Writing Metadata to File - Warnings & Errors

On my images I used "Edit Capture Time..." and then hit Ctrl+S to write the new capture time to the files. LR5 then showed me the message
"One or more of these photos has been changed in an external application. Should Lightroom overwrite the settings on disk?"
What puzzles me is that it says "external application". I have not modified the pictures outside of LR at all. Is this just an incorrect message or is there something else I need to worry about? Note that I only want the capture date to be updated and all other metadata in the files should remain.
On another note, I did get a lot of I/O errors. It happens with all 4 different cameras. I doubt all 4 cameras have defective SD cards. Also the images show up just fine. The capture date indeed has not been updated, though. Why do I get those errors?

yeah, i just noticed that...!
when exiftool is working, does it write the metadata to the original raw file or the jpeg.
trying to find info on how to get round the "warning duplicate orientation tag in IFDO" error, has me scratching my head
i also have aperture 3 trial, wil this allow face keywords from iphoto to be added as metadata to the file?
cheers

Similar Messages

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::

Errors when writing metadata to files on Windows Server

Good day!
I have an iMac running OSX 10.9 (Maverick) and Lightroom 5.2.
My catalog is on the local iMac drive, and the images are on SMB shared drive (handled by Windows 2012 server).
I decided to do the final layout of my album using InDesign, and for that I needed to access to images using Bridge. So selected all the images (the rated once...) and issue a Metadata/Save command.
The system came back with errors on many of the files (such as Photos are read only, and unknown errors).
Retrying to save the metadata on image that was flagged with an error usually (but not always) worked.
I tried to select save the metadata for few (6) images in a time, many times it was ok, but sometimes, one or two of them failed (and retrying again usually solved the problem).
It looks to me like a timing related issue.
Any ideas?
(After spending about an hour on this, I have exported the images to my local drive...). In general I don't have similar problems with other apps.
Any ideas?
Yuval

I Yuval
I'm experiencing more or less the same behavior (see Read-only error when writing metadata to file over network (Synology DS1315+ using AFP) ). For me however, the problem is more pronounced if I use the AFP protocol and is better (I think as you described) if I use SMB (all done on a Synology DS1315+). With SMB it most often works but in very rare cases I also get the "read only" message!
Do you have solution to this? Or are you stuck as I am?
Cheers, Chris

Error when Writing Metadata to Files in Bridge (Mac) but not in Bridge (PC)

We get an error when writing metadata to files in Bridge (Mac) but not in Bridge (PC). In the same drive and folder, the PC can successfully write a keyword to a file on the PC, where the Mac returns an error. I have researched this at the Adobe Knowledgebase, but their answer seemed to indicate it was a global issue, and we don't see that behavior on the PC.
The client is a Mac of course, and the server volume is a Windows share volume. The Mac is bound to AD, and the domain\username and username formats have both been tried when logging in, but you receive the error in both.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Rich Oliver

Hi, I'm having the same problem using FreeNAS (which uses Samba and Netatalk in the backend), but I tried with both AFP and SMB on Mavericks and Yosemite, I still have the same issue. I think it might be a timing issue with how lightroom interact with a slower write delay using network shares. I suggest you also chime into this thread: Lightroom 5 can't write metadata to DNG files I really hope this is resolved as this is impacting my productivity as I moved my workflow to my Macbook with a shared NAS.

Error writing the project file. Error loading type library / dll

Hi all,
I am trying to create a new portal project in PDK.NET. But I am getting this error- "Error writing the project file. Error loading type library / dll". Can anyone tell me how to solve this error.
rgds

I get this same error. Was working fine until I installed the SAP .Net Connector 2.0. Now it does not work even after it was uninstalled. Please help.

