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XMP file not being created in Lightroom anymore - One day it was, next day it stopped

Community Beginner ,
Feb 04, 2022 Feb 04, 2022

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Hi everyone. I thank you and I appreciate any help in advance!

 

So I'm a real estate photographer. I shoot in raw and get 3 bracketed shots per scene. Afterwords I import them into Lightroom classic and create an HDR TIF file with a program called Enfuse. In the end I WAS getting an XMP files created in the same "ORIGINALS" folder with my RAW files and my TIF file. 

1.png

 

Then one day it stopped (December 10, 2021).

2.png

 

The ORIGINALS folder for the project that day now showed NO XMP files. As far as I know I didn't change anything. And I already checked and the check mark boxes WERE checked that should be so that I would be getting XMP files.

3.png

 

 

What in the world am I doing wrong or different that changed this to where I'm not getting XMP files anymore. I need those so that I can keep the changes between each file (specifically the TIF files which are the HDR files). And it's way to cumbersome and laggy to try to never remove any files from LR. So I need those XMP files in case I have to go back to files to do further edits.

Thanks for any insight!

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Community Expert ,
Feb 04, 2022 Feb 04, 2022

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I am not sure why the xmp are not showing when you have the option to Automatically save xmp to the file. Have you created a new Catalog?
Lightroom by default saves all the work including the edits you do in the Catalog file. Writing xmp data to the file is an option that allows Bridge / Adobe Camera Raw to utilize your Lightroom edits.

when you are working in Lightroom it is reading and writing to the Catalog File as long as you keep your Catalog file safe and create backups you work will be safe.

You stated " So I need those XMP files in case I have to go back to files to do further edits." You do not need to be concerned.

Lightroom will read from xmp files if they are present at import. Lightroom does not read automatically from xmp file, you have to use the menu to manually read from the file if the info has been altered by another application like Camera Raw / Bridge.

 

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,; Camera OM-D E-M1

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Community Beginner ,
Feb 04, 2022 Feb 04, 2022

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Thanks for the reply! The problem is I dont have the XMP files for recent jobs because its not saving it. I even tested some by opening them up in LR, but as I figured, the develop settings weren't applying because there was no XMP files. I know they read them automatically if they're there, but I can't create them for some reason so that 's whats bothering me.

 

thanks!

 

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LEGEND ,
Feb 04, 2022 Feb 04, 2022

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Assuming LrC v11

 

For a test

 

  1. Import a new photo
  2. Verify that no xmp file exists yet
  3. Accomplish a develop modoule edit
  4. See if the xmp has now been created

 

 

 

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Community Beginner ,
Feb 04, 2022 Feb 04, 2022

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Thanks GoldingD. That's the exact process I tried before I made this post. It didn't work though. Still no XMP files created.

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Community Expert ,
Feb 05, 2022 Feb 05, 2022

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It's best to try it again, following GoldingD's exact steps. Ensure you are dealing with a raw photo, not a TIF (which never has an xmp file).

 

When you check if the xmp has been created (step 4), do not navigate to the folder using Explorer. Instead, right click the photo and choose Show in Explorer. This ensures that you are examining the file that you adjusted in step 3, and will eliminate the possibility that you are checking a copy of the photo. 

 

"And it's way too cumbersome and laggy to try to never remove any files from LR. "

Don't remove the files - that's the least effort possible - and remember to back up the catalogue which, unlike xmp, contains all of the work that you have done on the photos.

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Community Beginner ,
Feb 20, 2022 Feb 20, 2022

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For each image I use 3 RAW files which get turned into a single TIFF file, I do numerious develop settings, then it exports. If you look at the screenshots from my original post you'll see that on one day I did that and got XMP files (as I did on all the days previous to that as well). Then the very next day, I did the same exact process with the same kind of files, and I no longer got XMP files... and I havent gotten XMP files since. I even tried changing the process to not make a TIFF file and just tried to mess with the raw files to see if an XMP file would get created, but nothing.

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Enthusiast ,
Feb 05, 2022 Feb 05, 2022

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The ORIGINALS folder for the project that day now showed NO XMP files. As far as I know I didn't change anything. And I already checked and the check mark boxes WERE checked that should be so that I would be getting XMP files.

