Error writing XMP metadata

I'm running version 1.4.1 under Vista Home Premium. I have imported several hundred jpegs from my HDD and some of these have a downward arrow at the top right of the thumbnail in Library view. On clicking this, a dialog tells me the metadata has changed in Lightroom and I need to save the changes to disk. On clicking "save"I get an error dialog stating "'Writing XMP metadata' did not complete successfully". I've also tried selecting a whole folder of jpegs, or a batch selected by Keyword, and updating them all at once using the "Metadata - Save metadata to files" menu option, but more often than not there are some photos in the batch that will not write the metadata successfully. I have been unable to detect any pattern to the images "chosen" for rejection. I think they are all pictures that were originally scanned from prints, but so were many others that update successfully. The metadata I am trying to update on them consists of Keywords and Capture dates.
Can anyone suggest how I might get these files to update?

I posted a similar query a little while ago, and judging from the response this was not widespread so I reasoned it was something peculiar to my catalogue.
After extensive testing of my set-up I could find nothing - indeed the XMP data APPEARED to be written fine to the XMP segment of the jpegs, etc. and to the XMP sidecar files for the RAW images - just Lightroom was sure it wasn't OK.
To cut a long story short, I found that I had a spurious and invisible control character in one of my metadata fields. I guess I inserted this character when I was fumbling round the keyboard trying to find the correct key combination for the '©' (copyright) character. Unfortunately I did this when setting my standard metadata template I use on all imports!
When Lightroom writes the XMP data it doesn't write this control character, however the character exists (invisibly to the Lightroom user) in the catalogue database. As a result the file-based and database versions will never match - with manual or automatic syncing - so you (nearly) always get the 'File Metadata needs updating' arrow icon.
To check this out you need to choose an image and remove metadata one field at a time - trying the save between each change. When it saves OK then you have found your culprit and can sort out the rest of the images.
Strictly speaking this is a bug. The interface should show all characters in the database and shouldn't store in the database anything that is invisible in the GUI...

Similar Messages

Resolving " Writing XMP Metadata did not complete successfully " Errors

On certain files, when I try to save the metadata, I get this error - Writing XMP Metadata did not complete successfully
Does anybody know why and how to resolve the issue?
Thank you.

Check if your files are write protected! For RAW files, the xmp sidecar file must not be write protected. For JPG and other non-RAW files, the image file itself must not be write protected.

"Writing XMP Metadata Did Not Complete Successfully" Issue

Hi all,
I've been using Lightroom for a bit now. I'm on V2.5 now. I just did a new system build and so reinstalled Win Vista 32. My photos and XMP files are on a seperate external drive and I saved my catalog file (plus did a backup). When I reinstall Lightroom and did the updates I then copied the old catalog 2 file to the right location. All my pics were there with edits no problem. I've done this several times now when I have had to reinstall the OS for various reasons. Never had an isuse
This time I went back to change some status data on a photo that I took before the reinstall. When I went to update the metadata I get a message that says "Writing XMP Metadata Did Not Complete Successfully". I looked in Bridge and the data did not update. This happens for all my RAW photos that were taken before the reinstall. I can make changes fine but cannot get the XMP to write.
Bridge will not make changes either. I tried changing the star rating and color label and it does nothing.
For files that I have imported after the reinstall it all works fine.
It is like the old XMPs are locked or the programs can't find them. I can see them in the file manager so they are all there.
Any ideas on the problem and how to fix it?

I don't think they are locked. I think Vista is just blocking Lightroom. I went back this morning and deleted a few of the xmp's as you suggested and Lightroom worked fine and wrote the files. Then I thought about the potential lock issue and tried opening Lightroom "As an administrator". When I did that everything worked fine. For some reason Vista won't let lightroom open the older files unless it sees it as the admin. All works fine now. Thanks!!
Glenn

Best practice in writing xmp metadata?

