Writing Metatdata Changes into XMP on exit takes forever with new version

[andrewm99048561]

My Lightroom Classic just updated to the latest version (13.0).  When I exit, rather than the option of delaying writing XMP, it now says I should wait until it completes. 

The first time, I let it complete in case the delay was due to the update.  I didn't time it, but it took several minutes.  I went back in, and made minor edits to two images and then exited.  It's been over 5 minutes, and it's only up to 14%. 

Why has the message changed to say you should wait?  Why is it taking so long?

[andrewm99048561]

Over 20 minutes now, and up to 44%.  This is for changes to two images.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

I just performed a test on 50 images, and the result was less than 2 seconds. 
I suspect you have a different issue.  My recommendation is to reset preferences and, if that doesn't work, a clean reinstall of Lightroom is probably warranted. 

This procedure works for both Lightroom Classic and Lightroom Desktop.

If you are using Lightroom Desktop, it can change your local storage location. Please review this setting after resetting preferences. 

Reset Procedure:

1. Close Lightroom.

2. Hold down [Alt/Opt]+[Shift] while restarting Lightroom.

3. Overwrite the Preferences when prompted by the dialog.

4. Close Lightroom.

5. Restart Lightroom.

Clean Lightroom Install Procedure

Close Lightroom

Restart the computer

Use the Adobe Creative Cloud App to uninstall Lightroom

Restart the computer

Install Lightroom via the Creative Cloud App without launching any other programs.

Restart the computer

Launch Lightroom

Wait 5 minutes

[andrewm99048561]

You suspect I have a different issue from what?  This was working fine yesterday, before the update to 13.0.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

I suspect Version 13 is not the issue, but you may have a corrupt preference file or bad installation. 

In any case, with the instructions provided, I cannot duplicate the failure. 

[andrewm99048561]

If version 13 is not the issue, are you saying this problem has been seen before on other versions?  If not, I don't see how you can rule out a new bug.

What information can I gather to see what the LR is actually doing?  Is there any debugging I can turn on?  I don't know how your installation differs from mine, so I can't say why you don't see the problem.  However, I'm not alone, as the reply from 75CentralPhotography confirms, and a preference or installation issue seems very unlikely to affect 3 different machines coincidentally following the same upgrade.

[andrewm99048561]

Thanks for the reply; at least it seems it's not a universal problem.
Is there a way to save the preferences I currently have set, before I reset them to the defaults?  What information will be lost?

Why has the message changed, to now say we must wait for the XMP files to be written, rather than that can wait without losing data until the next time we run Lightroom?   When I leave the application, it's because I'm typically about to go somewhere, quite possibly taking my laptop with me; I don't want to wait for the program to finish writing data, regardless of how long it's taking.

[David Ayars]

I can confirm that I absolutely had OP's same issue only and immediately after the upgrade from v12 to v13. Rikk's suggestion to do a Reset Procedure fixed it for me. One caution: when you do a Reset, your Catalog Settings and LrC Preferences go back to default, so before resetting, it would be helpful to review those and take notes on the settings you will want to restore after the Reset.

[C.Cella]

@David Ayars Resetting preferences turns off the Auto Save into XMP and also turns off the "Save Into XMP for X Photo" in the status and activity panel.

Please check and tell us what's happening if you turn them on again.

[David Ayars]

I can close and backup Lightroom Classic 13 now without encountering an error message about having to wait for writing metadata to complete. I do have "Automatically write changes into XMP" enabled at Edit > Catalog Settings > Metadata. The second setting you're asking about, " 'Save Into XMP for X Photo' in the status and activity panel" I'm not finding either within Lightroom Classic or by websearching to see where that setting or panel would be. Can you be more specific?

[C.Cella]

@David Ayars right click the Status and Activity panel where you can pause/play the auto save into XMP.

[David Ayars]

"Status and Activity Panel" wasn't helping me locate the setting you were asking about, but I figured it out. For anyone lurking later who is unsure where this setting is, in the upper left corner of LrC, just above "Navigator" with the left panel open, a down arrow becomes visible when I hover over what displays as my name; other users may see something more generic under "Adobe Lightroom Classic" there, Click that down arrow and there is a setting for "Saving XMP." Toggle that on (so it doesn't say "Paused").

