Add XMP:ImageDescription to existing exif:ImageDescription

[mchab]

Hi all,

how can I add an XMP:ImageDescription to an existing exif:ImageDescription? I tried with exiftool

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"-exif:ImageDescription+<xmp:ImageDescription" img.jpg

but it says "no writeable tag". But when I simply overwrite the exif tag with

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"-exif:ImageDescription<xmp:ImageDescription" img.jpg

all goes fine.

I use Digicam for organization on a Mac (every description is in XMP:Description) - but know I want my relatives to comment on the scanned old photos, adding context to them with Synology Photos, which writes to exif:ImageDescription. So if they are done I want to merge the xmp description (mine) with the exif:description (relatives) so neither mine oder their descriptions get's lost. Does that make sense? :-)

So how can I write the line for exiftool to add the existing xmp:ImageDescription (e.g. "123") to an existing exif:ImageDescription (e.g. "456") so the image contains "123 456" in one tag?

Thank you for any help.

[StarGeek]

The plus sign + is only used to either increment a value or to add a entry to a list type tag.

In order to combine two tags, you would copy the original tag with the new tag appended back into the original tag
exiftool "-exif:ImageDescription<$exif:ImageDescription $xmp:ImageDescription" /path/to/files/

Example:

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C:\>exiftool -G1 -a -s -ImageDescription y:\!temp\Test4.jpg
[IFD0]          ImageDescription                : exif:ImageDescription
[XMP-tiff]      ImageDescription                : xmp:ImageDescription

C:\>exiftool -P -overwrite_original "-exif:ImageDescription<$exif:ImageDescription $xmp:ImageDescription" y:\!temp\Test4.jpg
    1 image files updated

C:\>exiftool -G1 -a -s -ImageDescription y:\!temp\Test4.jpg
[IFD0]          ImageDescription                : exif:ImageDescription xmp:ImageDescription
[XMP-tiff]      ImageDescription                : xmp:ImageDescription

[mchab]

Thanks a lot! Sorry that I got that wrong.

[mchab]

Sorry but it doesn't work.

I did

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exiftool -G1 -a -s -ImageDescription /Users/user/Desktop/test.jpg
[IFD0]          ImageDescription                : Hi
[XMP-tiff]      ImageDescription                : Test

and then:

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exiftool -P -overwrite_original "-exif:ImageDescription<$exif:ImageDescription $xmp:ImageDescription" /Users/user/Desktop/test.jpg


But exiftool says:

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Warning: No writable tags set from /Users/user/Desktop/test.jpg
Warning: Invalid tag name ':imagedescription :imagedescription' - /Users/user/Desktop/test.jpg
    0 image files updated
    1 image files unchanged

[StarGeek]

If your using something other than Windows CMD (Linux/Mac/Windows PowerShell), then change the double quotes into single quotes.

I do not recommend using PowerShell with exiftool.  PowerShell will corrupt binary data when redirecting/piping and has a multitude of other problems.

[mchab]

You are a StarGeek! Thank you - I am on Mac/Terminal, so the " vs ' was the problem.