I know to switch off the 'automatically write to xmp metadata' feature. But, after doing this, what is the best way to ensure the xmp metadata does actually stay up to date?
My understanding is that by switching the automatic writing back on, LR goes through the whole catalogue, comparing the data in its database with the data in the xmp files, and every time it finds something different, it copies from the database to the xmp. However, there would seem to be two problems with this. i) it's extremely slow, because it's such a big job, and (b) presumably any changes made elsewhere, eg in ACR, will be overwritten.
The alternative seems to be to right click on the folder while in library mode and select "save metadata". However, for some unknown reason, this is unbelievably slow. What prompted me to write this message is that nearly an hour ago, I did this with a folder of 78 files, and it's still churning away. In that time, I've had time to log on to this forum, read a few messages, do a search to see if there is anything helpful, and then write and edit this. I don't dare try this with the folders I have with three hundred photos in!
The LR catalogue is in a partition with hardly anything else in it, on a different physical drive from LR itself. It gets defragged more frequently than the defrag utility thinks it needs to be. During metadata writing and many other operations, the CPU maxes out at 100% yet only about 75% of my 1GB memory is used.
Is there anything I can do?
I'm on an old-ish PC and am not in a position to upgrade (please - any messages just saying I need a newer computer are not going to be any help :-) ). Any other help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Mel. You just posted as I was writing the previous message!
I think you nailed it. The 78 pictures, I did by right-clicking on the folder name in the right-hand fly-out panel in library and selecting 'save metadata' (hope the choice of words here is clear!). I've just tried the ctrl-a, ctrl-s technique you describe, and it whizzed through a folder of 127 photos in no time.
So, you're right - there appears to be a bug.
One more problem - there was an error in saving to the tifs in the folder. A separate problem which I'll look at tomorrow.
Back to the other part of my original question. What is the most efficient way to keep the xmp data up-to-date? Considering that there's massive scope for human error in having to remember to save manually all the time, this can't, surely, be the best way to do it. What do people generally do, and has anyone evolved a 'best practice'?

Writing XMP Metadata did not complete successfully

The subject line is the message Lightroom 1.3 (trial version installed today) under Windows XP gave me after selecting 102 Photoshop .psd files and trying to 'Save Metadata to Files' with <Ctrl-S>. Fifty-two of the 102 files failed to update. The directory where these are stored (no files other than the .psd files) now has a bunch of files named 'filename.psd.swp', which are the ones that failed to update the metadata. All of the subject files, as well as the ones that updated successfully, are layered Photoshop files created in October 2004 with whatever version of Photoshop (CS?) was current at that time. I'm going back and adding IPTC core contact info, as well as locations and 'Date Created' when that was missing. If I open the problem files in Photoshop CS3, make an invisible change and resave them then Lightroom will successfully update the metadata. But that's a very tedious chore. The .psd files are anywhere from 15K to 250K in size. There's no pattern in the file sizes to the ones that failed to update. I've been doing this in Bridge CS3, but got tired of waiting for files to write. They're on a Buffalo Terrastation on my network. Lightroom seemed worth a try, editing the metadata in its internal database and then writing the updates to the original files in bulk while I sleep. But this doesn't appear to be reliable. I didn't fine anything in Help, the Knowledge Base, nor this Forum that provided any clues. Any ideas? Thanks, -- Mark Turner

I don't think they are locked. I think Vista is just blocking Lightroom. I went back this morning and deleted a few of the xmp's as you suggested and Lightroom worked fine and wrote the files. Then I thought about the potential lock issue and tried opening Lightroom "As an administrator". When I did that everything worked fine. For some reason Vista won't let lightroom open the older files unless it sees it as the admin. All works fine now. Thanks!!
Glenn

What's the reason for " 'Writing XMP Metadata' did not complete successfully

I rightclicked an image and selected "save metadata to file" and got this not-so-very-informative error message. What could be the cause? The file is there and it is not write protected.
Adobe - what about giving some more information when LR encounters errors?
Win XP, LR 1.3.1

While read only is the most likely cause, I have been trying to track down a similar problem which so far I can only equate to the creation time of the file ending in 00.
For example, I have a file taken at 6/13/2006 1:00:00 PM
If I do Metadata -> Edit Capture Time...
and set the time to be 6/13/2006 1:00:01 PM
Then click twice on the Resolve Conflicts button for Metadata, the second one works. Both times I tell it to overwrite the metadata on disk. My assumption is that the data processing logic has issues reading in entries like:
2006-06-13T13:00:00-08:00
I would even go so far as speculating it treats them as just the day and drops the hour / minute portion. The reason for this conjecture is that I stumbled on this issue when exporting images would occasionally have 2006/06/13 12:00AM as the timestamp and when I checked which ones had problems, they all were taken at 00 seconds into the minute.
Henrik, if you are still having this problem, does the file happen to have a 00 second creation timestamp? If so, try changing it by a second and I would be curious if you it starts working for you too.
Cheers,
John

Error writing to Metadata - Bridge CS5.51

I see the long thread, and yet no answers, and I have the same problem. It is a Bridge CS5.5 issue as everything works fine in Bridge CS5.

