Importing Metadata Causes Edits to be Lost

Question

I'm been working in Lightroom Classic (v. 13.4) and I've just started using Bridge (14.1.1.274) as well, on a Mac, OS Sonoma 14.5.

I work with JPEGS, not RAW.

I noticed that several of my photos in LrC indicated metadata conflicts, so I started experimenting with both "Overwrite [file] Settings" and "Import Settings from Disk." Neither works as I would expect.

If I make a metadata or keyword change in LrC, and then respond to the resulting metadata conflict flagged in LrC by choosing "Overwrite Settings," LrC updates the changed metadata/keywords in the disk file (as seen in Br) as expected. But it also updates Date Created (Finder) / Date File Created (Br File Info) to the current date. (It does leave Date Created (Br File Info), Date Created (ITPC Core), and Date Time Original (EXIF) unchanged.)

On the other hand, if I make a metadata or keyword change in for an image in Br, and then (in LrC) respond to the resulting metadata conflict by choosing "Import Settings from Disk," LrC brings in the changed metadata/keywords from the disk file as expected. But it also removes all the Develop edits I had previously made to the image in LrC.

Any ideas on why this is happening? Am I doing something wrong?

Thank you.

johnrellis · Accepted Answer

"if I make a metadata or keyword change in for an image in Br, and then (in LrC) respond to the resulting metadata conflict by choosing "Import Settings from Disk," LrC brings in the changed metadata/keywords from the disk file as expected. But it also removes all the Develop edits I had previously made to the image in LrC."

LR stores Develop settings in photo metadata. So if you want to use Bridge to modify photo metadata:

1. In LR, do Metadata > Save Metadata To File to ensure that the photo has the most recent metadata stored from the LR catalog.

2. Make the change in Bridge.

3. In LR, do Metadata > Read Metadata From File.

This obviously is error-prone, so most experts don't recommend using Bridge as part of your normal workflow.

Lumigraphics · Answer

On top of what John posted, there are bugs in keyword handling between Bridge and Lightroom. Keywords are a mess anyway, with multiple namespaces, and so this isn't greatly unexpected. My recommendation is to use Lightroom Classic on its own and not mix with other file handling apps. Bridge can mix and match because its a file browser, not a database-driven app.

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