Copy and paste IPTC metadata NOT working

[Timfl]

All I need to do is copy and paste the Headline and Description for about 100 images. And maybe one or two will paste but the rest will not. Very frustrating. On M1Mac, Latest version of everything

[johnrellis]

Many have reported issues with Copy/Sync of develop settings in LR 11.3 and 11.3.1, and there have been other bugs reported with copying metadata, but I haven't seen these symptoms reported before. I just tried Copy/Paste of Headline and Description to over 1100 photos in LR 11.3.1 and didn't experience the problem. Without a recipe that reproduces the problem on any LR installation, Adobe is unlikely to look at the problem, unless many people report it.

You could try these workarounds:

1. Set the option Catalog Settings > Metadata > Automatically Write Changes Into XMP.

2. Do the menu command Help > System Info. If you're on 11.3 or 11.3.1, roll back to 11.2.

(If you're not on 11.3.1, please do Help > System Info and report the precise version number.  People often report "latest" when they're not.)

[Timfl]

Thanks, John
I've always had Automatically Write Changes Into XMP checked. 

I've also experienced problems with copying/pasting develop settings as well.

I appreciate your input and I'll try the rollback. 

[Timfl]

Unfortunately, the rollback to 11.2 did not work

[johnrellis]

"I've also experienced problems with copying/pasting develop settings as well."

With pasting develop settings, are the sliders getting changed on the target photos but the Library previews not updating?  That's another known bug in 11.3 / 11.3.1:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-library-previews-not-updating/idi-p/12897363

[johnrellis]

Oh, are you in Loupe view when you do this (one photo showing above the filmstrip)?  In Loupe view, Paste will only modify the most-selected (current) photo -- switch to Grid view before doing the Paste.

[Timfl]

Yup. Understood. Getting back to the metadata, I remember in the past when I pasted into a field, a message would appear that would say something like "Metadata being updated for 100 images." I'm not seeing that now. 

[Timfl]

And it might take 10 seconds or so. I'm wondering if I'm checking too soon.

[johnrellis]

So you're in Grid view when you're pasting?

[Timfl]

Yes, to be clear I'm talking about captions, headlines, etc

[johnrellis]

Please post a full-resolution screenshot of your entire LR window immediately after pasting -- that might give important clues.

[Timfl]

Problem remains with LR 11.4. The data will ONLY paste to the image next to the one copied. Here I copied the Title from the middle image at the top. Note that 4 successive images are selected and pasted. (Screen Shot 2022-08-14 at 4.58.53 PM) Also note that only one image had metadata changed (the one in the top right corner). Thank you. 

[johnrellis · Accepted solution]

Ah, the screenshots clarify what's happening.  You need to click Selected Photos in the Metadata panel:

With Target Photo, only the most-selected photo is changed.

I should have asked about this earlier -- I misunderstood your previous descriptions.  My bad.

The option controlling this has always been present in LR via the menu item Metadata > Show Metadata For Target Photo Only, but it defaulted off.  LR 11 exposed the option in the Metadata panel (which is good) but bungled the implementation, making the default to be Target Photo, regardless of the user's previous setting. Large numbers of users have been confused by this bug.

[Timfl]

Thank You! That did the trick.

[naftalih94894359]

Same problem - I am working with Lrc version 12.3. Metadata copyqpaste and sync does not work. Did all the steps described -  still doesn't work

[johnrellis]

Which *precise* steps did you do? And are you in Grid view or Loupe view? If you have multiple displays, is Grid view or Loupe view showing on the *main* display?

[naftalih94894359]

Hi, I hope you are still there...

​On my home PC I don't have any problem copy pasting or synchronizing metadata. The problem exists on my laptop only.

Both in loop and grid view. Neither copy paste metadata nor synchronize metadata works on my PC. On my PC, im am using sometimes 2 screens, sometimes one screen without any problem. 

[stefanf83309274]

Unfortunately I face the same issue since 11.2 (now on 11.3.1 [ 202204181225-f90ebff5 ]). Not only doesn't copy&paste work, managing IPTC data has become a nightmare to work with. For example entering IPTC Description in Grid View, changing to next photo and going back, the previously entered text is not showing up. But: exporting to a JPEG shows the IPTS data!! And it doesn't make a huge difference whether files are stored on NAS or locallly, maybe it's a tad faster the LR UI gets updated with the IPTC data stored to the file. Using XMP has no influence either.

[johnrellis]

"entering IPTC Description in Grid View, changing to next photo and going back, the previously entered text is not showing up. But: exporting to a JPEG shows the IPTS data!!"

Your symptoms may not be identical to the original poster's.  But they are similar to a whole bucket of symptoms where metadata changes are made in the catalog and appear in exported photos but don't always appear in the Metadata panel.

Do the fields you're pasting contain double-quotes by any cha

nce?

For most everyone (but not all) who have reported similar symptoms, the two workarounds have been successful:

- Setting the option Catalog Settings > Metadata > Automatically Write Changes Into XMP.

- Rolling back to LR 11.2.

Adobe has acknowledged the various bug reports, so they'll likely be fixed in the future. LR releases about every eight weeks, so we might expect to see LR 11.4 in the next week or so.

[stefanf83309274]

Hi John,

No, no quotes whatsoever, just alphanumeric characters, some periods, colons and a copyright symbol. And as I stated earlier, it doens't make any difference whether I use XMP or not. 

I'd like to avoid rolling back to 11.2 cause I'm sure the issues were the same back then. I'll rather wait for this issu(s) to be fixed, better sooner than later.

Cheers,

Stefan