IrfanView not deleting sidecar files?

[expeditionist]

When I use IrfanView to browse and delete unwanted images to the recycle bin, it only deletes the image file (.NEF)?

It leaves the orphaned and now useless corresponding sidecar file (.xmp) behind as litter on my hard disk?

Am I doing something wrong?

Any ideas?

Many thanks

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Am I doing something wrong?

Not really, other than using the wrong application to work with sidecar files. IrfanView doesn't produce them, so why should it delete them?

[expeditionist]

You're quite right, I can't really dispute the logic of your answer!

I take 2 shots of every composition - it's a laborious process, but I’m a bit cack-handed because I often find that 1 shot will be ever so slightly sharper or better exposed than the other.

So when I upload the photos to my PC, I need to compare each pair side by side and choose the best one to keep.

Unfortunately I've copied 10,500 photos to my PC after several months shooting and I used Lightroom to apply keywords to the photos at the time of copying them to my PC which is why I have .xmp sidecar files for every .NEF image file.

I could use Lightroom for this initial preview job, but in my opinion IrfanView does this faster and better.

In Lightroom, I found that I really need to render 1:1 previews rather than standard previews if I'm to accurately gauge the sharpness of each shot and that takes an eternity, and there's a slight pause on my PC when flicking backwards and forwards between images in Lightroom. And the compare photos method in Lightroom is just too lengthly for this particular bulk job.

In IrfanView I can delete with one keypress and the previews look sharp straight away and I can flick backwards and forwards very quickly. So it's testament to the quality of IrfanView that I prefer to use it to preview my images initially and delete the ones I don't want.

I guess I shouldn’t have applied keywording when I copied the 10,500 photos to my PC – I should have applied it after this initial sort, making the .xmp files afterwards.

I’d just like to conclude by saying that there is no reason why IrfanView should be expected to delete the corresponding sidecar files (whatever the Raw format) when it deletes the image file (as you say), but it sure would be nice to have this option.

Thanks

[Mij]

You can delete files of any type in Thumbnails. One dodge to get thumbnails to show both readable and non-readable files is to open Search (Ctrl+F), browse to the folder you want to open and find *.* When it has listed all the files click on Open all in thumbnails. The readable files are shown with normal thumbnails, non-readable ones with the crossed circle icon but with name below.
Double click a thumbnail to see it in the viewer. Flip back to thumbnails using Tab key and delete anything there.
Not so convenient perhaps but a possible workaround in some situations.