Apple Photos.app can't access keyword metadata inserted by exiftool

[scott__rankin]

Not sure where to post this question, so I'll start with Newbies.

Can exiftool read, write, or edit keywords metadata in image files which are inside an Apple Photos for Mac photoslibrary so that the tags can be read, recognised, searched and later edited within the Apple Photos.app?

I have found that I can set the keywords metadata in the Apple photoslibrary with exiftool, but Apple Photos does not recognise them, even though I can confirm they have been set with exiftool.

I have also found that keyword tags set by exiftool in files that are outside the Apple photoslibrary ARE recognised by Apple Photos when the files are later imported into the photoslibrary, but this has limited utility.

Apple Photos has a very limited range of options for searching metadata.

This is a relatively simple task with a limited number of files to process, but my life expectancy may not be long enough to process the tens of thousands of files I need to deal with.

Of particular interest to me, is identifying the aspect ratio of images, as portrait, landscape, or square. Also identifying images with low resolution, or small dimensions. Once these tasks have been done, and appropriate metadata set very efficiently by exiftool, I have found no way of getting Apple Photos for Mac to access the metadata set by exiftool for filtering and further processing.

Is there any way to force Apple Photos for Mac to recognise and read metadata set by exiftool in image files which are already in the photoslibrary?

Please accept my apology if this has been asked and answered previously. I couldn't find it.

Cheers.

[wywh]

FWIW my workflow is to import images and movies via Mac's Image Capture.app. Then rename all files as YYY-MMDD-hhmm-ss.* via their metadata dates. Then edit metadata & file dates (if needed for proper sync), location, description, keywords, title, author with GraphicConverter 12 or sometimes with exiftool (movie metadata is a mess that needs special attention). Then edit raw images with Lightroom or movies with Final Cut Pro and copy metadata to the re-encoded files with GC or exiftool, if needed. Then archive them and selected raw files in plain folders on two external HDDs. Then I import to Photos.app library and sync to iPad for viewing.

So I edit all outside Photos.app and use it only as a viewer (currently macOS 13 Ventura) and a way to sync to an iPad.

Photos.app preserves the originals exactly as they are. There is no tool in Photos to modify the original files in any way.

Photos.app can use its built-in editor and 3rd party apps to edit pixel data.

There are some 3rd party apps like PowerPhotos and Photo Sweeper that can find duplicates or view metadata etc but I have not used them.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254163645?answerId=257818208022#257818208022

Photos.app can edit metadata date, location, title, description, keywords to its internal database and it can (with some issues...) save that info to the re-encoded exported files or with the originals in .xmp sidecars.

But AFAIK it is not possible to edit Photos.app library metadata with a 3rd party app like exiftool.

Photos library package can be opened, but it is best to only look and NOT touch or in any way modify the contents (...although I recently had to delete "PhotosLibrary/iPod Photo Cache folder" before I could properly sync all files to the iPad).

"If you change metadata directly inside the originals folder in Photos, Photos will ignore these changes and not update the versions. It may even cause Photos to lose the connection to the originals. You should not modify the originals inside the library package. To modify the metadata tags of originals the only safe way would be to export the originals from photos, change the metadata with an external editor, then delete the previous version from Photos and reimport the modified original."

"But - there is always a but - there are programs that can write metadata to the originals and inform Photos that the update has been made. HoudahGeo will do this for geotagging, and its new big brother Photos Workbench can do it for some other metadata [also to the iCloud Photo which holds the "truth" so the photo on the Mac is never considered a cached copy that can be deleted?]."

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254853029?answerId=259035691022#259035691022

Photos.app might have some "smart album" tricks that might help. But as I said, I use Photos only as a viewer so you'd better ask Photos forum for more details:

https://discussions.apple.com/community/applications-services/photos

- Matti

[scott__rankin]

wywh,
Fortunately, I have a backup of all the source files, still outside the Photos.app library, so I'm now considering adding all the utility keywords I want to the source files, and creating new Photos libraries for visual organisation and sorting.

I'm hoping to eliminate about half the files, including offloading those that came from an emergency backup of a dying hard drive.
Being able to organise by camera model has been crucial in getting rid of images from other peoples' libraries.

Instead of working command by command, I'm working on a zsh script that will do the processing before I import the files to Photos.app.

Thanks for the insight from your experience, which inspired some ideas.

I did write to Apple with a request for more metadata search options for the smart albums, but I won't hold my breath while I wait.