Yammer P,
Adobe has many issues to work on, and from what I gather Bridge is s low priority.
The first part of last year we had some Adobe visitors giving much welcomed input to questions. Lately I have seen nothing, but then it does seem like there are no complex issues except this one.
If it was a burning issue for me I would find an avenue to Adobe, outside of this forum, to keep them aware that the problem is still there, and it is important to address.
It appears it is not easily repoducible, but once the condition is found it may take an Adobe tech to seize control of that compter remotely and see how this issue looks.
Your suspect at this time is the database I believe, perhaps they have other tools to see what is happening there.

Can I automate the writing of XMP metadata into JPEG and TIFF files?

I have written an ASP.NET 3.5 website application on behalf of an annual international photographic competition. Entrants will be uploading digital photos in either JPEG or TIFF format. Ideally, I would write entrant identity and image title information into the XMP metadata for each image immediately after upload - but so far, I have failed to find any way to do this in ASP.NET.
Thousands of images are involved, so I need to find a way to automate the metadata insertion, perhaps with some sort of script that uses a text file (extracted from the SQL Server database on my website) as the source of the metadata for a batch of images. Is this the sort of task that can be done by writing a script for Bridge CS3? Are there any scripts already in existence that I could use? I am a total beginner in this area.
I use a Win XP PC, though I have a colleague who, I think, has CS3 on his Mac (running under the Leopard OS), so scripts for either platform might be usable.
David

You are the man X!
Ok here is another version with a check for the dll.
#target bridge
   if( BridgeTalk.appName == "bridge" ) {
addInfo = new MenuElement("command", "Update Entry Details", "at the end of Thumbnail");
addInfo .onSelect = function () {
     main();
function main(){
var csv = File.openDialog("Please select CSV file.","CSV File:*.csv");
if(csv != null){
loadXMPScript();
csv.open("r");
while(!csv.eof){
   strInputLine = csv.readln();
   if (strInputLine.length > 3) {
      strInputLine = strInputLine.replace(/\\/g,'/');
   inputArray = strInputLine.split(",");
   var csvFile = new File(inputArray[0]);
   var title = inputArray[1];
   var author = inputArray[2];
if(!csvFile.exists) {
alert(csvFile + " Does not exist"); //////////Check if file exists
return;
if(csvFile.exists){
var file = new Thumbnail(csvFile);
try{
var xmpFile = new XMPFile(file.path, XMPConst.UNKNOWN,XMPConst.OPEN_FOR_UPDATE);
}catch(e){
      alert("Problem opening xmp for update:-\r" + file.path +"\r" +e.message);
      return;
try{
var xmp = xmpFile.getXMP();
}catch(e){
      alert("Problem opening xmp data:-\r" + e.message);
      return;
xmp.deleteProperty(XMPConst.NS_DC, "creator");
xmp.deleteProperty(XMPConst.NS_DC, "title");
try{
xmp.appendArrayItem(XMPConst.NS_DC, "creator", author, 0,XMPConst.ARRAY_IS_ORDERED);
xmp.appendArrayItem(XMPConst.NS_DC, "title", title, 0,XMPConst.ARRAY_IS_ORDERED);
}catch(e){
      alert("Problem writing xmp data:-\r" + e.message);
      return;
if (xmpFile.canPutXMP(xmp)) {
xmpFile.putXMP(xmp);
}else{
alert("Can not write new metadata to " + csvFile.spec);
xmpFile.closeFile(XMPConst.CLOSE_UPDATE_SAFELY);
unloadXMPScript();
function loadXMPScript()
   var results = new XMPLibMsg("XMPScript Library already loaded", 0, false);
   if (!ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript)
      try
         ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript = new ExternalObject('lib:AdobeXMPScript');
         results.message = "XMPScript Library loaded";
      catch (e)
         alert("Could not load AdobeXMPScript \r" + e.message);
         results.message = "ERROR Loading AdobeXMPScript: " + e;
         results.line = e.line;
         results.error = true;
   return results;
function unloadXMPScript()
   var results = new XMPLibMsg("XMPScript Library not loaded", 0, false);
   if( ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript )
      try
         ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript.unload();
         ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript = undefined;
         results.message = "XMPScript Library successfully unloaded";
      catch (e)
         results.message = "ERROR unloading AdobeXMPScript: " + e;
         results.line = e.line;
         results.error = true;
   return results;
function XMPLibMsg (inMessage, inLine, inError)
   this.message = inMessage;
   this.line = inLine;
   this.error = inError;

Bridge error "there was an error writing metadata"

If I want to add keywords to my RAW files in PS adobe Bridge I get regularly (usually) a message as follows "there was an error writing metadata nr img 1326 CR2". How can this be resolved ? iMac
grts
ingridMG

How can this be resolved ?
It might have several reasons but my best first guess is that you want to much at the same time?
When adding keywords Bridge is not capable on multitasking. When the activity bar starts to spin (bottom left in bridge window) you best wait until the first bunch has finished.
My second guess is about XMP files, Bridge does not write metadata in the Raw file itself but to a separate XMP file with the same file name but different extension (.xmp). By default the XMP files are hidden in Bridge (you can see them in the Finder folder structure, the moment you make changes in ACR, add rating and or labeling as well as metadata and keywords the XMP files get's created) and using the menu view/ show hidden files/ they will show in the content window.
It might be you have a locked file or not the correct permission. So also use your Apple Disk Utility to check and repair permissions.

