[digiKam-users] Windows File Properties (such as tags) do not show in digiKam 7.2

[mytea4-kde]

Hello – I am new to digiKam in the past year and have been searching the documentation and websites for this issue with no luck.  Hopefully someone with more experience can point me in the right direction. 

 

Over the past 20yrs, I have primarily used Windows File Explorer to tag photos.   In the past I’ve also used, on occasion, Shutterfly local tools and Windows Photo Gallery, both of which have become defunct.   When I view pictures in File Explorer or Windows Photo Gallery, I see my tags in the Details pane.   I can use the File Explorer search function to find all pictures with those tags.   

 

Yesterday I discovered that for SOME pictures (on various cameras) the tag/keyword had been written into exif field XPKeywords.  For a small set of pictures, the tag is written into the IPTC Keywords field; I believe these are pictures I tagged with digiKam or with ExifDateChanger Pro.   But for the VAST MAJORITY of my pictures, the tag is just in the Windows File Properties Tag/Keyword, not in exif or iptc.  I also used IrfanView to view the exif & iptc information to try and verify what was present in the file metadata.  

 

digiKam does not seem to read the Windows File Properties fields so I can’t search for pictures by my tags.

My pictures are taken on 10+ cameras and have various Exif versions over the years, but the problem exists across all of these.   I have pictures from 2020 with that XPKeywords field (with my tag in it) in the exif data, and other pictures from 2020 without it (that I had never tagged), so this isn’t just related to older or newer pictures.   The issue spans all  years, all cameras.

 

I tried going to digiKam Tag Manager Tool > Read Tags from Image – but no luck.

 

Is this a bug in digiKam?   Or is there some other tool I need to use in Windows to force it to write my tags into the exif (or iptc) keywords?

 

To be clear, on the vast majority of my photos, the exif data does not even include the XPKeywords field; when a tag had somehow been applied to the exif data, it seems to have inserted that XPKeywords field.    

 

I really want to migrate all my photo organization work into digiKam, but can’t do that until I learn how to get my tags to show up.

Appreciate any and all advice or direction.

 

Jaimi

[Gilles Caulier-4]

Hi,

The Windows file properties depends of proprietary Windows database that we don't access or extended properties located in file system

This is why you don't see this information in digiKam.

Best

Gilles Caulier

Le jeu. 17 juin 2021 à 15:38, <[hidden email]> a écrit :

Hello – I am new to digiKam in the past year and have been searching the documentation and websites for this issue with no luck.  Hopefully someone with more experience can point me in the right direction. 

 

Over the past 20yrs, I have primarily used Windows File Explorer to tag photos.   In the past I’ve also used, on occasion, Shutterfly local tools and Windows Photo Gallery, both of which have become defunct.   When I view pictures in File Explorer or Windows Photo Gallery, I see my tags in the Details pane.   I can use the File Explorer search function to find all pictures with those tags.   

 

Yesterday I discovered that for SOME pictures (on various cameras) the tag/keyword had been written into exif field XPKeywords.  For a small set of pictures, the tag is written into the IPTC Keywords field; I believe these are pictures I tagged with digiKam or with ExifDateChanger Pro.   But for the VAST MAJORITY of my pictures, the tag is just in the Windows File Properties Tag/Keyword, not in exif or iptc.  I also used IrfanView to view the exif & iptc information to try and verify what was present in the file metadata.  

 

digiKam does not seem to read the Windows File Properties fields so I can’t search for pictures by my tags.

My pictures are taken on 10+ cameras and have various Exif versions over the years, but the problem exists across all of these.   I have pictures from 2020 with that XPKeywords field (with my tag in it) in the exif data, and other pictures from 2020 without it (that I had never tagged), so this isn’t just related to older or newer pictures.   The issue spans all  years, all cameras.

 

I tried going to digiKam Tag Manager Tool > Read Tags from Image – but no luck.

 

Is this a bug in digiKam?   Or is there some other tool I need to use in Windows to force it to write my tags into the exif (or iptc) keywords?

 

To be clear, on the vast majority of my photos, the exif data does not even include the XPKeywords field; when a tag had somehow been applied to the exif data, it seems to have inserted that XPKeywords field.    

 

I really want to migrate all my photo organization work into digiKam, but can’t do that until I learn how to get my tags to show up.

Appreciate any and all advice or direction.

 

Jaimi