Copy and paste metadata

Question

I'd like to be able to copy and paste metadata from one to many. I envisage it as a process similar to copying and pasting Adobe Camera Raw settings, with a Paste Special style dialog. Camera EXIF data would be excluded, but you'd be choose to paste just the keywords, or the keywords and the description etc.
While you can always save a metadata template, that's not ideal for routine work. And you have to edit a metadata template manually before risking applying it to other images.
John

Answer 1

You could modify the code to suit as an example I have added Description to Keywords
This just appends the description, if you want to replace uncomment the marked line..
#target bridge
DataCopy();
function DataCopy(){
var SP = new TabbedPalette( app.document, "Copy MetaData", "CMtab", "script", "left", "top");
SP.content.onResize = function(){
  var b = this.bounds;
  pnl.bounds = b;
  this.layout.resize(true);
  SP.content.layout.layout(true);
    Keywords=[];
    Description =[];
    Title=[];
    Headline='';
var pnl = SP.content.add("panel", undefined , "");
pnl.alignChildren = ["center", "fill"];
var mainBtnGp = pnl.add("group");
mainBtnGp.orientation = "column";
var titleGp = mainBtnGp.add("group");
titleGp.alignment ="column";
var title = titleGp.add("statictext", undefined, "Copy/Paste Metadata");
var g = title.graphics;
g.font = ScriptUI.newFont ("Arial", 14);
    var gp2 = mainBtnGp.add("group");
gp2.p1 = gp2.add('panel');
     gp2a = gp2.p1.add('group');
    gp2a.orientation = "column";
gp2a.alignment ="left";
    gp2a.cb1 = gp2a.add("checkbox",undefined,'Key Words');
    gp2a.cb2 = gp2a.add("checkbox",undefined,'Description');
    gp2a.cb3 = gp2a.add("checkbox",undefined,'Title');
    gp2a.cb4 =gp2a.add("checkbox",undefined,'Headline');
    gp2a.cb5 =gp2a.add("checkbox",undefined,'Desc to Key Words');
    gp2b = gp2.p1.add('group');
    gp2b.orientation = "column";
gp2b.alignment = "fill"
    gp2b.bu1 = gp2b.add('button',undefined,'Select Data');
     gp2b.bu2 = gp2b.add('button',undefined,'Reset');
     gp2b.bu2.onClick = function(){
     Keywords=[];
     Description=[];
     Title=[];
     Headline='';
     gp2a.cb1.value  = false;
     gp2a.cb2.value  = false;
     gp2a.cb3.value  = false;
     gp2a.cb4.value  = false;
     gp2a.cb5.value  = false;
    gp2b.bu1.onClick = function(){
        var dat = false;
        if(gp2a.cb1.value) dat = true;
        if(gp2a.cb2.value) dat = true;
        if(gp2a.cb3.value) dat = true;
        if(gp2a.cb4.value) dat = true;
        if(gp2a.cb5.value) dat = true;
        if(!dat) {
            alert("Please select at least one checkbox");
            return;
        loadXMPLib();
        var thumb = app.document.selections[0];
if(!app.document.selections.length) return;
    if(thumb.type != "file") return;
var selectedFile = thumb.spec;   
var myXmpFile = new XMPFile( selectedFile.fsName, XMPConst.UNKNOWN, XMPConst.OPEN_FOR_READ);
myXmp = myXmpFile.getXMP();
try{
if(gp2a.cb1.value){
Keywords = getArrayItems(XMPConst.NS_DC,'subject');
if(gp2a.cb2.value){
Description =  getArrayItems(XMPConst.NS_DC, "description");
if(gp2a.cb3.value){
Title = getArrayItems(XMPConst.NS_DC, "title");
if(gp2a.cb4.value){
Headline =  "\"" + myXmp.getProperty(XMPConst.NS_PHOTOSHOP, "Headline") + "\"";
Headline=Headline.replace(/\"/g,'');
if(gp2a.cb5.value){
Description =  getArrayItems(XMPConst.NS_DC, "description").toString().replace(/\r|\n/g,'');
unloadXMPLib();
}catch(e){alert(e +" Line: "+ e.line);}
gp2b.bu3 = gp2b.add('button',undefined,'Use Metadata');
gp2b.bu3.onClick = function(){
var sels = app.document.selections;
loadXMPLib();
for (var a in sels){
var thumb = new Thumbnail(sels[a]);
   if(thumb.hasMetadata){
      var selectedFile = thumb.spec;   
      var myXmpFile = new XMPFile( selectedFile.fsName, XMPConst.UNKNOWN, XMPConst.OPEN_FOR_UPDATE);
  var myXmp = myXmpFile.getXMP();
        try{
        if(gp2a.cb1.value){
        myXmp.deleteProperty(XMPConst.NS_DC,'subject');
        for(var s in Keywords){
        myXmp.appendArrayItem(XMPConst.NS_DC, "subject", Keywords[s], 0,XMPConst.PROP_IS_ARRAY);
    if(gp2a.cb2.value){
        myXmp.deleteProperty(XMPConst.NS_DC, "description");
        myXmp.setLocalizedText( XMPConst.NS_DC, "description", null, "x-default", Description );
    if(gp2a.cb3.value){
        myXmp.deleteProperty(XMPConst.NS_DC, "title");
        myXmp.appendArrayItem(XMPConst.NS_DC, "title", Title, 0, XMPConst.ALIAS_TO_ALT_TEXT);
        myXmp.setQualifier(XMPConst.NS_DC, "title[1]", "http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace", "lang", "x-default");
    if(gp2a.cb4.value){
        myXmp.deleteProperty(XMPConst.NS_PHOTOSHOP, "Headline");
        myXmp.setProperty(XMPConst.NS_PHOTOSHOP, "Headline", Headline);
    if(gp2a.cb5.value){
        //uncomment the line below to remove all keywords before adding the description
       // myXmp.deleteProperty(XMPConst.NS_DC,'subject');
        myXmp.appendArrayItem(XMPConst.NS_DC, "subject", Description, 0,XMPConst.PROP_IS_ARRAY);
    if (myXmpFile.canPutXMP(myXmp)) {
        myXmpFile.putXMP(myXmp);
         myXmpFile.closeFile(XMPConst.CLOSE_UPDATE_SAFELY);
    }catch(e){alert(e+" Line : "+e.line);}
    unloadXMPLib();
SP.content.layout.layout(true);
function getArrayItems(ns, prop){
var arrItem=[];
try{
var items = myXmp.countArrayItems(ns, prop);
   for(var i = 1;i <= items;i++){
     arrItem.push(myXmp.getArrayItem(ns, prop, i));
return arrItem;
}catch(e){alert(e +" Line: "+ e.line);}
function loadXMPLib(){
if (ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript == undefined) {
    ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript = new ExternalObject("lib:AdobeXMPScript");
function unloadXMPLib(){
   if( ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript ) {
      try{
         ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript.unload();
         ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript = undefined;
      }catch (e){ }