I've seldom used metadata templates. It has always appeared to me
that I could enter data and modify data from the INFORMATION tab in
the CAPTIONS option on the rights side panel. Based on recent
discussions, I've been surprised to learn that this is not so.
Apparently, DigiKam is following advice like this from Carl Siebert:
ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS use your template! DO NOT try to
type repetitive values. I don’t care how well you type. The
photographer who can type his or her name 100,000 times in a row
with perfect consistency hasn’t been born yet.
https://www.carlseibert.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/iptc_fields_for_photographers_download_V1.1.pdf
(BTW, this is a useful summary of important fields that DigiKam
includes and nowhere that I could find describes either clearly or
succinctly, assuming perhaps that it common knowledge what they all
mean.)
I have used a template to annotate photos taken in Greece, for
example. I was able to select a large group and apply the template
to all of them in a few clicks (open the list of templates, select
the one I wanted, populate the universe, then APPLY.) I would very
much have liked after this to modify subgroups with the specific
location, for example, some Athens, some Thessaloniki and so on. I
found that I had to go to the METADATA TEMPLATES list, find the one
for Greece and edit it. The press REPLACE. Then press OK (otherwise,
no save). Then apply that template within the INFORMATION tab.
Although effective, this seemed to me to carry the ALWAYS USE THE
TEMPLATE to extremes. Enabling on-the-fly editing within the
INFORMATION tab seems to be a useful feature to augment the use of
templates.
--
James M. Orr
2705 E Sussex Way
Fresno, CA 93726
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