Deleting Keywords

[JL]

It looks like it's possible but it doesn't work for me. What am I missing?

[BogdanH]

Hi,

Using GUI, the most obvious way to delete keywords is as follow:
First you need to know where keywords are stored in files (either IPTC or XMP). After you select image files, click on apropriate "^" button. New form will apear, where you select second (Keywords) tab. Here all selected files will be shown again -but this time showing existing keywords in each file. Here, select all files you wish to modify keywords. Below file listing, there are radio buttons for various deleting options:

1. delete nothing (selected by default) -in case you only wish to add keywords,
2.  delete all -all keywords in above selected files, will be deleted.
3.  delete [KeywX] -only specified (KeywX, in this case) keyword will be deleted from selected files.
3a. you can check "if" condition, which can be usefull in cases like: "delete KeywX if KeywZ exist in the same file".

To confirm changes, you need to click on Update button ("Save" button doesn't work for Keywords and Categories).
That's it.

If you only need to delete all keywords in all selected files, then using "Exiftool direct" button is faster. Use command (in case keywords reside inside XMP):
-xmp.subject=
-and click Execute button.

Bogdan

[JL]

Yes, it seems very straightforward but nothing happens. Keywords don't get added and they don't get deleted.

I don't know how to use Exiftool Direct. I tried but I don't know the language.

[BogdanH]

Hi,

I somehow can't imagine the case where "nothing happens"... there 's always some message after you click on "Update" button. How about other tags? Can you edit/change values there?

I have explained how to use Exiftool direct: you simply click on "Exiftool direct" button and enter command I have told above. What version of ExiftoolGUI are you using?

Bogdan

[JL]

There's a message that says either a file was updated, or it says there was no file updated. Either way there was no file updated. The keywords are still there. Same with other tags.

I think this might be associated with MediaDex that I used to use for IPTC. I have two ApplicationRecordVersion numbers. I don't know if it's supposed to be that way or if there's something wrong. After I left MediaDex and went to Photo Mechanic I made changes through a lot of my 10,000 or so photos in the IPTC fields.

I first noticed a problem when I tried Windows Search 4 some months ago and it brought up the old tags in the search results. I thought they were supposed to be overwritten. In Photo Mechanic and XnView I can only see the new versions.

Just this week with a new computer and Windows 7 Photo Gallery I noticed the same thing. Windows 7 scans everything and brings up keyword tags in the gallery. Pretty cool thing but, of course, I can see the old tags again. I have tried reinstalling MediaDex to see if I can delete the tags from within. No luck. They seem stuck there like cement. So, the same thing is happening in ExifTool. I can't get rid of the tags.

MediaDex is gone and unsupported since 2008. I wrote to Canto and two people wrote back both with a long sales pitch for Canto Single User but no help.

The only way that works so far is to use the nuclear method of stripping all IPTC using your "Remove metadata" option. That's pretty rude if you can imagine, going back through 10,000 photos, stripping and then rewriting all the IPTC data. It took me years to do it the first time.

I also tried Exiftool Direct and it says, "Tag -xmp.subject does not exist". What's supposed to come after the "=" sign?

The version number I'm using is 3.38.

P.S. For the first time today, after trying this a hundred times, (I'm not kidding) I found a picture where I could delete the keywords. This one had only one ApplicationRecordVersion number so I'm sticking to that theory. But, that's not a picture with old tags I need removed.

[Phil Harvey]

I think that should be -xmp:subject=

- Phil

[JL]

That works in so far as it says, "One file updated" although 'nothing' happens and I still don't understand. What comes after -xmp :subject= ? For instance the keyword or the keyword in quotations? Neither one works anyway so perhaps I'm missing something.

[BogdanH]

Hi,

I'm sorry for mistake (thank you Phil).
Nothing comes after
-xmp:subject=
-it means "delete" all data in xmp:subject tag. Another example:
-xmp:subject=MyKey -deletes all previous keys and places MyKey there
-xmp:subject+=SecondKey -adds a key (now there would be two keys: MyKey and SecondKey)

You didn't tell if your keys are in XMP or IPTC section. If your keys are in IPTC, everything is the same, except you replace "xmp:subject" with "iptc:keywords". For example:
-iptc:keywords=
-deletes all keywords in iptc section.

Can you post one of your "suspicious" file somewhere, so I could see it?

Bogdan

[JL]

The only thing I've been talking about is IPTC so, yes, it's IPTC.

Here's a sample picture. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/574752/cem-alta_mesa1.tif

The photos that have a problem are the ones with 2 different Application Version Records. i.e. the ones that were edited in Photo Mechanic after doing my initial work in MediaDex.

Perhaps the question is, why did Photo Mechanic create a new AVR instead of overwriting the original one?

Or maybe the question is, why does Windows only read the first one?

[Phil Harvey]

Thanks for the sample.

Wow.  I have never seen a TIFF with these 3 types of IPTC.  Cool.

Of course, there is only one standard location for IPTC in a TIFF, and the other 2 versions are in non-standard locations.

Yes.  ExifTool writes only 2 out of the 3.  The AFCP_IPTC is not currently writable, but I will add support for this in the next release (version 8.35 will have this new feature).

Any software that adds IPTC records in non-standard locations should not expect that this information will be readable by any other software (except ExifTool of course).

- Phil

Edit: I may have spoken too quickly.  I see now that I have disabled writing of AFCP_IPTC on purpose, but I can't remember why.  Maybe due to conflicts with the other IPTC.  I'll have to check my notes on this and do some more thinking before I can say I will change this.

[JL]

So, are you saying there's no way for me to delete the IPTC version that I thought was overwritten by Photo Mechanic? The one that's still showing up in Windows 7 search results?

I don't really care if it shows up in Exiftool because it's not likely to be seen by my less technically-inclined friends and relatives, but Windows 7 is likely to be used.

[Phil Harvey]

So, are you saying there's no way for me to delete the IPTC version that I thought was overwritten by Photo Mechanic? The one that's still showing up in Windows 7 search results?

I'm surprised that Windows 7 is picking this up.  Yes, currently there is no way to delete this, but I have looked into the problem in more detail and the next version of exiftool (8.35) will be able to write/delete entries in the AFCP IPTC.

- Phil

[JL]

Perhaps Windows 7 is just picking up the first thing it sees. The Live Photo Gallery also writes 'tags' (keywords) but in the version that's recognizable by Photo Mechanic and XnView.

Since I know the old metadata was put there using MediaDex, I reinstalled my old copy of MediaDex and tried deleting all IPTC data. Surprisingly, it didn't work. But that might be because MediaDex was a really flakey product to begin with.

Is AFCP the European version of IPTC?

I use ExifToolGUI instead of ExifTool because I'm kind of flakey myself.

[BogdanH]

I'm surprised that Windows 7 is picking this up....

Hi,
Just for info... I have downloaded above tif sample, and here, Windows only shows value of CopyrightNotice tag -other tags values from IPTC(n)/XMP aren't shown (Win7 x64 -no additional codecs loaded).

Bogdan

[JL]

I think there's a keyword there of 'photograph' that does show in Windows. I had over 500 of them show up in the Live Photo Gallery for just one folder. Because MediaDex indexed all kinds of file-types, not just photos, I had added keywords like "photograph", "graphic", "documents" etc so I could search that way.

Will the change for AFCP also be included in ExiftoolGUI?