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0001 .. meta:: 0002 :description: digiKam Metadata Settings 0003 :keywords: digiKam, documentation, user manual, photo management, open source, free, learn, easy 0004 0005 .. metadata-placeholder 0006 0007 :authors: - digiKam Team 0008 0009 :license: see Credits and License page for details (https://docs.digikam.org/en/credits_license.html) 0010 0011 .. _metadata_settings: 0012 0013 Metadata Settings 0014 ================= 0015 0016 .. contents:: 0017 0018 Image files can have some metadata embedded into the image file format. These metadata can be stored in a number of standard formats as JPEG, TIFF, PNG, JPEG2000, PGF, and RAW files. Metadata can be read and written in the `Exif <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exif>`_, `IPTC <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPTC_Information_Interchange_Model>`_, and `XMP <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensible_Metadata_Platform>`_ formats if they are present in the file. 0019 0020 Storing in metadata allows one to preserve this information when moving or sending the files to different systems. 0021 0022 .. _metadata_behavior: 0023 0024 Behavior Settings 0025 ----------------- 0026 0027 The **Behavior** tab allows you to select what information digiKam will write to the metadata and control how digiKam will deal with this embedded information. 0028 0029 .. figure:: images/setup_metadata_behavior.webp 0030 :alt: 0031 :align: center 0032 0033 The digiKam Metadata General Behavior Settings Page 0034 0035 The options available in the **Write This Information to the Metadata** section are listed below: 0036 0037 - **Image tags** will store the tag paths and keywords used to mark the contents. Usually this information is stored in IPTC and XMP. 0038 - **Captions and titles** will store the internationalized strings used to describe the contents. Usually this information is stored in Exif, IPTC, and XMP. 0039 - **Rating** will store the rate of the contents. Usually this information is stored in Exif and XMP. 0040 - **Pick label** will store the quality of the contents. Usually this information is stored in XMP. 0041 - **Color label** will store the color flag used to classify your contents while your workflow. Usually this information is stored in XMP. 0042 - **Timestamps** will store the dates of the contents. Usually this information is stored in Exif, IPTC, and XMP. 0043 - **Metadata templates (Copyrights etc.)**: will store the set of internationalized strings used by the agencies workflow. Usually this information is stored in IPTC and XMP. 0044 - **Face Tags (including face areas)**: will store the face tag paths and the rectangles corresponding to the zones around faces. Usually this information is stored in XMP. 0045 - **Geolocation information (GPS)**: will store the world map position of the contents. Usually this information is stored in Exif and XMP. 0046 0047 The options available in the **Reading and Writing Metadata** section are listed below: 0048 0049 - **Delegate to ExifTool backend all operations to write metadata to files** allows to write metadata to files with the `ExifTool <https://exiftool.org/>`_ backend instead `Exiv2 <https://exiv2.org/>`_. This last one is primary used for all operations on metadata. Using ExifTool instead will slowdown a little bit the synchronization of files metadata with database. 0050 - **Write metadata to DNG files** allows to delegate to ExifTool all operations to write metadata into DNG files. 0051 - **If possible write metadata to RAW files** allows to delegate to ExifTool all operations to write metadata into RAW files. This feature is disabled by default. 0052 0053 .. note:: 0054 0055 See also the ExifTool backend configuration from the :ref:`ExifTool Settings <metadata_exiftool>` section of this manual, and the `ExifTool write limitations <https://exiftool.org/#limitations>`_. 0056 0057 On the bottom, a section group extra behavior settings: 0058 0059 - **Use Lazy Synchronization** allows to schedule metadata for synchronization instead to flush immediately. digiKam will only write metadata when user clicks on the **Apply Pending Changes To Metadata** icon in the status bar or when application is shutdown. 0060 - **Update file modification timestamp when files are modified** allows to update file timestamps when files are changed as when you update metadata or image data. Note: disabling this option can introduce some dysfunctions with external applications which use file timestamp properties to detect file modifications automatically. 