Skip to main content
DexterG-wZOt9z
DexterG-wZOt9z
Inspiring
March 14, 2019
Answered

Metadata status is being changed just by viewing an image

  • March 14, 2019
  • 3 replies
  • 2749 views

Every photo I view in LR CC Classic, after a few seconds, comes up with "Metadata status has been changed" even though I haven't changed anything.

The Metadata panel says "Metadata status up to date" at first, but then changes all by itself as I watch. I'm not editing anything, just viewing images in the Library module.

I have a Smart Collection for "Metadata has been changed" and every image I view gets added to that collection.

This just started with the latest update: Release 8.2, Build 1204643.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer johnrellis

    I wonder if this "feature" can be turned off in preferences? Something like "Don't update Process Version automatically when viewing images" or something like that.

    I also wonder why this automatic metadata update just started now, with version 8.2, if the underlying changes happened all the way back at version 7.2, in February of 2018? And why didn't every image that I've viewed since then show up in my "Metadata has been changed" Smart Collection? I know that all the intervening updates were installed, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 8.0, and 8.1, because the CC app and LR both always notify me when this occurs.


    Unfortunately, there isn't any preference that controls this.

    As to its weird behavior, that's the nature of bugs -- they act in ways that weren't intended by the programmer.

    3 replies

    K
    kflo7
    Participant
    April 18, 2020

    I recently upgraded to LR 9.2.1 and am seeing this issue for the first time. It's really becoming a pain, as I filter based on Metadata Status "Has been changed" quite a lot, and this has just ruined the usability of that filter.

     

    Any ideas on how to avoid this? I guess I need to re-view all my photos, let LR change the metadata field in question, then "Save metadata to file" for my entire library. Ridiculous!

    G
    gracetm14
    Participant
    March 24, 2019

    Did you find a solution for this?  This just started happening to me yesterday - same issue when i click on the photo to view it switches to metadata changed.

    DexterG-wZOt9z
    DexterG-wZOt9zAuthor
    Inspiring
    March 24, 2019

    I decided to just let it update the metadata and not worry about it.

    johnrellis
    johnrellis
    Legend
    March 14, 2019

    Did you recently update your LR from a much older version, e.g. 7 or 6?

    DexterG-wZOt9z
    DexterG-wZOt9zAuthor
    Inspiring
    March 14, 2019

    No, I've had a CC subscription for years and it always updates Lightroom automatically.

    I'm thinking that some new feature is modifying the metadata as I view the images.

    When I saved the changed metadata to disk and compared it to a copy of the original file, there were several differences:

      XMP Toolkit version

      Tone Map Strength

      Override Look Vignette

      Look Name

    The latter three didn't even exist in the original file.

    johnrellis
    johnrellis
    Legend
    March 14, 2019

    When I saved the changed metadata to disk and compared it to a copy of the original file, there were several differences:

      ...

      Tone Map Strength

      Override Look Vignette

      Look Name

    These develop settings were introduced in LR 7.2 as part of the new enhanced profiles,  in Process Version 4. LR automatically upgrades photos from PV 3 to PV 4 (except in certain narrow circumstances), and I think the upgrade to PV 5 also happens automatically. 

    This suggests that as you view photos, they are getting automatically updated to the latest process version, and the addition of those develop settings are causing the metadata status to change.  I don't think most people experienced these changes in metadata status as their photos were automatically updated.  You could post a bug report in the official Adobe feedback forum, where Adobe wants all bugs reported: Lightroom Classic CC | Photoshop Family Customer Community .  If you could upload the before and after .xmp sidecars showing the issue, that would be even more helpful and increase the likelihood Adobe might take a look.  Be sure to include the first ten lines from the menu command Help > System Info.

    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices