Correct use of Get-ChildItem in Windows PowerShell for files bulk processing

[Danika Li]

Hello! I'm trying to use PowerShell to bulk process PDF documents using ExifTool, and I'm not very good at it. More precisely, it doesn't work at all.

Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Include *.pdf -Name | <path to app>\exiftool.exe -s

(Current folder - folder with documents.) Shouldn't this command list PDFs in the specified folder in relative path format, and pass it to ExifTool to display all the metadata? If the specified (and similar) action cannot be performed without knowledge of scripts, then maybe it is possible to do it in the old Windows console (cmd.com - with MS-DOS commands)?

exiftool 12.2.8.0
Microsoft Windows 10.0.19043.1083
Windows Terminal Preview 1.9.1523.0

[Phil Harvey]

You can use exiftool to find the PDF's:

exiftool -ext pdf -r DIR

- Phil

[Danika Li]

exiftool -ext pdf -r DIR

<folder containing document folders>>exiftool.exe -ext pdf -r DIR -charset filename="" -Author<="<path>\Автор.txt" -overwrite_original
Error: File not found - DIR. You were meant to enter any valid directory name, not "DIR" literally.

exiftool.exe -ext pdf -r DIR "<path>" -charset filename="" -Author<="<path>\Автор.txt" -overwrite_original
Error: File not found - DIR
You were meant to enter any valid directory name, not "DIR" literally.
Warning: [minor] Ignored empty rdf:Seq list for dc:creator - <path>/FileName.pdf
Warning: [minor] Ignored empty rdf:Seq list for dc:creator - <path>/FileName.pdf
3 directories scanned
3 image files updated

exiftool.exe -charset filename="" -ext pdf -r DIR "<path>" -City<="<path>\City.txt" -overwrite_original
Error: File not found - DIR
You were meant to enter any valid directory name, not "DIR" literally.
3 directories scanned
3 image files updated

Thank you! In the second and third cases, the tags are correctly entered into the documents. But what do the warnings mean?

[Phil Harvey]

All the clues are there.

Read my signature and pay attention to this message:

You were meant to enter any valid directory name, not "DIR" literally.

- Phil

[Danika Li]

directory name, not "DIR" literally.

Thank you again! I had disabled the display of signatures, and I did not know that it is customary on this forum to post useful information in them. It's Friday night, it's hot, and I'm slowing down in obvious things. I beg your pardon for my lack of understanding. Yes,

exiftool.exe -charset filename="" -ext pdf -r "<path>" -City<="<path>\FileName.txt" -overwrite_original

command works as it should. This is much better than my 8MB .cmd file with 20,000+ commands that I glued together in Excel.

[Phil Harvey]

I had disabled the display of signatures,

I didn't know you could do that. 

- Phil