# Metadata

This section describes the options for metadata writing.

The settings in the Files tab of Preferences influence whether an attempt is made to write metadata to the file itself, to a sidecar file or to a local folder.

Refer also to Metadata Processing in the Reference section.

## Metadata writing process

When writing metadata, Geeqie will follow three steps. This process will stop when the first successful write occurs.

1. Save metadata in image files, resp. sidecar files, according to the XMP standard

   If checked, Geeqie will attempt to write metadata to the file itself, or to an associated XMP sidecar file

2. Save metadata in '.metadata' folder, local to image folder (non-standard)

   If checked, Geeqie will attempt to write to an xmp file in a local .metadata folder

3. Save metadata in Geeqie private directory

   If neither of the above are successful, Geeqie will write to an xmp file in the folder

       $HOME/.local/share/geeqie/metadata

When writing to local metadata folders, the directory structure duplicates that of the location of the source files.

## Step 1: Write to image files

If Step 1 above was successful, the following options take effect:

- Store metadata also in legacy IPTC tags (converted according to IPTC4XMP standard)

  If checked, Geeqie will write IPTC tags as defined in Standards

- Warn if the image files are not writeable

  If checked, open a warning dialogue if the file is not writeable

- Ask before writing to image files

  If checked, open a confirmation dialogue before writing to the file

- Create sidecar files named image.ext.xmp (as opposed to image.xmp)

  If checked, new sidecar files will use image.ext.xmp naming scheme

## Steps 2 and 3: Write to Geeqie private files

If Step 2 or 3 above was successful, the following option takes effect:

- Use GQview legacy metadata format (supports only keywords and comments) instead of XMP

  If checked, Geeqie will write metadata in GQview legacy files (file extension .meta) format

## Miscellaneous

- Write the same description tags (keywords, comment, title) to all grouped sidecars

  If checked the same descriptive tags are written to all files in a group. File grouping is as defined in the Files tab of main Preferences. Technical tags (exif) are handled separately for each file.

- Allow keywords to differ only in case

  If checked, permits keywords to be case-sensitive (e.g. Place and place are two different keywords)

- Write altered image orientation to the metadata

  If checked, the results of orientation commands (Rotate, Mirror and Flip) issued on an image will be written to metadata either automatically as specified below or when manually initiated. This option also affects the Auto rotate image using EXIF information menu item.

  If this option is not checked, the results of orientation commands will be lost when Geeqie closes.

  Do not change this option while you have temporary rotations applied to images.

## Auto-save options

- Write metadata after timeout

  If checked, metadata writes will be made automatically at the defined interval. Warning dialogues will be issued if required.

- Write metadata on image change

  If checked, metadata writes will be made when you move focus to another image.

- Write metadata on directory change

  If checked, metadata writes will be made when you move focus to another folder.

## Pre-load metadata

- Read metadata in background

  Using the folder sorting options:

  Exif date original

  Exif date digitized

  Rating

  requires metadata to be read from all files in a folder before the sort action can be made. If a folder contains a large number of file, this can take a noticeable period of time.

  If this option is checked, Geeqie will automatically read the required metatada in the background as soon as a folder is opened. This will reduce the amount of time you have to wait until the sort is completed.

  If you do not use these sort options, leave this option unchecked.