Share PSE Photos, With Notes, to Relatives That Do Not Have PSE Software

[Bob Ward]

I have nearly 10,000 family pictures in my PSE Organizer catalog.  The Organizer Notes box for every photo includes text giving the "Who, What, When, & Where" about that photo.

I do not want this documented photographic treasure to be lost after I am gone.  So, I am trying to figure out a way to preserve all this information so that it can be passed on to relatives who would not own PSE software.

It looks like the text in the Organizer Notes box is written to the metadata for each image.  So, one alternative would be to open the images with some kind of metadata file reader that could list all the metadata linked to an image for all file formats.

I have experimented with the free app called "Metadata++".  That seems to allow the Notes box text to be seen for jpg files but not for psd files.  I will keep looking for other free apps that might also accomodate visible metadata for psd files as well.

Surely, this is an issue that many PSE users face.  Does anyone have any good suggestions on how to share PSE Organizer files, with the Notes, with people that do not have Adobe PSE?

[Bob Ward]

Update:  I just tried opening psd files again with Metadata++.  So far, all the psd files that I have opened are now displaying a box with the Organizer Notes box text.  So, that free app does appear to be one solution, but relatives would have to download the app and learn how to use it.  There must be an easier way than forcing everyone to buy PSE.

[Monte307]

How are you anticipating your family will access your photos? If your family is geographically dispersed then probably storing your photos somewhere online would probably work best for them. That way your relatives would not have to download and learn a new app.  I tested with Google Photos, Apple Photos, and Flickr, and unfortunately none of them show the Notes field.  If you decide to go with one of those sites, one possibility would be to copy the meta from your Notes field to one that is shown by one of the hosts.  For example, the Flickr online hosting site does show the Description metafield, which is the Caption field in Organizer when you Save Metadata to File.  So, if you're ambitious, you could use exiftool (or maybe Metadata++ which is wrapper to exiftool), to automate copying the Notes metafield values to the Description metafield for all 10,000 images.  The command-line exiftool can update all the files in a directory with one command.  It would take some time and effort on your part, but once you're done and upload them to an online site your Notes text will be instantly viewable to your family.

[Bob Ward]

I will be giving everyone a digital copy of my PSE Catalog backup file, as well as the file folder that contains all the photos (jpeg, psd files, etc.) that are displayed in the PSE Organizer.  They will also get an information document that will explain how to restore the backup catalog to a purchased version of PSE.  That document will also explain how they can open each photo and read the Notes text with an app such as Metadata++.

So, they will have 2 options, either buy PSE and Restore my catalog, or, use an app to read all the metadata that is attached to each photo.  That seems to be the only options available.

[John Waller]

So, they will have 2 options, either buy PSE and Restore my catalog, or, use an app to read all the metadata that is attached to each photo.  That seems to be the only options available.

If your relatives are anything like mine (totally non-technical), I don't see either of those options happening so all your meticulous hard work is at risk of never being enjoyed by your family.

Giving them a URL to view well organised and captioned photos via an online hosting service would be far more engaging and accessible.