There was an unknown error while writing metadata his photo. Retry

[Nathalie25061992wknc]

I work on a Mac Book M2 Pro with Sonoma 14.1.1 and my Lightroom Classic version is 13.01.While working on my files today I noticed an exclamation point and when I click on it the message is that There was an unknown error while writing metadata to this photo. Retry? Then it gives me options for retry metadata export or import from disk. I searched this forum and did the following : I allowed LRC to have access to my disk . Restarted lightroom and the computer. I read that this meant that I didn't have enough space on my hard drive but when I checked I have 1.4 TB out of 2 TB available . I did click on one image and retry metadata export and the exclamation point went away. I have this message on every single file that I imported from my card reader to my external hard drive.

Is there a problem with the external hard drive? I am not sure I understand when the message means to start with. I can see that the files are on my hard drive and I can work on the files in lightroom . I also see the key words, ratings and flags.

Thank you in advance

Nathalie Fortier

nfortierc514@rogers.com

[dj_paige]

I get this from time to time. Normally, I wait 5 minutes or so, and then the metadata is written properly.

My guess (emphasis on "guess") is that something has locked the photo file, preventing writing of metadata. What that something is could by synchronization with the Adobe cloud, or in my case it could also be the program GeoSetter. Again, those are guesses.

[JohanElzenga]

I see this too from time to time. It seems harmless, because 'Retry' always solves it. I believe it may be related to using smart previews somehow.

[Nathalie25061992wknc]

My only photos affected are when I started using smart previews I think . Is there a way I can click on the retry without having to do one file at a time?

[dj_paige]

Select all the photos with this problem (and even some that don't have this problem, if that is easier) and then Metadata->Save metadata to files

[dj_paige]

So it could be smart previews cause this, but I don't use smart previews and I get the problem sometimes. So I think there are multiple possible causes.

[JohanElzenga]

My only photos affected are when I started using smart previews I think . Is there a way I can click on the retry without having to do one file at a time?

By @Nathalie25061992wknc

Yes, just select all and then click 'Retry'. This has so far worked for me all the time. As it even worked while I did not have the originals online, I do not think this is related to 'Write Metadata to Files' (which I do not use anyway). This is another error (that I had not seen before). I'm still not sure what exactly is going on, but it seems pretty harmless.

[Garry Hare]

Yes, retry usually solves it, but after you click retry you will find that an xmp file has been added to the folder containing the photo.

[JohanElzenga]

What I have found is that an XMP file is created for the active image, but if you have selected multiple images, then the other ones don't get an XMP file. It has been a while since I tried, however.

[Garry Hare]

In my case, all images get a xmp file.

[JohanElzenga]

Which makes more sense then what I saw. It still is harmless. Those files are very small text files, so just ignore them (or ignore the warning icon).