Writing metadata to file iphoto 11

I came across a script (by Andrew Turner, linked to from here -http://stuffforlife.blogspot.com/2009/10/face-recognition-in-adobe-photoshop.htm l) that writes the iphoto metadata to the original file, allowing the metadata to be read by other apps.
However, i get an error
Here's the script.
-- This applescript will set the exif keywords, name, and comments of all selected iPhoto
--   images using the information current in iPhoto.
-- Author: Andrew Turner (http://highearthorbit.com)
property copyright : "©. All Rights Reserved."
property URL : ""
property exifToolOriginal : "_original"
-- True retains copyright, False means Public Domain
property Copyrighted : "True"
tell application "iPhoto"
activate
          try
                    copy (my selected_images()) to these_images
                    if these_images is false or (the count of these_images) is 0 then ¬
                              error "Please select a single image."
                    repeat with i from 1 to the count of these_images
                              set the keywordslist to ""
                              set this_photo to item i of these_images
                              tell this_photo
                                        set the image_file to the image path
                                        set the image_title to the title
                                        set the image_filename to the image filename
                                        set the image_comment to the comment
                                        set the assigned_keywords to the name of keywords
                              end tell
                              repeat with j from 1 to the count of assigned_keywords
                                        set the keywordslist to keywordslist & " -keywords+=" & item j of assigned_keywords
                              end repeat
                              set output to do shell script ¬
                                        "exiftool -title='" & image_title & ¬
                                        "' " & keywordslist & ¬
                                        " " & " -comment='" & image_comment & ¬
                                        "' " & " -Copyright='" & copyright & ¬
                                        "' " & " -CopyrightNotice='" & copyright & ¬
                                        "' " & " -Rights='" & copyright & ¬
                                        "' " & " -Marked='" & Copyrighted & ¬
                                        "' " & "'" & image_file & "'"
do shell script "rm '" & image_file & "'" & exifToolOriginal
                    end repeat
                    display dialog "Exif writing complete."
          on error error_message number error_number
                    if the error_number is not -128 then
display dialog error_message buttons {"Cancel"} default button 1
                    end if
          end try
end tell
on selected_images()
          tell application "iPhoto"
                    try
-- get selection
                              set these_items to the selection
-- check for single album selected
                              if the class of item 1 of these_items is album then error
-- return the list of selected photos
                              return these_items
                    on error
                              return false
                    end try
          end tell
end selected_images

yeah, i just noticed that...!
when exiftool is working, does it write the metadata to the original raw file or the jpeg.
trying to find info on how to get round the "warning duplicate orientation tag in IFDO" error, has me scratching my head
i also have aperture 3 trial, wil this allow face keywords from iphoto to be added as metadata to the file?
cheers

Photoshop Elements 10 Organizer not writing metadata to files

Trying to use Photoshop Elements 10 Organizer to update date taken and add tags to picture files. Organizer is supposed to write/update the original file properties with this updated/new metadata, however, it seems to be pretty haphazard. I've tried selecting pictures and using the menu option to "Write keyword tag and properties info to photo" (CRTL + W). It processes and states it is updating the files, however, after it completes, you can access the source file in Windows Explorer and view properties but none of the changes (date info or tags) has been updated in the file.
Adobe support has been not been helpful simply pointing me to a knowledge article on metadata which basically tells you to use the same commands I'm already performing. Posting here to see if anyone has other suggestions.

Hey,
There are various date/time fields shown in properties panel in Organizer. The dates mentioned in general section are read from OS whereas the dates in EXIF field are read from image's EXIF data. In EXIF data there are three date/time fields-
1. Date time- This date/time info shows date modified of EXIF properties. So when you are writing a tag into imags's IPTC, you are doing some change in EXIF data. Hence this date should change to date when you are writing a tag into IPTC.
2. Date time original - Represents date time when a image was shoot.
3. Date digitized - Represents the date when the image was digitized (in digital camers there is hardly some delay between an image is shoot and it is digitized. So this field is always same as date original).
So, in your scenario, Date time in EXIF should change whenever you are writing any tag into its IPTC.
Please let me know if you need more info on it.
~Andromeda

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.

Why do I get a NI-488 error massage when writing into a file and at the same time copiyng this file with a backup softwarre like Easy2Sync?

I have a small LabVIEW program which writes random numbers very fast into a ASCII-file. I want that file to be copied to a new position every 10 min. Therefor I use a backup/synchronisation software which is doing a copy operation every 10 min. It works fine a certian amount of time and after a while I get either an LabVIEW error (LabVIEW: Fiel already open: NI-488 Comand requieres GPIB Controller to be System controller) or an backup-software error (couldn´t open file...whatever). I´m guessing, it has something to do with file-access but I don´t know why?!? If I run the LabVIEW program and I copy and paste the random-number-file with the windows explorer very fast (pressing ctrl+v rapidly) while LabVIEW is still writing into this file, no error appears. Can sombody help me?
LabVIEW 2011

Hi Serdj,
you don't get a GPIB error, the error number has just 2 different explanations...
Well, you have two programs accessing the same file. One program just wants to make a copy, the other (LabView) is trying to write to the file. When copying a file that is written to you get inconsistent results! That's why one of both programs is complaining an error...
You can't have write and read access at the same time! (But you can have more than one read access at the same time...)
Best regards,
GerdW
CLAD, using 2009SP1 + LV2011SP1 + LV2014SP1 on WinXP+Win7+cRIO
Kudos are welcome

LR3 not writing metadata to xmp

Preferences set to automatically write changes to xmp file. LR3 has stopped writing changes to xmp.
When I choose a thumbnail and click the "!" in upper right corner + click "Retry Metadata Export", I get this message: "Could not write metadata. Your disk has less than 1 gigabyte of space left".
This is correct, as there is 200mb free space on the particular disk, but I would think this would be sufficient. So question is: how much free disk space do I need for LR3 to continue to automatically write metadata to xmp?