0061 - **Rescan file when files are modified** allows to force digiKam to rescan files that has been modified outside the application. If a file has changed it is file size or if the last modified timestamp has changed, a rescan of that file will be performed when digiKam starts. 0062 0063 .. _metadata_sidecars: 0064 0065 Sidecars Settings 0066 ----------------- 0067 0068 The **Sidecars** tab allows user to control whether digiKam will read and write from/to XMP sidecars or not. You can also customize the granularity of write operations to XMP sidecar: 0069 0070 - **Write to XMP sidecar only** will not touch the item metadata. 0071 - **Write to item and XMP Sidecar** will touch both item and sidecar at the same time. 0072 - **Write to XMP sidecar for read-only item only** will handle sidecar for non-writable items only, as video or RAW files for example. 0073 0074 Filename for the sidecars set to :file:`filename.ext.xmp`. For example, :file:`image1.dng` will have a sidecar file named :file:`image1.dng.xmp`. With the option **Sidecar file names are compatible with commercial programs** digiKam will create the XMP sidecar files with a compatible file name (:file:`image1.xmp`) used by many commercial programs. 0075 0076 .. figure:: images/setup_metadata_sidecars.webp 0077 :alt: 0078 :align: center 0079 0080 The digiKam Metadata Sidecar Behavior Settings Page 0081 0082 .. note:: 0083 0084 If the box **Read from sidecar files** is checked, digiKam will only read the sidecar while ignoring the embedded metadata. 0085 0086 The option **Additional sidecar file extensions** allows to add extra filename extensions to be processed alongside regular items, independently of the XMP sidecars. These files will be hidden, but regarded as an extension of the main file. Just write :file:`thm pp3` to support :file:`filename.thm` (extra Jpeg thumbnail for RAW) and :file:`filename.pp3` (RAWTheraPee metadata) sidecars. 0087 0088 .. _metadata_rotation: 0089 0090 Rotation Settings 0091 ----------------- 0092 0093 .. figure:: images/setup_metadata_rotation.webp 0094 :alt: 0095 :align: center 0096 0097 The digiKam Metadata Rotation Behavior Settings Page 0098 0099 **Show images/thumbnails rotated according to orientation tag**: this will use any orientation information that your camera has included in the Exif information to automatically rotate your photographs so that they are the correct way up when displayed. It will not actually rotate the image file, only the display of the image on the screen. If you want to permanently rotate the image on file, you can click with the right mouse button on the thumbnail and select **Auto-rotate/flip according to Exif orientation**. The image will then be rotated on disk and the tag will be reset to "normal". If your camera routinely gets this orientation information wrong you might like to switch this feature off. 0100 0101 **Set orientation tag to normal after rotate/flip**: the auto-rotate option automatically corrects the orientation of images taken with digital cameras that have an orientation sensor. The camera adds an orientation tag to the image's Exif metadata. digiKam can read this tag to adjust the image accordingly. If you manually rotate an image, these metadata will be incorrect. This option will set the orientation tag to *Normal* after an adjustment, assuming that you rotated it to the correct orientation. Switch this off if you don't want digiKam to make changes to the orientation tag, when you rotate or flip the image. 0102 0103 .. _metadata_viewers: 0104 0105 Views Settings 0106 -------------- 0107 0108 These settings allows to customize the metadata contents displayed in Exif, Makernotes, IPTC, XMP, and ExifTool viewers from the right sidebar. For more details see :ref:`this section <metadata_view>` from the manual. 0109 0110 .. figure:: images/setup_metadata_views.webp 0111 :alt: 0112 :align: center 0113 0114 The digiKam Settings For The Metadata Viewers 0115 0116 .. _metadata_exiftool: 0117 0118 ExifTool Settings 0119 ----------------- 0120 0121 `ExifTool <https://exiftool.org/>`_ is a backend engine that digiKam can use to process operations on metadata, as view, read, and write. This panel only show the detection of the ExifTool binary program, and the supported formats with the respective read and write features. 