Error writing metadata when Importing Lr 2.7 catalog in Lr 3 final

Hi,
I imported (and sucessfully converted) my Lr 2.7 Catalog in Lr3 final but now, all my photos have this little icon that says " Error writing metadata "
Why?
Thx!

According to Martin Evening in his Lightroom 2 book p. 178, "If you see the icon shown in Figure 4.74 [the !], click to open the dialog box where you can either choose Import Setting from Disk if you think the external settings are right, or choose Overwrite Settings if you think the Lightroom catalog settings are the most up to date."
If you did not edit these images in another program like Camera Raw some unknown event caused Lightroom to indicate that the files were edited in another program. In this case you probably do not want to include this edit. It will probably work out if you choose Overwrite Settings which will keep the settings that you have in the LR database, disregard the changes from outside LR, and remove the !.
If you edited these images in another program and you want to keep those changes, choose Import Settings from Disk to bring the external settings into the LR database.
If you want to write the LR settings to the DNG files go to Metadata > Save Metadata to File or (Ctrl-S). I strongly recommend saving LR settings to the file. Others disagree. In the Catalog Settings under Metadata, check Automatically Write Changes to XMP, if you prefer this to be done automatically.
Whatever you do, be sure to backup your LR database, at least two or three times, and be sure that all of you images are backed up.
Follow the above procedures by doing a few files at a time, and check that you are getting what you want before doing them all.

XMP Metadata Error when creating PDF/A-1b

Hello,
I just started using Adobe Acrobat X for Mac to create PDF/A-1b documents from scanned TIFs. I created a script in the Action Wizard to 1) Combine Files into a Single PDF; 2)Downsample image resolution to 150 ppi (bitmaps to 300 ppi); 3) Recognize Text;4) Pause to find all suspects and make corrections to incorrect OCR; 5) Convertto PDF/A-1b (sRGB); and 6) Verify compliance with PDF/A-1b.
When I use the Action Wizard to to execute the script above I receive an error message stating "Metadata does not conform to XMP." However, when I execute each of the actions manually I do not receive the XMP metadata error. It takes a long time to execute each action manually, so I am hoping there is some way to make this full script work in the Action Wizard.
I have an open case with Adobe regarding this issue, but so far no solutions.

I do not receive an error when the "Verify compliance with PDF/A-1b" action is removed from the script. Does this action have to be performed separately to avoid the XMP metadata error?

Error writing metadata to file

I am getting constant error messages from Bridge CS4 when trying to add keywords to my images "Error Writing Metadata to file "XXXX". It's very annoying and destroying my workflow. I have tried resetting original preferences, and using purge cashe. Finally I reorganized my entire folder structure which seemed to make the problem less frequent.
The circumstance that makes this error pop up most frequently is when I add keywords to a handful of files that already have another keyword assigned. Quitting the folder and then re-entering it solves the problem for the photos with the current error, but then 20 or so photos later I get the error message again.
Any Fixes?

A new suspicion was that the read/write data might be different for the images files themselves than it was for the folder holding them. So I applied the read/write permission to the image files themselves. No luck though. Still getting "Error writing metadata to file xxxx" Errors. Would love to be spending all this time editing photos instead of chasing down bugs. Brand new MacBook Pro and I'm spending more time trying to fix errors than using the software. ::sigh::

Error writing metadata to any file except jpegs

Hi all,
A coworker and I have been assigned the job of keywording all the photos in our database. We aren't photographers and are only messing with the keyword metadata on the photos.
But we've been having a consistent problem with Bridge CS4. When I attempt to add keywords to any file format except jpeg, it gives me an error message "Error writing metadata to " and the filename. Then to make matters even worse, Bridge continues trying to add the metadata to the same images over and over again until I do a forced shutdown.
We're running Bridge on a network with exported cache. The only thing I have found as a possible solution is a permissions setting problem, but I can't find any way to check on that.
Any help you can offer would be great. Thanks!

