IPTC adding text on all files in a folder

[Haajee]

Regards;
Any user who can give some help in this regard. I have tried but no result or any tutorial link please

[Jacal]

You have chosen "Edit each file in the dialogue", so you are expected to tag files one by one - buttons Previous and Next appear at the bottom of other tabs. If you choose "Edit the first file only, apply text to all files", tags will be written to all files according to additional options below.

If your files already contain IPTC data, written by another program, I would be very careful. IrfanView deletes some existing tags, that it doesn't support, without warning.

IV's metadata support is actually quite limited and outdated, I prefer using other tools for this kind of tasks.

Have a nice day!

[Haajee]

Regards:L

Will you please give me links for tools you recommend

[Jacal]

It depends on what kind of program you would prefer.

Command-line:

Using ExifTool by Phil Harvey you can do more or less anything metadata related, "reading, writing and editing meta information in a wide variety of files". It demands some learning though.

Related Utilities:

Most of the time I am happy with ExifToolGUI, "GUI for viewing meta information with some editing features". It has adjustable "workspaces", where you can put exactly the sets of tags you are using (but limited to exif, iptc and xmp). Not actively supported, but patched, when necessary.

GeoSetter - the name reveals it's main function, but it has a decent set of overall tagging abilities. Last beta version is from 2014. If set so, it can automatically check for latest ExifTool version.

"Digital Asset Management":

If you need a dedicated program of that kind, Daminion is not expensive, and the only limitation of the free version is 15.000 items per catalogue. It offers quite comfortable tagging and advanced searching. I am using beta versions that are, of course, more buggy, but have - so far - never done any damage to my metadata and files.

Other free image viewers:

Zoner Photo Studio is a very versatile all-in-one tool, much bigger than IrfanView and not as fast. You get some useful metadata related options, custom tags etc.

XnViewMP has a nice, improved set of tagging abilities. It is a beta program, I don't know how stable and reliable it is.

Linux:

DigiKam is an impressive "suite" with very customizable metadata management. The Windows version is definitely less stable (the reasons are known, but can't be fixed easily), I install every new version and crash it in five minutes without problems.

Have a nice day!

Mart

[Haajee]

Thanks for information on tagging apps.

[rkghadai]

How to clear a IPTC field in batch editing?

You have chosen "Edit each file in the dialogue", so you are expected to tag files one by one - buttons Previous and Next appear at the bottom of other tabs. If you choose "Edit the first file only, apply text to all files", tags will be written to all files according to additional options below.

If your files already contain IPTC data, written by another program, I would be very careful. IrfanView deletes some existing tags, that it doesn't support, without warning.

IV's metadata support is actually quite limited and outdated, I prefer using other tools for this kind of tasks.

Have a nice day!

I observe that there is simply NO WAY in irfanview to clear a IPTC field (i.e. replace a nonEmpty field with empty) in batch editing of files. Can anyone help if it's possible?

Let me write the outcomes from the various text options irfanview gives.
option1: Replace old text with new (in all fields)
option2: Replace only empty old fields
option3: Leave old field unchanged if new field is empty (i.e. replace only with nonEmpty new fields)

[oldText].....[newText]==>[Option1_outcome].....[Option2_outcome].....[Option3_outcome]
empty...........empty ==> retain...........retain...........retain
empty...........new ==> new...........new...........new
old...........empty==> empty...........retain...........retain
old...........new==> new...........retain...........new

Note to self: option2 and option3 are almost same; differ only when both old and new text are nonEmpty; in which case option2 retains oldText and option3 writes newText.


Now, in batch IPTC editing of some files (ctrl+I), we put newText in desired field (say, field1), leave other fields empty.
Option1 will write newText in field1 of all files, as well as clear blank the other fields in all files.
Option2 will write newText in field1 of those files which hv field1 empty, retain oldText in files which hv field1 nonEmpty, retain all other fields in all files.
Option3 will write newText in field1 of all files (irres of empty or nonEmpty field1), retain all other fields in all files.

Clearly option3 will work, if i want to write newText to some field while retaining all other fields, in some files.

What to do if i want to clear (write empty) some nonEmpty field while retaining all other fields?

With newText = empty,
Option2 will retain oldText.
Option3 will retain oldText.
Option1 can replace oldText with empty, but it will also affect all other fields.

I see, there simply isn't an option to clear blank a nonEmpty field. Am i missing anything? Or is it a known shortcoming of irfanview?

[bevhoward]

I am going through this learning process as well... and, I'm finding that it ain't easy ;-)

The main IrfanView suggestion that I would make would be to update the help file with specifics about implementing iptc and other batch options that are possible using thumbnails and _not_ under the "Start Batch..." thumbnail menu selection.

I looked for IPTC batch options in the software and in the help file, but, finding nothing, I came to the conclusion that there were no options. I stumbled upon the possibility when noticed the word "batch" below irfanview's iptc box, and below that, a sample list of placeholders.

As far as I can tell, the above discovery is not in irfanview help, and it took me about half an hour to determine that these batch options were not in the main irfanview batch options but rather when using thumbnails.

Further, the "options-tab" reference in the iptc box also lead me on several fruitless hunts before I found that it was referring to the options tab in the IPTC dialog box.

IPTC (and jpeg comments) batch options there, but very well hidden... As mentioned, these batch options are located in the "thumbnails" but _not_ under the thumbnails' "Start Batch Dialog..." selection in the thumbnail menu options.

In case it might help others, here's how;

Open Thumbnails in IrfanView <File/Thumbnails>
Select multiple files
Then in the _Thumbnails_ menu bar;

File/JPGLossless.../SetIPTC...
and
File/JPGLossless.../SetComment

Placeholders are listed in both dialog boxes

As mentioned, the Replace/Append options are available in the IPTC options tab, but are very confusing. Mainly, to execute IPTC batch options, set "Edit First File..."

Hope that this information is valuable to someone,
Beverly Howard

[bevhoward]

Using ExifTool by Phil Harvey you can do more or less anything metadata related, "reading, writing and editing meta information in a wide variety of files".

It demands some learning though.

Understatement of the year ;-) Documentation and other references were hard to find and collect. After working with the command line version for half a day, I gave up.

Tip, you can generate a text help file by issuing the following from the command line where exiftool is located;

exiftool > exifref.txt

Most of the time I am happy with ExifToolGUI

Thanks... wish I had found that before spending half a day with the command line version ;-)

GeoSetter - the name reveals it's main function, but it has a decent set of overall tagging abilities.

In general, GeoSetter works pretty well and has access to most exif and iptc fields... tip, look at the "custom" tab when editing data. Note that this tab can be customized by clicking the "Edit" button at the bottom of that tab.

Unfortunately, GeoSetter DOES NOT support placeholders for mass replacements. It also appears to have the same problems with replacing populated fields with blanks and it's not obvious if it's possible to select append/replace.

It might be possible to replace existing fields using a single character such as a "-"

FWIW, I'm finding that the best approach for working with mass files is to use IrfanView first to populate all fields where you need to populate them with placeholders such as each image's filename.

Then, I switched to GeoSetter to mass populate the remainder of the fields.

GeoSetter uses templates. In my case, I created a "general" template containing most of the data including a geo location which the film images didn't contain. I then created geolocation templates containing general coordinates and location names for specific locations... it was then possible to populate an entire folder, then select subsets of images and apply the geo specific templates to each selection group.

Still learning... hope this helps,
Beverly Howard