Lightroom XMP files

Apologies in advance if I failed to find a thread covering this in my search...

I'm trying to sort out the problem of merging photos and metadata from the library on my laptop to the library on my desktop (the darkside of this wonderful non-destructive edit system that I otherwise love so much).

My problem is that neither machine seems to write the XMP sidecar files when I use the menu option Metadata->XMP->Export XMP to File. It does something, but there are no XMP files to found in the directory with the photos or anywhere else on the hard drive. I'd rather not turn on the XMP option for the entire library if I can avoid it.

Has anyone encountered this problem or am I just looking in the wrong place or something?

The computers are both PCs, laptop running Vista, desktop running XP.

Thanks!

UPDATE: Since this thread is indexed in the Lightroom Threads sticky, I'm including a summary of the pertinent info here.

1. Photobinders existed in the beta release of Lightroom but were removed from Release 1.0. Some replacement may be available in 1.1.
2. That leaves two options, both explained in the Luminous Landscapes article referenced below:
(A) Export XMP sidecar files from one library, then import with sidecars into the other library.
(B) Export DNG files from one library, then import into the other library.
Important notes:
- Option A, XMP sidecars, will only work for RAW files. If tried with JPGs, Lightroom will not provide any warning but no files will be created.
- Both options, XMP and DNG, will preserve most of the develop settings but will be missing develop history and some other workspace settings.

References:

Luminous Landscapes - Lightroom Illuminated
This is a great article (thanks Grizz) that covers the workflows for doing this starting in the section, "Bringing it all Back Home". But note that the article assumes that your original files are RAW format (thus allowing the XMP approach to work).

Adobe FAQ - Working with Libraries
Some basic info from Adobe. This neglects to distinguish that the XMP approach works only for RAW, not JPG, thus it's a little misleading.

"Photobinder" is your answer. You export the images or folders to a photobinder and then import the photobinder to the other machine. It exports or imports all the data.

Im at work at the moment and dont have Lightroom installed here, but have a look at the help files and it will show you wher to find it in lightroom

hope this helps

jwsm wrote in post #3181406
"Photobinder" is your answer. You export the images or folders to a photobinder and then import the photobinder to the other machine. It exports or imports all the data.

Im at work at the moment and dont have Lightroom installed here, but have a look at the help files and it will show you wher to find it in lightroom

Actually, there are no references to "photobinder" in the LR 1.0 help docs and a google search gave me pages mentioning that it had been pulled out between Beta and release 1.0. The usual advice I find is to export XMPs, which brought me to my original question. The docs are a little vague but I get the impression that develop settings for photos are not saved in XMPs for JPG files, even if you tell it to export (did I mention these are JPG files, not RAW? No, I guess I didn't).

NOTE - I'm working with JPG files

You are looking in the wrong place.

With JPG's there is no sidecar XMP files. The data gets put with the JPG itself so if your lookin' for a sidecar you won't find it with JPG's

Grizz wrote in post #3182305
You are looking in the wrong place.

With JPG's there is no sidecar XMP files. The data gets put with the JPG itself so if your lookin' for a sidecar you won't find it with JPG's

Are you talking about develop data, or just the usual informational metadata (creator, copyright, iptc, etc)? Develop data is just kept in the DB, not the JPG, right? My issue is how to transfer the develop data between computers/libraries with the photos.

The photobinder was removed from the 1.0 release, it was available in the beta releases.

Also as has been pointed out xmp files only exist for raw files. The meta data will be written directly into the jpg files.

Niall

My question boils down to the following, copied from the Adobe support FAQ "Working with Libraries".

However, nothing below distinguishes between RAW and JPG, thus my confusion regarding XMP (I know bridge only uses them for RAW, but this makes it sound like you can write them for any photo to hold metadata from the DB).

I guess DNG may be an option, but that gives me much larger files. These are for sets of photos shot in JPG knowing that I'd have more files than I would want to store in RAW due to size.

I read the note in the quote above to mean that develop settings like exposure, sharpening, toning, etc may not be saved in the XMP anyway? (note that those are saved in XMP in Bridge/CameraRAW so...?)

I'm resigned to the fact that the real solution isn't coming until at least 1.1... ...but hoping you guys can clue me into something I don't know.

njay wrote in post #3183669
The photobinder was removed from the 1.0 release, it was available in the beta releases.

Also as has been pointed out xmp files only exist for raw files. The meta data will be written directly into the jpg files.

Niall

Ok, dumb terminology question... Does the meaning of Metadata in the context of Lightroom ever include develop panel settings?

Thanks for bearing with me!

First you have to select EXPORT XMP METADATA TO FILE from the METADATA drop down. (for all the files you want to transfer) Then you would have to import them into your other computers LR DB. They will retain all the develop settings.

You can do it in two ways. Instead of me trying to explain it all go here http://luminous-landscape.com …ighroom-illuminated.shtml

Scroll down the page and read
Bringing it all Back Home

and
Managing Multiple Libraries

I'm sure that will clear it up.

Grizz wrote in post #3184510
First you have to select EXPORT XMP METADATA TO FILE from the METADATA drop down. (for all the files you want to transfer) Then you would have to import them into your other computers LR DB. They will retain all the develop settings.

You can do it in two ways. Instead of me trying to explain it all go here http://luminous-landscape.com …ighroom-illuminated.shtml

Thanks for the link. That looks like a good article. Alas, these are the same instructions that I've been working from (from other sources). The problem is that LL, like Adobe, neglects to specify whether it works for JPG files or just RAW (again, my files are JPG). My original question comes from the fact that the XMP files seem to not be written for JPGs even though the option is available on the metadata menu (not ghosted out). If you try to use it, it will show that it's working, but nothing is written and no error is given.

I guess this is just a gaping hole left behind when photobinders was yanked out and it seems to have some bugs regarding the handling of JPGs vs RAW (it should either write the data somewhere, or else warn that it can't be done). How long till 1.1?

My options for the several hundred JPG files I want to merge into my main library seem to be:
* DNG export
* Copy the JPGs over manually and import fresh, then re-edit as necessary (maybe copy a develop preset as many use the same settings)

I'll probably do a combination of these.

Thanks again for the pointers. Since this thread is now indexed in the Lightroom index thread, I'll edit my findings into the first post for future reference.