0122 0123 .. figure:: images/setup_metadata_exiftool.webp 0124 :alt: 0125 :align: center 0126 0127 The digiKam Settings For The ExifTool Backend 0128 0129 .. note:: 0130 0131 To replace the Exiv2 backend by ExifTool with all read and write metadata operations, see the :ref:`Metadata Behavior <metadata_behavior>` section of this manual. 0132 0133 .. _metadata_baloo: 0134 0135 Baloo Settings 0136 -------------- 0137 0138 **Baloo** is the file indexing and file search framework for **KDE Plasma** under Linux, with a focus on providing a very small memory footprint along with an extremely fast searching. Baloo is not an application, but a daemon to index files. 0139 0140 .. figure:: images/setup_metadata_baloo.webp 0141 :alt: 0142 :align: center 0143 0144 The digiKam Settings For The Baloo Metadata Search Engine 0145 0146 This page allows to share metadata stored in digiKam database with the Baloo search engine. Extra applications as **KDE Dolphin** file manager can use the Baloo interface to provide file search results with items managed by the digiKam database. 0147 0148 .. note:: 0149 0150 This page is only available under Linux, not Windows and macOS. The KDE Plasma **Files Indexer** feature must be enabled in the KDE Plasma control Panel. 0151 0152 .. _metadata_advanced: 0153 0154 Advanced Settings 0155 ----------------- 0156 0157 The **Advanced** tab allows you to manage namespaces used by digiKam to store and retrieve tags, ratings and comments. This functionality is often used by advanced users to synchronize metadata between different software. Please leave the default settings if you are not sure what to do here. 0158 0159 The categories that you can manage with these advanced settings are: 0160 0161 - **Caption**: all languages-alternative comments (supported by XMP only), else the simple comments values (Exif and IPTC). 0162 - **Color Label**: the color labels properties to apply on items in your workflow. 0163 - **Rating**: the stars properties to apply on items in your workflow. 0164 - **Tags**: the nested keywords hierarchy to apply on items in your workflow (supported by XMP only), else the simple flat list of keywords (Exif and IPTC). 0165 - **Title**: all languages-alternative titles (supported by XMP only), else the simple title values (Exif and IPTC). 0166 0167 For each category you can set the read and write behavior in metadata. The default settings is to **Unify Read and Write** operations, but if you disable this option, you can customize **Read Options** and **Write Options** independently. 0168 0169 .. figure:: images/setup_metadata_advanced.webp 0170 :alt: 0171 :align: center 0172 0173 The digiKam Advanced Metadata Settings For the **Caption** Category 0174 0175 On this example, the top **Caption** entry in the list is **Xmp.dc.description**, and it will be read by digiKam first. If it contains a valid value it will be used, otherwise the next entry named **Xmp.exif.UserComment**, etc. The entries list priority is high on the top and low on the bottom. The entry in the list are used only if item is enabled with the checkbox preceding the name. 0176 0177 With the buttons on the right side, you can customize the list: 0178 0179 - **Add**: allows to add a new entry in the tags list. 0180 - **Edit**: allows to modify the current select entry in the list. 0181 - **Delete**: allows to remove the current select entry in the list. 0182 - **Move up**: allows to move the current select entry in the list to a higher priority. 0183 - **Move Down**: allows to move the current selected entry in the list to a lower priority. 0184 - **Revert Changes**: allows to revert last changes done on the list. 0185 - **Save Profile**: allows to save the current configuration to a **Profile** file. 0186 - **Load Profile**: allows to load a saved configuration from a **Profile** file. 0187 - **Revert To Default**: allows to reset the current list to the default values. 0188 0189 The **Profile** are simple ini-based text file used to store the advanced metadata settings to the disk. A profile can be loaded to overload the current configuration, depending of your workflow and the rules to apply for the best interoperability with other photo management programs. digiKam comes with a compatibility profile for **DarkTable**. 0190 0191 .. important:: 0192 0193 We recommend to always put XMP tags to the top priority on this list, as XMP has better features than IPC and Exif. 0194 0195 .. note:: 0196 0197 The **Tags** category provide an extra option named **Read All Metadata For Tags** to force operations on all the namespaces.