How to remove Lightroom metadata from photos

[Jarfr]

Hi,

I need a way to remove all or specific metadata that Lightroom puts into the photos first time they are read, specific data that tells LR not to read or import those photos again.

I know there are a few metadata handling standalone apps out there, but I don't know if any of them can do this, and preferably all photos in one specific folder.

I can't start from scratch creating a brand new catalog as I have over 30000 photos spanning over 20 years and a very complex folder structure and advanced indexing of keywords.

The problem is that a certain folder of photos, photos taken last year that I put on a temp external disk, won't get imported no matter what I try. They will show up in import, but only as grey icons, not as greyed out photos. Starting the import just gets me to a stalled process that when I stop it after a minute or after an hour just informes me that it couldn't find the photos. I've moved to other location on same disk (of course won't work) and moved them to the computers' disk with same negative results. Other photos on that same external disk WILL be imported just as they should.
I've read on all kinds of forums on this problem but without finding any solution but to start over with new catalog.

My conclusion is that these 2000 photos which won't be imported by LR somehow have some adobe/LR specific metadata in them that stops them from getting imported.

- So, I'd like to know WHAT metadata LR puts into the photos when importing, except all the ones I ask it to input, be it hidden metadata or easily visible?
- What software can I use to access this metadata to remove it, preferably in bulk, from all these photos?

My computer is brand new, installed a few days ago, clean.
Microsoft Surface Pro 11
Windows 11 Pro
LR Classic

[dj_paige]

I need a way to remove all or specific metadata that Lightroom puts into the photos first time they are read

Lightroom Classic adds metadata that YOU tell it to add. So if you have an import metadata preset specified, then the metadata that you put into the preset is added. LrC does not add metadata to the photos by itself.

specific data that tells LR not to read or import those photos again

No such metadata.

The problem is that a certain folder of photos, photos taken last year that I put on a temp external disk, won't get imported no matter what I try.

This is the real problem, it has nothing to do with metadata. The photos have been previously imported, you should not import them again. You need to find the photos in LrC, and then you can do whatever you wish with them. Please

follow all four of these steps in order to find the photos:

1. In the Lightroom Classic Library Module, on the left, under Catalog, click on All Photographs
2. Turn off all filters (Ctrl-L once or twice)
3. Turn off all stacking (Photo->Stacking->Expand All Stacks)
4. Search for at least one of these photos by file name using the Lightroom Classic Filter Bar

[JohanElzenga]

I need a way to remove all or specific metadata that Lightroom puts into the photos first time they are read, specific data that tells LR not to read or import those photos again.

By @Jarfr

Lightroom does not normally add anything to the photos themselves, it will only add metadata referring to photos to its catalog. Unless you have 'Automatically write changes to XMP' enabled, that is. In that case metadata are written to both locations, but for raw files the info is still not written into the file itself, but into a separate XMP file. I don't think that Lightroom stores this information in metadata however, because that would prevent importing the photos into in another catalog as well if this info would be in the XMP file. And as XMP files are plain text, it's easy to verify that.

[Jarfr]

I appreciate your answer.
I understand that info about the photos may be input into the catalogs data instead. In any case, photos are somehow tagged somewhere for LR to keep track on which ones it's previously accessed.
My problem remains, where can I remove these ~2000 photos info in LR?
These photos have never been imported to LR as I've always had the same, for 20 years, for all my over 30000 photos, renaming template all these years, the only template used and set as default. None of these photos have ever been renamed, they are still in the in camera naming standard.

Previous poster, dj_paige, has only posted the same answer that is available all over the internet, the one relating to import problems when the photos are greyed out at import, which is a common misstake people make when moving photos and LR noticing that they once were imported.

I need deeper knowledge.
I have seen a few others posting same or similar problem with photos not importing and at import getting only grey icons, not greyed out photos.

[dj_paige]

The only place you can find the info on whether a photo is in an LrC catalog, is by looking in the catalog itself. That info isn't anywhere else. That info is not in metadata. Hence the recommendation to search the catalog, as I suggested.

[Jarfr]

I appreciate you giving me such an extensive answer first time around, I do. But I really need deeper knowledge for this. If you have that deeper knowledge to share, that is what I really need. Your answer is just the standard answer for the non savvy, non tech user. I won't discuss with you about metadata in files as I do know there is almost always metadata inserted by programs (whatever program) using the file, so too even in raw files. But that won't bring me closer to a solution on this now. And I don't think I really need to say that I'm a systems engineer (assembly programming, hacking, security administrator), so I do know a little bit more than the normal user.

If you say that the only place info about if a certain photo has been "tagged" by LR is in the LR catalog then I believe you. The problem remains. I've tested everything and LR won't import these photos. I've also tried a completely new catalog, i.e. fresh LR install, and only trying to import these problematic photos. And I've tried my 20 year old catalog and removed ALL +30000 photos and only importing these problematic photos. Neither way works. The photos are viewable and editable in all other photo apps.

Looking at the metadata, the photos not being read have the metadata "zone identifier" set to exists, while the ones I've checked that have been imported don't have that metadata available. Since I'm no expert on metadata I'm just guessing this could be due to the camera having been connected to an external GPS app.
But that is the only viewable metadata difference.

