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Standard: Preserve Information Added by Clients

Standard

Preserve Information Added by Clients

A Professional Photo Organizer or Photo Manager must be able to preserve information added by clients to their digital photos and videos—any information the client wants preserved.

Ask all clients what information they want preserved—if any.

Information a client wants preserved must be added as embedded metadata if possible.

In the case of duplicates with different information, the information must be added to the metadata of the higher quality file—within a reasonable size tolerance. 

See: About Preserving Information AND High Quality Files.

Many people do not know that information they added to their digital photos and videos can be preserved. I believe it’s a professional responsibility to inform clients about this service option. 

Embedded metadata is metadata stored in EXIF, IPTC or XMP fields, and not in an XMP sidecar file.

Folder names and filenames are not metadata. It is acceptable to include information in folder names and filenames if that information is also embedded in the metadata. 

Exceptions and Limitations

  • Metadata cannot be embedded in RAW files but can be added to XMP sidecar files.
  • BMP and GIF files support some metadata, like System Tags, but few applications can display that metadata. If information about BMP and GIF files needs to be preserved, adding it to folder names or filenames is the best option.
  • Video Metadata- Testing is Incomplete
    MP4     files support the Title field and System Tags.
    While some applications allow a variety of metadata to be added to videos, that metadata may not be visible or searchable by your client.
    I recommend adding metadata to whatever fields you can, as well as to filenames and folder names.
    When I complete more testing, I will edit this information.

When there are duplicate photos, the information a client wants preserved may have been added to the smaller duplicate, as in this screenshot from a real client’s collection: 

Smaller files meaningful folder name b

(My client’s meaningful folder names are intentionally blurred)

When that’s the case, the information the client wants preserved must be transferred to the higher quality photo—within a reasonable size tolerance—as long as the client understands and agrees.

This is my opinion. I welcome your comments and suggestions about file size tolerance.

Information can be transferred from the lower to the higher quality duplicate using various methods, including moving the larger files to the folder with the meaningful name or adding words from the folder name as Keywords to the larger files. Later, the information will need to be embedded in the metadata.

Suggestion:
I suggest you choose a file size tolerance for files with the same pixel dimensions and inform your client.

Example:
I use a file size tolerance of 5%, but only for files with the same pixel dimensions. So, if the slightly smaller duplicate is the one in a folder with a meaningful name (or is the one with a Keyword or a Star Rating), I would keep the slightly smaller file. As a result, I would not need to transfer the information to the slightly larger file.

Judgement must always be used. I would likely not have any file size tolerance for ‘Favorites’ or for photos the client plans to print.

Original and Edited Photos Example:
Below is a screenshot showing an original and an edited version of the same photo. While they are burred to protect my client’s privacy, it’s obvious the children’s faces are much brighter in the edited photo. In the darker photo, facial features are hard to see clearly. 

I kept the edited photo even though the file size was smaller by 4%:

4 percent file size difference

Videos
Duplicate videos often have very different dimensions, but when videos have the same dimensions, there is typically very little difference in file size, and I don’t know of any duplicate removal application that has a file size tolerance for videos.

Other Considerations:
When removing duplicate PNG, BMP, and GIF files, considering using a larger file size tolerance.
There is little (if any) visible or practical advantage to keep higher quality screenshots that may exist as both JPG and PNG.

For this Standard, information a client wants preserved about photos and videos in a personal collection may include:

  • Folder names or specific words in folder names.
  • Album Names or specific words in Album names. 
  • Filenames or specific words in filenames.
  • Favorites (in Apple Photos or Google Photos)
  • Keywords or Tags (IPTC Keywords, XMP Subject, or System Tags)
  • Star Ratings (XMP Rating or System Rating)
  • Titles (IPTC Object, XMP Title, or System Subject)
  • Copyright (IPTC Copyright)
  • Descriptions/Captions (IPTC Caption-Abstract or XMP Description)
  • Comments/User Comment (System Property)
  • Subject (System Property)
  • Names of People—added with Facial Recognition (XMP PersonInImage)

Duplicates may have different added information and different types of added information. The duplicates in this screenshot have different meaningful folder names, and one has a Keyword:

Folder names keyword

Definitions
The Definitions page of this website includes information about many metadata fields.

Visit the Definitions Page

Meaningful information is any information a client added that will help them search and enjoy their collection, as well as information they added for the benefit of future generations.

But what a client considers to be meaningful varies greatly, and clients often add information that is meaningful only for a short time, like an Apple Photos Album named “Cottage decorating ideas 2014”

Examples of Meaningful Folder Names

  • Sarah’s wedding
  • Eric’s 3rd birthday
  • Christmas with Grandma
  • Hawaii pics from Mom

I would add a 5-Star Rating and/or the keyword ‘Favorite’ to all photos in folders with names like these:

  • Best of 2016
  • Framed photos

Examples of Meaningful Filenames

  • Eric’s 3rd Birthday 01.jpg
  • Halloween_01.jpg
  • Gradparty 17.jpg
  • Hawaii hiking 23.jpg

The examples below show added information that is not meaningful because it is redundant or because it will not help your client search and enjoy their collection.

Example A
In the screenshot below, the folder name Fall ‘15 is redundant because the photo has a matching information in the EXIF DateTimeOriginal field: 

Unneeded meatdata

Example B
Below, the filenames are redundant because the files are in a folder with a matching name. (Or the folder name is redundant because the filenames match the folder name.)

Redundant Information B

Example C
While the Title and Caption/Description fields sometimes hold information added by clients, those fields often include unneeded information that was added by a camera or software, and not by the client:

Unneeded metadata

The Artificial Intelligence capabilities of many photo applications and photo services is re-shaping the searchability of digital photo collections.

