Tagging better than Windows File Explorer?

tinpanalley · Nov 1, 2024

I need a program for Windows that I can use to tag photos better than Windows File Explorer can. I'd like to also know I'm not using some proprietary format that will never be readable in the future so something that I guess just edits the basic metadata tags of each photo. These are 99.9% jpg with a few RAW formats. I don't need other editing features because I use other programs for that, but I do want seamless and smooth tagging.

Any recommendations? I'd prefer a free option but I'm curious what the paid ones are if they're really the only way.

Charlie Spencer · Nov 9, 2024

Well, I was perfectly happy tagging within Explorer until MS 'updated' it several weeks ago. Now I can no longer edit tags directly in the Details pane. Now whatever maintained a list of previously used tags no longer retrieves them after a few keystrokes. I'm not alone, I've read plenty of comments across multiple forums complaining about these functions going MIA.

I'm standing by in case you find something or someone else replies. So far I've found plenty of apps that import the photos and manage the metadata within the app, either using a sidecar file or some other method. I've found others that do manage the tags directly in the file but either complicated, loaded with features I don't need, or don't recognize the tag entries I've already created.

Carey Brown · Nov 9, 2024

Charlie Spencer said:
I've found others that do manage the tags directly in the file but either complicated, loaded with features I don't need, or don't recognize the tag entries I've already created.

The best tool I've found is Lightroom but it is a subscription (booo!) product. After that I might recommend you try Adobe Bridge which is still free. I used it eons ago and it worked well but LR was friendlier.

Another possibility is ExifTool with ExifToolGUI. I've used ExifTool a fair bit and it works well, I haven't really explored the GUI front end tool.

It's a shame that after all these years of key wording standards it seems to elude software developers.

Charlie Spencer · Nov 10, 2024

I'm playing with Adobe Bridge. I keep everything in MS OneDrive, and it's annoying waiting on Bridge to download. I haven't yet made any changes but I'm wondering if they'll be apply only to the local copy and be accessible only from within Bridge, or if the changes will somehow be pushed to the OneDrive original and be accessible from File Explorer and other apps.

I'm dealing exclusively with bird photos, and the only text I'm applying is the common name of the bird. In most cases each shot has only one bird. Some apps have had trouble with a tag with multiple words (Eastern Bluebird), interpreting each as a separate tag. There are some photos with multiple species requiring a tag / keyword for each. Windows File Explorer used a semicolon as the separator (Killdeer; Osprey). Some apps have interpreted all words as a single tag. Frustrating.

Sean Nelson · Nov 10, 2024

Charlie Spencer said:
I'm playing with Adobe Bridge. I keep everything in MS OneDrive, and it's annoying waiting on Bridge to download. I haven't yet made any changes but I'm wondering if they'll be apply only to the local copy and be accessible only from within Bridge, or if the changes will somehow be pushed to the OneDrive original and be accessible from File Explorer and other apps.

I enter my metadata using Bridge with local files. My understanding of how services like Google Drive and MS OneDrive work from a Windows desktop is that you have a local copy on your computer which is synchronized to the cloud. So if you make a change to the local copy, that change will be copied to the cloud. And if you have other cloud clients (like your phone, for example) they will see the updated copy.

When you change the file's metadata in Bridge, it changes the EXIF tags in the JPG file itself. There is no independent database as there seems to be for other management apps like Lightroom. So changes you make in Bridge become visible to other apps that look at the EXIF information, including Windows Explorer.

So in a cloud scenario I would assume that the changes that Bridge makes to the EXIF data in the local copy would be propagated to the cloud copy as well.

Caveats: I don't use cloud services for my image files and my copy of Bridge is quite old - it's from the CS6 version of Adobe Master Collection and it's version number is 5.0.2.4

tinpanalley · Nov 10, 2024

Very frustrating.
My tags are more geographic and related to specific people but I can't do more than a few rounds of higlighting several photos in a folder and tagging them all with a word before Explorer starts seizing up.

tinpanalley · Nov 10, 2024

Yeah, I have no desire for any kind of cloud service. I want a local software that accesses my photo folders and tags what I want. I have one for music files that is incredible. I've used it for years. Automates a lot of things for me.

Why does everything have to be so freaking cloud connected. I'm gonna dig around online for a version of Bridge you have.

Charlie Spencer · Nov 10, 2024

tinpanalley said:
Yeah, I have no desire for any kind of cloud service. I want a local software that accesses my photo folders and tags what I want. I have one for music files that is incredible. I've used it for years. Automates a lot of things for me.

Why does everything have to be so freaking cloud connected. I'm gonna dig around online for a version of Bridge you have.

For clarification, the current version of Bridge is installed on my machine. It's my files that are in the cloud, not the application.

Cloud storage is a cheap easy way to be sure you have offsite backups. It's great if you want to access your data from multiple devices or when you're off your home network.

LongTimeNikonUser · Nov 12, 2024

Carey Brown said:
Charlie Spencer said:

I've found others that do manage the tags directly in the file but either complicated, loaded with features I don't need, or don't recognize the tag entries I've already created.

