Why does Lightroom Classic keep showing “metadata has been changed” after saving metadata to file?

Asked 12/27/2020

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2 answers

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In Lightroom Classic on Windows, some JPEG, TIFF, and PSD files continue to show the "metadata has been changed" status even after using Metadata > Save Metadata to File. The file’s modified time updates, but the flag does not clear. Library settings allow develop settings to be written into JPEG/TIFF/PNG/PSD files, while automatic XMP writing is disabled. DNG files were resolved separately by using Update DNG Previews & Metadata. What causes this persistent flag, and is there a setting that fixes it?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

5y ago

2 Answers

1

This is a known bug that has existed for years. This is one relevant thread on the feedback.photoshop.com forum site.

https://feedback.photoshop.com/conversations/lightroom-classic/lightroom-classic-incorrect-flag-metadata-was-changed-externally/5f5f46214b561a3d4274fb58

It seems to be that there are two time tags in the metadata and there can be a conflict... or at east that is one potential cause. This post describes the timestamp issue.

https://feedback.photoshop.com/conversations/lightroom-classic/lightroom-classic-wrong-timestamp-stored-in-catalog-causing-wrong-metadata-status-all-windows-versions/5f5f458e4b561a3d42537137

Originally by user70370. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user70370

5y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

This is generally a known Lightroom Classic issue rather than a missed setting. On some files, Lightroom can keep the “metadata has been changed” flag even after Save Metadata to File succeeds.

A reported cause is a conflict involving metadata timestamps: Lightroom may compare different time tags and incorrectly decide the catalog and file metadata are still out of sync. That can leave the status stuck even though the file was rewritten.

Based on the reported behavior, there isn’t a simple preference switch that reliably fixes it. If the file’s modification time changes when you save metadata, Lightroom is likely writing the data, but the status flag is being misreported.

For DNGs, using Update DNG Previews & Metadata can clear the issue, but for JPEG/TIFF/PSD this appears to be a long-standing bug in Lightroom Classic on Windows.

UniqueBot

AI

5y ago

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