Can LR import just the .xmp info (and not the file) while copying/adding raw files during import

[Martin L01AC]

I noticed that LR is not just using any available .xmp information during raw file import but also importing the .xmp file and recording its presence in the catalog. Is there any way to limit LR Classic to just import the .xmp information in the catalog, i.e., avoid having to delete the useless .xmp files in finder and having to resync the catalog meta data to remove all the references to the removed .xmp files.

Background: I am moving ~40,000 raw files currently in Apple Photos to LR Classic and want to preserve all my keywords.

[GoldingD]

What xmp files during import are you talking about? Your camera is not saving any xmp files to the memory card. LrC can create the xmp sidecar files, but not normally at Import. Normally during edits (are you applying any presets during import? And, hmm, if you rename files during import, will that trigger writing and xmp file?)

By default, creation of xmp files is off, see:

https://photofocus.com/photography/automatically-generate-xmp-files-in-lightroom/

[GoldingD]

Oh, are you talking about importing previous LrC work?

[GoldingD]

I should have read tor posting twice before replying.

Background: I am moving ~40,000 raw files currently in Apple Photos to LR Classic and want to preserve all my keywords.

[GoldingD]

Not sure if the link below still applys, as MACOS has moved on, and LrC has moved on.

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/help/migrate-photos-aperture.html

[Martin L01AC]

There are no pre-defined plugin extras in LR Classic 10.3, thus nothing to directly import from Arperture, iPhoto, or Photo as illustrated in your forwarded link. Do I miss something?

Actually, importing Photos' keywords, and recreating albums as collections via album-specific keywords looks straight forward (I practiced on a small subset of pics). Just export all original raw files with .xmp generation enabled, then export all edited files as tiff or high quality jpg with enabling keyword and gps tags embedding enabled into the same directory structure. Then import all exported files, stack originals with edited pics (they are listed by default side by side and have the same name but different extension), and create collections from pics with album-specific tags.

The only messy stuff is that importing 40,000 keyworded raw files produce as many useless .xmp files in the storage area. To get rid of them, as far as I understand so far, one would need to use finder or write a shell script to go through the whole directory structure and delete all of them, followed by a sync updated meta data to remove their 'file present' links from the catalog to avoid errors when the associated photos ever get moved.

I was just hoping there might be a shortcut to avoid adding/copying the .xmp files to the directory structure and and their presence to the catalog during import (only to create the need to (painfully) remove them later).

[GoldingD]

In LrC, bring up Plug-in Manager, see if you have a plug-in Apreture/iPhoto Importer Plug-in. it might be disabled.

[Martin L01AC]

Found the Aperture and iPhoto importer plugin, but nothing for Photos (also not on the Adobe web site for LrC extensions. Will try later today to see what those plugins do with pics in Photos data base. Thanks for the tip.

[johnrellis]

"Found the Aperture and iPhoto importer plugin, but nothing for Photos"

There is no plugin that will import from Photos libraries. The Avalanche program, which provides much more reliable, faster import from Aperture libraries than Adobe's plugin, has been promising Photos support for at least a year, but so far hasn't delivered.

[Martin L01AC]

Thanks for the pointer. Will keep checking and as I am not in hurry I might get a surprise simplification of the process I came up with so far.

[DdeGannes]

At Martin you stated, "Found the Aperture and iPhoto importer plugin, but nothing for Photos (also not on the Adobe web site for LrC extensions."

Ok, Apple discontinued further development of Aperture which was the major competitor of Adobe's Lightroom the forerunner of Lightroom Classic, and replaced it with iPhoto.

Adobe offers a Plugin to escape from iPhoto to Lightroom Classic, Apple eventually upgrades iPhoto to the new Photos app and you need another escape option.

I think, maybe there is an opportunity for a third party to create a Plugin for the migration process.

[DdeGannes]

Just a thought here, the real challenge is Apple Photos is a "locked" application and the image files are in folder/s that are proprietary to Apple.

LrC needs access to the original image files to function or import. You will have to first export all the image files from Photos to a location on your computer for import into LrC you made need to export original image files.

I think an option might be to use Lightroom (cloud-centric) desktop application that should have the option to add the image file from Photos to Adobe Cloud storage. That option is available in Lightroom Mobile on iPhone and iPad so I am pretty sure it should be possible on the Lr desktop app.

Then you will be left with Originals on your Computer in Apple Photos and Originals on the Adobe Cloud storage.

The Cloud-Centric Lightroom Application should have the features that are available in Photos. Just my thoughts on an option.

[Martin L01AC]

Thanks for the feedback. I am aware that I need to export originals and edited version pics from Photos before I can import them into LrC. In fact, the exporting step is essential to keep my keywords associated with both originals and edited versions of the Photos pics. It is not clear to me that skipping export and going through a cloud and mobile apps versions can achieve the same. At the end I want the full set of Photos pics keywords in LrC, have both originals and edited versions (stacked), and be able to reconstruct my Photos albums as LrC collections via album-specific keywords. On top, I would need at least temporarily more than 2 TB of cloud storage, and deal with the time to up/download all that storage to move my Photos library into the cloud and then back to LrC. Admittedly, I have not explored that route in detail, though it seems to have major negatives compared to the export path keeping all files in my local environment.