From the message you have received and the statement made in the requirements for running LR on the Lightroom home page
minimum1GB of available hard-disk space
it would seem likely that 1 GB is the minimum. However I would suggest rather a great amount of free hard disk space is required in order for LR to function efficiently. But the minimum is pretty clear.Once you go below this you will experience problems and not just with writing metadata to file, but writing changes to the catalog itself if that is located on a disk with less than the minimum requirements The metadata once written takes up very little space, but the process of writing it can require space on disk for temporary files etc. Just make sure you have lots of spare capacity on any drive you use with LR.

Problems adding metadata to file

Hello,
I've recently stopped automatically writing metadata to file, and now do it manually after I have edited a folder of
photos by command-s or clicking on the down arrows which indicate the metadata hasn't been written yet
But I have two problems:
1) When I select a few photos, either by shift-click or command-A, then do a command-s or click the
arrow to save metadata, it only saves it to the first photo (I thought I could save more than one photo at a time?)
2) After I save metadats to file, and the arrow goes away, and I exit the folder I've been working on,
if I go back to the folder the arrow(s) often come back, even though I've done nothing more (no more
editing/keywording etc). In fact the arrows are back as soon as I open the folders?
I then save metadats to file again, and same thing happens - it's driving me crazy. Any ideas
Many thanks, Roy

Thanks, that seems to have worked (fingers crossed). It seems to me that the file is writing metadata back to the
catalogue though, where it came from? This confuses me.
I have also seen something on an Adobe link (I forgot to mention I convert my files to DNG in Lightroom) that states:
'If you're working with a DNG file, choose metadate>update DNG previews & metadata to save metadata changes to the file and also generate a preview based on the current raw processing settings'
I've never seen this before, and maybe it's what I should do each time instead of command-s or metadata>read metadata from file? I've got a couple of LR5 books, including the one by Martin Evening, but pretty sure this isn't mentioned, or I've missed it. Can anyone clear this up as I'm worried I might be doing something wrong here?
Roy

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.

CS6 "There was an error writing metadata" message PC and Mac

I have seen this in the forums but looks like no one has an answer yet. Adobe chat support was totally not helpful.
I am getting an error message when trying to apply keywords to some images in Bridge. The error is very non-specific, all it says is "There was an error writing metadata to "filename.ext"". This happens when trying to apply keywords to a batch or single images. If not all images in the batch are error-prone, keywords are applied to those images and I get the error message for each image that had a problem.
My version is CS6 5.0.2.4 x32, but my co-worker downloaded a free trial today for her PC and is having the same problem. Another co-worker downloaded to his Mac and has the same issue. I am on a windows machine.
Sometimes one co-worker get the error message on an image, and I am able to tag thje image without error. Other times, none of us are able to tag the image. The images were not made by the same camera and come from different sources.
We are all administrators on our computer and have tried opening Bridge with "run as administrator". We still get the error.
The images are on our local machine, not a shared network drive. Some of the images did live on a shared network drive at one point, but not all. We can't seem to find a pattern between the files this is happening with.

That sounds like a problem with your machine, perhaps not enough Ram, a hard drive going south, a permissions issue, etc.
BOILERPLATE TEXT:
Note that because this is boilerplate text, not all points may apply to any given, specific poster.
If you give complete and detailed information about your setup and the issue at hand,
such as your platform (Mac or Win),
exact versions of your OS, of Photoshop (not just "CS6", but something like CS6v.13.0.6) and of Bridge,
your settings in Photoshop > Preference > Performance
the type of file you were working on,
machine specs, such as total installed RAM, scratch file HDs, total available HD space, video card specs, including total VRAM installed,
what troubleshooting steps you have taken so far,
what error message(s) you receive,
if having issues opening raw files also the exact camera make and model that generated them,
if you're having printing issues, indicate the exact make and model of your printer, paper size, image dimensions in pixels (so many pixels wide by so many pixels high). if going through a RIP, specify that too.
etc.,
someone may be able to help you (not necessarily this poster).
a screen shot of your settings or of the image could be very helpful too.
Please read this FAQ for advice on how to ask your questions correctly for quicker and better answers:
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/419981?tstart=0
Thanks!

Error Writing Metadata thumbnail icon, why is this?

When I take a layered TIFF file from my Lightroom 3 photo library and make creative changes to the file in Photoshop CS5, when I save the file, close it and return to Lightroom, the image thumbnail in the Library Grid mode displays a warning exclamation point. Hovering over the icon displays the tooltip Error Writing Metadata. Can anyone tell me why this is happening and how to remedy the situation the right way?
Clicking the warning (exclamation point) icon present two options: "Import Settings from Disc" or "Overwrite Settings"
Thanks in advance
Doug

I found a pattern, this happens when I open and edit the file with gedit. Even when I am very carefully just push the del button. Mabe gedit add some inviseble chars when it saves.

Writing Metadata to File - Warnings & Errors

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