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Joe Bt
Participating Frequently
November 28, 2017
Question

LR Not Recognizing Ratings From Bridge

  • November 28, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 5180 views

I am importing images into LR that have been viewed and rated in Bridge. LR is not seeing all the images rated in Bridge. Ideas and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

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    2 replies

    Community Expert
    November 28, 2017

    It's been ages since I have used Bridge, but IIRC it operated in one of two working modes, controlled by an option setting.

    One way is by tracking your metadata including new changes, internally only (in a "database" cache). This will not automatically reflect changes back to the image file on disk.

    The other way, and the more usual AFAICT, is by saving out new metadata each time that gets changed, to the file on disk..

    If a file was previously rated in Bridge, and Bridge did write this out to the file at the time, and now you import this to LR - LR will see that rating.

    Except: if the file is a proprietary Raw, Bridge writes XMP into a separate sidecar file not into the file header. If you have left this sidecar file in the same folder alongside the Raw, and provided you leave their names alone, LR regards these two as a pair. BUT if you have separated them, or if their names no longer match, then LR won't know to associate them together.

    Joe Bt
    Joe BtAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    November 28, 2017

    I'll go a bit deeper into what I've done with this collection of images.

    After downloading the files via Bridge, from card, I opened in Bridge, viewed and rated 1 and 2 stars. I have not changed the file names which is unusual for me. I've not added any metadata, not even the usual copyright info. So, when I sort the files by file names the image file and the XMP files are directly related. And, yes, they are all in the same folder. From what you said, that sounds like everything should still be copasetic. Right?

    DdeGannes
    Community Expert
    November 29, 2017

    I don't have any problems at all using the word "organize" here. You organize items so you can find them later. That's what Lightroom helps you do.

    It appears that LR is a place to "organize" all these images so I can find what I'm looking for, make changes to the images as well as their metadata (sidecar files) and, probably, even more.

    Sidecar files are irrelevant to the topic, and represent a mis-understanding. Lightroom works fine without sidecar files, in fact the default mode of operation of Lightroom is to not create sidecar files. Even if you create the sidecar files, they are not used by Lightroom.

    Workflow: I can either import images from my camera/card directly into LR or to a folder on my computer.

    Not true at all, maybe the language is tripping you up. Images are always stored in a folder on a disk somewhere, they are not stored in Lightroom. Importing a photo means that now Lightroom knows about it and where it is located on your hard diskj. The image is never in Lightroom.

    then select images and drag them into Collections that might be identified by keywords (people, landscapes, cityscapes, etc.)

    Honestly, I don't use collections for much. I don't consider them to be primary organizing tools. Keywords give you most of the functionality you need for organizing; collections give you little extra over and above keywords; except you would use a collection to create a book or web site or slideshow, and you would use a collection to share with Lightroom Mobile.


    Quote  "Sidecar files are irrelevant to the topic, and represent a mis-understanding. Lightroom works fine without sidecar files, in fact the default mode of operation of Lightroom is to not create sidecar files. Even if you create the sidecar files, they are not used by Lightroom."

    Absolutely.

    Understanding this concept is crucial in grasping how Lightroom functions.

    As far as Lightroom is concerned the ​info is in the Catalog file, ​on the other hand for Bridge/ Adobe Camera Raw the info is in the file.

    To wit, as far as I am concerned this is the only valid need/reason for writing to XMP, i.e. for Bridge/ Adobe Camera Raw to have access of your Lightroom edits.

    Regards, Denis: iMac 27” mid-2015, macOS 11.7.10 Big Sur; 2TB SSD, 24 GB Ram, GPU 2 GB; LrC 12.5,; Lr 6.5, PS 24.7,; ACR 15.5,; (also Laptop Win 11, ver 24H2, LrC 15.0.1, PS 27.0; ) Camera Oly OM-D E-M1.
    john beardsworth
    Community Expert
    November 28, 2017

    Upon Import, are you applying a metadata preset? LR normally reads ratings from Bridge, but a metadata preset could be setting them back to zero.

    Joe Bt
    Joe BtAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    November 28, 2017

    No, I don’t think I’m applying a metadata preset. If I am, I don’t know it. Thanks for your prompt reply.

    Joe B