Since you said that the info must be in the catalog, please tell me where there I can find the data to clean it out since the catalog is a new fresh one. The keyword database, other databases, and settings are still my old ones.

[dj_paige]

If you have that deeper knowledge to share, that is what I really need. Your answer is just the standard answer for the non savvy, non tech user.

It works for everyone. You don't need any particular advanced skills to search for photos in the LrC catalog following the instructions I gave, and then find them and delete them from the catalog. That's how you interact with the LrC database. Searching elsewhere for the metadata you want is going to fail.

I won't discuss with you about metadata in files as I do know there is almost always metadata inserted by programs (whatever program) using the file, so too even in raw files.

LrC only puts metadata into the files if you specifically tell LrC to do so, and even then, if the files are RAW, the metadata is in catalog only, and optionally in the sidecar XMP file. Some people tell LrC to not create XMP files and not insert the metadata into the files; and LrC runs perfectly fine with the metadata being only in the catalog file and not in the photo files or sidecar XMP files. So your above statement is not true, LrC does not (by default) insert metadata into files. It does insert metadata into files if you specifically turn on the options to do so, and then only if you instruct LrC to insert metadata into specific photos.

But your problem about LrC refusing to import files is not about metadata. If the file itself is registered in the LrC database, because you imported the file into LrC, then LrC will (by default) not import it a second time.

I've also tried a completely new catalog, i.e. fresh LR install, and only trying to import these problematic photos.

So what happens, describe in detail. Don't simply say you can't import them ... why not? What happens?

Since you said that the info must be in the catalog, please tell me where there I can find the data to clean it out since the catalog is a new fresh one.

If you are skilled at using a computer programming language called SQL, you can edit/modify anything in the catalog, but beyond that I cannot give you instructions. Or you can interact with the catalog using the LrC interface, as I explained above.

[Jarfr]

I've explained what happens, several times. The same thing happens no matter what I try.

I can't find reference to photos in the catalog if the catalog is new, zero imports to it, so your methods are redundant.

Have you really checked on this specific problem? As I said, no one else that I can find on the net with this issue has received any solution.

The problem of course has to be LR since all other photo apps can read the photos, and it can be the specific issue you are referring to since the catalog has been emptied of all its photos.  And, of course, I already did the search guide that you and a hundred other have posts on all over the net before coming here as a last resort.

[Jarfr]

...The problem of course has to be LR since all other photo apps can read the photos, and it can be the specific issue you are referring to since the catalog has been emptied of all its photos. ...
Unless the catalog still keeps some data of all imports even after removing all photos from the catalog, which is what I believe must be happening, and is what I'm tying to get help for.

[JohanElzenga · Accepted solution]

Can you show with screenshots (proper screenshots please, not phone photos from your screen) exactly what happens? Don't cut out anything, show the full screen. And please insert the screenshots using this button, do not attach them.

The reason why I'm asking this is because after reading your first message again, I noticed this part:

"The problem is that a certain folder of photos, photos taken last year that I put on a temp external disk, won't get imported no matter what I try. They will show up in import, but only as grey icons, not as greyed out photos. Starting the import just gets me to a stalled process that when I stop it after a minute or after an hour just informes me that it couldn't find the photos. I've moved to other location on same disk (of course won't work) and moved them to the computers' disk with same negative results. Other photos on that same external disk WILL be imported just as they should."

This indicates that this problem probably has nothing to do with Lightroom Classic thinking they already have been imported, or metadata saying so. There may be something else with these photos. Does the folder contain any videos as well? 

[Jarfr]

Thank you Johan,

I will get back to you with screenies. I'm a little busy but within the next 24 hours you will have them posted.
I may remove personal info that I don't want to be shown online, but all the important info will be available in the screenshots.

[Jarfr]

Thank you Johan, you solved the problem 🙂

I just had to try something out before bedtime after reading your text.
The last sentence gave me an idea. 
I actually had two videos from that camera in the folder structure of the photos to be imported. So, just to try anything new, not that it should matter since I've imported photos from my camera card before containing videos, but I moved the two videos to a separate folder ouside of the folder structure of photos to be imported and bam, all photos appeared in the import window and they were all imported without any problems.
The videos were blocking all of the rest of the files in the folder structure. The videos showed up as first two files to be imported and made all photo icons grey and completely blocked the import process.

Thank you for asking if there were videos among the files being imported 🙂

I would still like to know why the videos are not possible to be imported.

I am attaching screenies of the process of import as it looks with the videos now, and the last screenie with the error message from LR was the same as I got when I from the start tried importing them all at once.

[JohanElzenga · Accepted solution]

Good to hear. The import problem when there are videos in the source folder as well is a known bug. I wasn't sure if that bug had been fixed already, but if you are using version Lightroom Classic 14.3.1 then apparently not. If you are using an older version, then update Lightroom to see it that fixes this.

[Jarfr]

Thank you

Brand new computer and everything in it up to date, so too all my Adobe products.

Have a great day 🙂