Click to expand...

The best tool I've found is Lightroom but it is a subscription (booo!) product.

To clarify, Lightroom Classic, not the cloud-based Lightroom (no other words in the name.)

gm67 · Nov 13, 2024

I have recently found a program called TagSpaces, I have not tried it yet though. It's a file manager that focuses on tagging files. It might be worth looking at. The website shows a specific use case for DAM including photos.

Good luck with your quest.

tinpanalley · Nov 13, 2024

I tried Lightroom Classic and it still wanted to import my photos though and I just don't like the mess of all my photo filders now having some other directory or database sheet with information. I just want something that can access and treat files like File Explorer can. But.. obviously, better and without crashing or seizing up.

tinpanalley · Nov 13, 2024

Nice! I'll definitely have a look.

Charlie Spencer · Nov 13, 2024

Sean Nelson said:
I enter my metadata using Bridge with local files. My understanding of how services like Google Drive and MS OneDrive work from a Windows desktop is that you have a local copy on your computer which is synchronized to the cloud. So if you make a change to the local copy, that change will be copied to the cloud. And if you have other cloud clients (like your phone, for example) they will see the updated copy.

When you change the file's metadata in Bridge, it changes the EXIF tags in the JPG file itself. There is no independent database as there seems to be for other management apps like Lightroom. So changes you make in Bridge become visible to other apps that look at the EXIF information, including Windows Explorer.

So in a cloud scenario I would assume that the changes that Bridge makes to the EXIF data in the local copy would be propagated to the cloud copy as well.

Caveats: I don't use cloud services for my image files and my copy of Bridge is quite old - it's from the CS6 version of Adobe Master Collection and it's version number is 5.0.2.4

Sean, thanks.

Interesting thing about Bridge. Because it's an Adobe product, it writes some values to different fields than Microsoft does.

I'm specifically referring to the field in MS properties called 'Tags'. Based on the web page I can't relocate, MS writes values entered in 'Tags' in three fields: IFD0-XPKeywords, XMP-dc-Subject, and XMP-microsoft-LastKeywordXMP. Bridge use one of these and two other different fields. If there are existing values entered with File Manager, changing them with Bridge results in two sets of values across five fields. Two fields entered with File Manager retain their original values, the common field changes to the value entered with Bridge, and Bridge adds the new value to two field that File Manager doesn't use.

I'm not sure how much of a stumbling block this is. I don't use other Adobe products and don't plan to. I don't do any editing or processing beyond cropping the camera-generated .JPGs.

Sean Nelson · Nov 13, 2024

Charlie Spencer said:
Sean Nelson said:

I enter my metadata using Bridge with local files.

Click to expand...

Sean, thanks.

Interesting thing about Bridge. Because it's an Adobe product, it writes some values to different fields than Microsoft does.

Interesting, I was not aware of that. I never enter tags using Windows File Manager, so my only real concern is whether the tags that Bridge creates show up in the other products (including Windows File Manager) that I use. And they do, so I'm happy.

LongTimeNikonUser · Nov 15, 2024

gm67 said:
I have recently found a program called TagSpaces,

No support for CR2, NEF, or DNG. Complete fail, for me.

maltmoose · Nov 16, 2024

digiKam

Charlie Spencer · Nov 16, 2024

maltmoose said:
digiKam

I don't know about @tinpanalley but I'm looking at it. It appears to be far more than I need for simple tag editing. I also want to avoid apps that have to import files into a library, since what little else I do to my photos done outside the tagging app.

But I haven't eliminated it from consideration yet.

Charlie Spencer · Nov 17, 2024

gm67 said:
I have recently found a program called TagSpaces, I have not tried it yet though. It's a file manager that focuses on tagging files. It might be worth looking at. The website shows a specific use case for DAM including photos.

Good luck with your quest.

Thanks. I looked but I didn't like how it stores the tags in 'Sidecar' files instead of directly modifying the file properties fields.

I'll keep looking and testing!

XiaoDeer · Nov 17, 2024

After reading this thread, I stumbled on Metadata++:

Loading…

www.logipole.com

It appears to be a (very comprehensive) GUI for Exiftool.

It will take me a while to explore and evaluate the program but on first look it seems very, very interesting.

I will look forward to hearing what others think.

Carey Brown · Nov 17, 2024

XiaoDeer said:
After reading this thread, I stumbled on Metadata++:

https://www.logipole.com/download-en.htm

It appears to be a (very comprehensive) GUI for Exiftool.

It will take me a while to explore and evaluate the program but on first look it seems very, very interesting.

I will look forward to hearing what others think.

I had high hopes for MetaData++ because it is built on top of several free metatdata programs, one being EXIFTOOL, which I've used for years. I downloaded and installed MetaData++ and started playing with it. It was very buggy, most of the features wouldn't work. And I couldn't find a way to view or edit keywords anywhere which would be the main point of MetaData++. ExifTool supports keywords so I can't see why this program doesn't.

ExifToolGUI would be a better choice.

--
Photos at http://inasphere.com

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