Now with that toggled back on, and after having done Rikk's Reset Procedure, when I close LrC, as it's backing up the catalog, I may or may not briefly see a window about saving to XMP, as I did before in v12, but it's working correctly. It doesn't get stuck writing to XMP, and it's very quick with no delay in backing up the catalog or closing LrC.

[C.Cella]

@David Ayars apologies I should have told you where to look.

The original idea/suggestion for the pause/play Auto Save XMP was to have the buttons very visible in the UI where all users could see them immediately and click them.

Below a mock-up for a plausible/possible design and palcement for the option.

Unfortunately that part of the Ui is "royal estate UI" so can't be used and the Status and Activity was chosen but, as your case proves, is not an easy location for such a vital feature.

I think lots of users, like you, would have way less problems if the option was made more visible and easier to activate/pause.

[Gleeful_mind5C4F]

I'm having the same issue on two different machines, so it's not just you and it would seem weird if the prefs were corrupted on two different machines "all of the sudden". 

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

You hadn't mentioned 'two different' machines before but that may not be significant as I cannot reproduce on two different machines.  A common "interfering" component/software may exist on both. 

Without more detailed instructions for reproduction, I do not have better advice than to ensure your preference and install are clean. 

[andrewm99048561]

That makes 3 different machines since 75CentralPhotography is a different person from me.

In my case, I'm not sure what information I need to tell you.  To reproduce the problem, I simply start LR 13, edit one file, and then exit.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Do you have AutoWrite XMP turned on Preferences?
What type of file is the image? 

[andrewm99048561]

Yes, AutoWrite XMP is turned on.

The files are DNG (converted from Panasonic Raw on import).

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Simulating that setting, the time goes from 2 seconds to 20 seconds for (18) files (Canon R5) converted to DNG. Save Metadata, Write Metadata Preset - Exit. 

[andrewm99048561]

Yes, obviously this is working for some users.  Looking at the number of people reporting even more serious issues in 13.0, with LR crashing on start up or when editing, there's clearly some new bugs that need to be fixed.  I simply don't have the time to wait for 30 minutes when the application ends, I actually need to do work with this. I'm rolling back to 12.5, and will upgrade when the bugs have been found and fixed.  Too many new features being added, not enough testing.

[C.Cella]

@andrewm99048561 

Writing into XMP is now 2x faster than before actually.

If it is taking long time to write into XMP then it can be that you didn't save it for long time for many images.

So while you might have edited 2 images recently as you activate auto save into XMP LrC is picking up ALL the images that had to be saved, never had been saved, and it is doing it now.

What you can do is:

Pause Save into XMP.

Create a Smart Collection  "Metadata Status - Is - Has been Changed." OR filer for "Metadata Status"

Check how many images LrC picks up that needs to saved.

EDIT

The "Saving XMP For" text should also give you an idea of how many images need to be saved BUT you might want to pause that because some photos might be stuck in an endless save loop.

.

[andrewm99048561]

> If it is taking long time to write into XMP then it can be that you didn't save it for long time for many images.

I've changed nothing except to (automatically) upgrade to 13.0. If it wasn't saving to XMP before, then that must have been a bug in 12.5, but as far as I can tell, it was saving fine.

I still have the question unanswered about why the message on exit has changed; why does it now say you must wait when before you could exit and have the xmp files saved later?

[C.Cella]

@andrewm99048561 You can exit and the save will be completed the next time.

How many images according to the "Saving XMP for" text must be saved ?

.

[andrewm99048561]

> You can exit and the save will be completed the next time.

That doesn't answer my question.

[C.Cella]

When we quit and XMP has not finished we are presented with this message.

This has not been changed.

What you might see is this following warning when quitting form Develop.

This warning appears now because XMP is auto written in 4 cases instead of being written after every new entry in history:

1. Active image changes (Multiple images edited in batch counts for this)
2. App Quit
3. App goes into background or
4. Switch Module

I do agree this latest message in itself is confusiing and suggest one should not stop the process but it's not the case.

Still, how any of you images need to be saved?