7. In Photoshop, do File > File Info and observe those three IPTC fields still contain "XXX".

See here for the original report:
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/community/threads/caption-description-metadata-fields.39512/#post-126...

Tested in LR 9.1 / Mac OS 10.14.6

[TangCanada]

Insted of clearing the fields only, try putting a space and resave.

[John R Ellis]

"try putting a space and resave"

Unfortunately, that doesn't work. LR always trims leading and trailing spaces from metadata fields, so when you enter one or more spaces, that has the same effect as simply clearing the field.

[Lumigraphics]

Maybe as a workaround use a dash character?

[John R Ellis]

The bug is present in LR 8.2.1 but not in LR 5. (It's too painful to try to test intervening versions.)

[Smit K]

Hi John,

Thanks for reporting this. We have been able to reproduce the issue and have logged a bug for the same.

Thanks,
Smit
Lightroom Classic Team

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Updates to Camera Raw, Lightroom Classic, and the Lightroom Ecosystem were released yesterday evening and contain a fix for this issue.  Please install the appropriate update and see if it solves this problem. 

Thank you for your patience.

[John R Ellis]

I just tested the bug recipe, and the bug no longer occurs in LR 9.4.  Thanks.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I;m still seeing this in LrC9.4 on windows 10

[John R Ellis]

Paul wrote, "I'm still seeing this in LrC9.4 on windows 10"

I tested the bug recipe on my LR 9.4 / Windows 10 configuration, and the bug no longer occurred for me.

Can you provide the exact steps you are doing, the type of file you're using, and the first ten lines from Help > System Info?  A screen recording uploaded to Youtube or Dropbox would be even better.