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lisabonhardie-qMa0j0
Inspiring
July 27, 2017
Answered

Copying metadata info from one LR field to another

  • July 27, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 2040 views

I have put all my photo information in the "Caption" field in Lightroom.  However, I need to use all that information in InDesign however it won't read the "caption" field from LR.     The work around is to use the "Title" field (or virtually any other field) in LR and then ID can read it.    However,  with 10,000 photos, I'd really not like to copy and paste for the next day.    Does anyone know if it is possible to batch copy metadata from one field to another within Lightroom?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Conrad_C

Lightroom has no built-in way of doing this, but I think there is at least one Lightroom plug-in that can…I can't remember the name off the top of my head though. However...

This may be solvable without having to copy metadata between fields. What you're really running into is inconsistent metadata labeling between programs. What Lightroom calls a Caption is what the caption generator in InDesign calls a Description. In InDesign, if you simply set it up to take the text from Description, you'll find that the text that shows up will be what you entered into the field that Lightroom calls Caption.

I'm still not clear on why there's a difference. Adobe Bridge also calls it Description. It's just one of those things you have to know, that Caption and Description can be different labels for the same thing, depending on the program.

2 replies

john beardsworth
Community Expert
john beardsworthCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 27, 2017

The plugin is my Search and Replace - see Search and Replace metadata in Lightroom.

But I agree that there should be no need to transfer data between fields in this case. InDesign's Object > Captions tool can get the Caption/Description either as static text or as text linked to the metadata in the file.

L
lisabonhardie-qMa0j0Author
Inspiring
August 1, 2017

Hi John.  Thanks so much.   The Caption/Description thing solved it.    Funny enough, I just bought your plug-in just before you two responded, and though I ended up not needing it,  it works beautifully!   Hopefully I will need it eventually! Thanks!!!

Conrad_C
Community Expert
Conrad_CCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
July 27, 2017

Lightroom has no built-in way of doing this, but I think there is at least one Lightroom plug-in that can…I can't remember the name off the top of my head though. However...

This may be solvable without having to copy metadata between fields. What you're really running into is inconsistent metadata labeling between programs. What Lightroom calls a Caption is what the caption generator in InDesign calls a Description. In InDesign, if you simply set it up to take the text from Description, you'll find that the text that shows up will be what you entered into the field that Lightroom calls Caption.

I'm still not clear on why there's a difference. Adobe Bridge also calls it Description. It's just one of those things you have to know, that Caption and Description can be different labels for the same thing, depending on the program.

L
lisabonhardie-qMa0j0Author
Inspiring
August 1, 2017

Thank you!!!!! The caption/description field titles were exactly it! I very much appreciate your help!  This solved the problem!

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