 


By @Kevin M Lepp

 

Yup, I had the same issue. LrC changed. XMP's are now only written when a change occurs. This is even when you have write XMP set. 

 

What I did was to added 'Lens Correction' to DEVELOP SETTINGS in APPLY DURING IMPORT. Now I get XMP files written for all imports.

 

DS256_0-1644069467617.png

 

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Community Expert ,
Feb 05, 2022 Feb 05, 2022

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No change in behaviour here.

 

XMP has always been created in the first instance or - if already in existence - further updated ONLY when:

 

  • either some NEW change to the image's editing happens inside the Catalog (it is also necessary for "automatically write XMP" to have been ON at the moment the change happened, this does not work retrospectively)
  • or there is external writing of metadata on demand, e.g. with Ctrl+S key shortcut. In this case it does not matter when or whether the image has been edited, and it does not matter if "automatically write XMP" is on or off, LrC simply does what you manually tell it to do.

 

Importing is not, in itself, a change to the image's editing since any editing that may already exist alongside the image is read in the same.

 

Also later turning on the "automatically write XMP" option does nothing immediately. It only changes LrC's subsequent behaviour, whenever a new change happens to images' editing going forward.

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Enthusiast ,
Feb 05, 2022 Feb 05, 2022

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"Importing is not, in itself, a change to the image's editing since any editing that may already exist alongside the image is read in the same." Agreed, that's why I added the Lens Correction on import (see above) to force creating an XMP on Import. Works for me. I now have XMP's for all imported photos.

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Community Beginner ,
Feb 20, 2022 Feb 20, 2022

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None of these worked for me. I have LOTS of edits to the photo in the develop settings. And I alos have Lens corrections on. 

 

And the other reply that said it needs RAW files and doesnt work for TIFF files clearly didnt look at my original post, since i shared screenshots showing I started from RAW files, then merged them into a TIFF, and STILL got XMP files. Then the next day did the EXACT same process for my work and XMP files stopped being made.

Not sure what's going on.

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Enthusiast ,
Feb 20, 2022 Feb 20, 2022

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"None of these worked for me. I have LOTS of edits to the photo in the develop settings. And I alos have Lens corrections on." Sorry, getting confused on which photo is RAW and which is TIFF.

When you import your RAW pictures to Lrc, AND if you have XMP file creation selected, AND the XMP job is npt paused, AND you have lens correction optic correction set for Import, then you should get an XMP file.

Once it's a TIF file, all settings are saved directly to the TIF and XMP is not involved.

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LEGEND ,
Feb 20, 2022 Feb 20, 2022

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It's "possible" that a problem has developed with your preferences file. You might want to consider creating a new preferences file and setting all your preferences appropriately again and then see if that resolves your problem.

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New Here ,
Dec 26, 2022 Dec 26, 2022

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I had exactly the same problem; one day (maybe early in 2022?) Lightroom just stopped creating .xmp files on my system, despite my having that option enabled in Catalog Settings. I did two things, and I think it was the first that fixed it, but if that doesn't work for you, try the second (which I think will work whether or not Lightroom AUTOMATICALLY creates the .xmp files for you.

 

1. In the Catalog Settings, I disabled the "Automatically write changes into XMP" option, then clicked OK, then entered Catalog Settings again and re-enabled it. I did not have to restart Lightroom, but that would have been my next step.

2. In the Develop module, I selected all the photos in the Collection I was working on, then from the pop-up menu I selected Metadata > Save Metadata to Files. As stated above, I believe this would likely create the sidecar files whether you have the option enabled in the Catalog Settings.

 

After making these changes I spot-checked a number of projects I'd worked on this year, and there were XMP files for all of them. If you have this problem, I recommend trying the same as I did.

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Enthusiast ,
Dec 26, 2022 Dec 26, 2022

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"If you have this problem, I recommend trying the same as I did." That fixes missing XMP's but to ensure that XMP's are created on import, I apply lens correction to all photos. At one point, XMP's were not created if no editting was done on them.

 

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New Here ,
Dec 26, 2022 Dec 26, 2022

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Understood. I don't see much point in creating a sidecar file for a file that is completely unedited, I guess. But I'm glad we've each found fixes for our issues!

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