I had this same problem. This was the solution for me in my CS4.
Go to Bridge
Go to Preferences
Go to Metadata
Make sure IPTC and Keywords are checked.
This will allow you to add keywords to your metadata in bridge.
Here it is not checked:
Here it is checked:

Bridge 4.1.0.54: Error writing Metadata to some [....].jpg

I am sorting my files (.JPG) with bridge. Some files just can't get rated (bridge fails without giving me an error), and if I try to set other metadata (like keywords), bridge tells me "There was an error writing metadata to ".....JPG".
I have full access to the folder, it is an internal disk, the files are not locked. It affects about 5% of all files - this is the second shooting (&folder) where I have this problem. I don't see any differences between the files I can change and the ones where I can't.
I can rename the file with bridge, but that does change nothing. I tried purging the cache, it changed nothing.
I just found out: I can change the tags with Windows Explorer, Bridge does show them, and afterwards I can change them with bridge too. Someone got an Idea how I can avoid this step?
[Win7Pro x64, i7]

Jingshu Li wrote:
I tested your issue but haven't reproduced yet. Could you please provide more info?
1. You mentioned usually you will select tens of images (in the smart collection or search result) and apply metadata, and then you get the error. I'm wondering can you apply metadata successfully if you only select one image and then apply metadata?
2. Before you apply metadata, do you wait for the images thumbnails genaration complete?
3. Can you apply metadata successfully if you selete the images at their real location (not in the smart collection or search result?)
4. Your OS info, mac or win, and version?
I just set up a quick test, and it failed immediately. I haven't even been using Bridge today...
The computer runs CS5 on Windows 7 Professional 64-bit. I used to run CS3/CS4 on a different computer loaded with Windows XP Professional. I'm always up-to-date with OS/driver/application updates. Both systems exhibited the same problem.
The raw image 3-tier folder hierarcy is on a separate internal drive: P:\Camera\2011\08-15 Location\, P:\Camera\2011\08-16 Location\, etc.
The Bridge cache is on a separate internal drive: T:\BridgeCS5\, Camera Raw's cache is in T:\CameraRaw\.
The images are mostly Nikon NEF (D300), and ACR saves settings to 'sidecar' files. Most of the images have settings, and many have crops.
I created a new Collection, and dragged the contents of 7 image folders into it - a total of 407 images. None of these files have had keywords applied, but most had been worked in Camera Raw already. After waiting for thumbnail/preview generation to finish, I selected the collection, created a new sub-keyword, selected all images in the collection, and ticked the new keyword (automatically ticking the parent keyword). Within a few seconds, I started getting the "Error writing metadata..." warnings, and had to OK 15 images.
The failed images were spread across 3 of the 7 selected directories. Trying the same thing 30 minutes later resulted in the same errors. Trying each failed image individually gave the same error (either as part of the collection, or from it's own folder).
I opened one of the problem images in Camera Raw, and adjusted Blacks, clicking Done to save the settings. I then tried to apply the keywords again. This time it worked.
To answer your questions directly:
1. I have never experienced this problem keywording files individually (apart from after the errors, as mentioned above), but then I wouldn't usually be selecting lots of images to keyword individual images.
2. Yes, I always wait for the spinning circles to disappear, sometimes even longer!
3. I just tried applying keywords to a single folder of 102 images, and 2 failed to update. So the answer is No, it fails at real locations too.
4. Windows 7 Professional 64-bit, running on Intel Core2 Duo and 4GB RAM. Same thing happened before on a Windows XP Professional PC, running on an Intel Pentium 4 and 2GB RAM and a single hard drive.
I hope that helps.

Error writing metadata to photo files

I am using CS6 and have moved to a new computer with a clean install of CS6 under Windows 8.1. In the past I had no problem using Bridge to append my personal metadata file to photos (RAW files, NEF). With the new installation I am getting the repeated message " Error writing data to...." even after trying all the " fixes" suggested by the help files.
Can anyone help me to resolve this issue?
Thanks.

I found an answer, somewhat different. I did more search and found that you need to be administrator and for Adobe to see you as administrator, for many functions to work, such as writing metadata to files or putting stars on photos to rank them. I could do neither.
THEN, I tried opening Bridge by right clicking on the icon, and opening the file as administrator (a choice). Everything worked. So, why was Adobe not seeing me as administrator. My user account was the only account on the computer and has administrator privileges.
I started doing searches on that, and stumbled, yes stumbled, on what I think is a solution to that situation.
I set up my account so that I needed a password to log in. Once I did that, Bridge worked fine. But, I still did not want that additional startup step. You can then back to change password and leave the password entries blank. Then, the computer starts up with blank passwords, zips past the welcome screen directly to the desktop, and Windows now sees me as the administrator, and so does Adobe.
Keep you fingers crossed folks, this seems to be working.

Error writing XMP metadata

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