Can anyone see why this isnt working. folder has cr2 files with xmp's
exiftool -iptc:keywords="THE" -srcfile %d%f.xmp -ext CR2 DIR
THE doesnt appear Bridge or in the xmp in a text editor?
Also is there a way to write xmp files with keywords without the CR2 being in the folder yet?
You want to use XMP:Subject. IPTC tags are IPTC Legacy and you can't write IPTC tags to an XMP file.
And you can always write to XMP files directly. Just state the file name or if you want to just write them in a directory, use -ext xmp.