[digiKam-users] Reread metadata from files: Can this extend to XMP sidecars?

[Will Rose]

Ah ok that was my problem. Thanks! I had:

- Read from sidecar files (Unchecked)
- Write to sidecar file (Checked)
---- Write to XMP sidecar for read-only item only
- Sidecar filenames are compatible with commercial programs (Checked)

The solution was to make the "Read from sidecar files" option checked on the system that was trying to read from the XMP sidecars into the database.

It was a little messier than I had hoped though, but not really DigiKam's fault. If you have your iPhone set to record "live photos", what gets saved is 1 image in HEIF format, and 1 video in MOV format. However, they use the same filename (i.e., IMG_1803.HEIF, IMG_1803.MOV). Unfortunately that means that if I add a tag to the HEIF file, which gets written to XMP sidecar, I have to make sure I don't add a tag to the matching MOV. If I do, it overwrites the XMP sidecar with the video's metadata.

Similarly, if I have a folder full of tagged HEIF files with XMP sidecars, if I want to update the database I can't simply select Album > Reread metadata from files. If I do that, DigiKam will try and use that XMP sidecar metadata for both the HEIF file and the MOV file with the matching name. I'm assuming that could cause problems trying to copy image metadata into a video file? Instead I have to filter by HEIF files first, then in the Caption panel select More > Read metadata from each file into the database.

________________________________
From: Digikam-users <digikam-users-bounces at kde.org> on behalf of Gilles Caulier <caulier.gilles at gmail.com>
Sent: February 1, 2022 2:02 AM
To: digiKam - Home Manage your photographs as a professional with the power of open source <digikam-users at kde.org>
Subject: Re: [digiKam-users] Reread metadata from files: Can this extend to XMP sidecars?

Hi,

In digiKam configuration setup dialog, what's your settings from Metadata/Sidecars/Write to Sidecars and especially the combo-box options for writing mode operations ?

Best

Giles Caulier

Le mar. 1 févr. 2022 à 04:10, Will Rose <will.rose at outlook.com<mailto:will.rose at outlook.com>> a écrit :
This is what I'm trying to do...

I have a dual boot environment, Ubuntu and Windows. Two separate SQLite DB's, but both point to the same folders and files.

I am trying to do all my DigiKam tagging in Ubuntu since the program runs much nicer. Then when I boot into Windows I'd like to select Album > Reread metadata from files, so that my Windows DB gets updated.

This works fine if the metadata gets written from Ubuntu into the files themselves, such as with JPG files. However, if I'm tagging HEIC and video files and it is creating XMP sidecars, DigiKam is not willing to treat those as "metadata from files" so there is no easy way to update my Windows DB.

Is this possible to do? Is there an option I'm missing? Thanks!
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