In some applications, Keywords are no longer necessary when searching a photo collection for common objects, activities, and many other things.

You can preserve common words you find in your clients’ folder names and filenames, like ‘beach’, ‘swimming’, ‘sunset’, and ‘Christmas tree’ by adding them as Keywords, but should you when A.I. will help your client find those photos? That’s a decision for you and your client to make.

Talk to your client about the application they use for storing and enjoying their photos. If the solution your client uses has good A.I. powered search, that can help you determine what information needs to be preserved.

This Standard applies to all photos and videos a Professional Photo Organizer or Photo Manager copies, moves, downloads, or exports from a client’s Sources.

Preserving meaningful information will help clients complete related projects, like creating photo books, with greater ease.

For Legacy Collections, preserving information is essential. If a photo chosen for a Legacy Collection has no added meaningful information, duplicates of that photo (if any) should be examined in case a duplicate does. 

Project Type Exceptions
Photo organizing is a term that encompasses many different types of projects, and this Standard may not be relevant for a digital project that only involves, for example, helping a client organize their Apple Photos Library.

It’s important that your client understands that preserving added information makes a project more complex and more expensive.

Depending on your client’s goals and budget, you and your client may need to discuss what information is most important to preserve, and what would be nice to preserve.  

Ultimately, if your client wants information preserved, and understands that their project will be more expensive to complete, you must be able to preserve that information.

This Standard is measurable, but it would be very difficult to measure whether a Professional Photo Organizer or Photo Manager has achieved this Standard for a client’s project unless there was a complete list of words or phrases the client wanted preserved.

Related Standards

There is considerable overlap between the Standards Deliver Accurately Dated Photos to Clients and Preserve Information Added by Clients. 

The most significant overlap concerns preserving date information in folder names and filenames. 

When preserving information added by clients to folder names and filenames, remember that preserving date information in folder names and filenames is equally important.

Best Practices

Following these Best Practices will enable Professional Photo Organizers and Photo Managers to achieve the Standard of preserving information added by clients accurately, thoroughly, and efficiently.

Best Practices are listed for many tasks because many digital photo and video organizing tasks can result in a loss of information added by clients.

The tasks themselves are not Best Practices, so only follow Best Practices for tasks that need to be done for a specific collection.

Many Best Practices involve ensuring information is preserved. If that information is not preserved, it may be possible to recover it or to get the information from the client, but preserving it is much more reliable and efficient.

Definitions

Visit the Definitions page for definitions of metadata terminology and other terminology used on this website.

Definitions Page

List of Best Practices

For Preserving Information Added by Clients

Table of Contents

Checking For Added Information

Before you can check to see what information your client has added to folder names and filenames, you will need to view all folder names and filenames!

I recommend waiting until Exact duplicate photos and videos have been removed—those with the same folder names, filenames, and added metadata—before checking for meaningful folder names and filenames.

Sort folders and subfolders by name, then sort files by name. 

Directory Opus
Directory Opus has ‘Flat View’ options that allow you to expand folders and their sub folders, allowing you to view one or more folders, sub folders, and/or their files in one list:

Flat view
Flat view

The Directory Opus ‘Print Folder’ feature allows you to export folder names and/or filenames to a spreadsheet that can be edited and shared with your client.

Duplicate Cleaner (by DigitalVolcano)
Duplicates can be displayed in ‘Details’ mode, with name and the entire folder path of each file visible. That’s important because information a client wants preserved is not always in the file’s parent folder name:

Folder path duplicate cleaner

With other applications, I recommend you take screenshots of the list of folders.

Checking For Added Metadata

Before you can check to see what metadata (if any) your client has to their photos and videos, you will need to be able to see the metadata fields that typically store metadata added by clients and by professional photographers hired by clients. But not all applications can display all those fields. 

The metadata fields that should be checked are:

  • Star Ratings (XMP Rating or System Rating)
  • Keywords (IPTC Keywords or  XMP Subject)
  • Tags (System Tags)
  • Titles (IPTC Object, XMP Title, or System Subject)
  • Copyright (IPTC Copyright)
  • Descriptions/Captions (IPTC Caption-Abstract or XMP Description)
  • Comments/User Comment (System Property)
  • Subject (System Property)
  • Names of People—added with Facial Recognition (XMP PersonInImage)
  • Favorites If Favorites added in Apple Photos or Google Photos have been Preserved by adding a Keyword or a 5-Star Rating. 

Viewing the metadata in columns using an application with a ‘Details View’ or ‘List View’ allows you to efficiently see all added metadata.

This screenshot is from Directory Opus (with a plugin): 

Added metadata

The recommended applications all have a ‘Details View’ and can display the Comment /User Comment field, which is used for Descriptions/Captions in File Explorer. I’ve had several clients (even Mac users who used to use a PC) that had added Comments. I copy Comments to the Description/Caption field.

Directory Opus and ExifToolGUI
Directory Opus (with a plugin) and ExifToolGUI are the only applications that can display all the important fields in columns.

Duplicate Cleaner (by Digital Volcano)
Duplicate Cleaner can display all the important fields in columns, except for ‘PersonInImage’.

ACDSee Photo Studio
ACDSee Photo Studio can display all the important fields in columns, except for ‘PersonInImage’.

File Explorer
Not all File Explorer metadata fields correspond to IPTC or XMP fields.
File Explorer can display all important fields in columns except ‘PersonInImage’ and Description/Caption.
If a photo has a Subject, the Description/Caption will not be displayed.
If a photo has no Subject, the Description/Caption will be displayed in that field. 

Adobe Bridge
Adobe Bridge can display only Keywords and Star Ratings in columns. Other metadata fields can be viewed for only one photo at a time. 

Adobe Lightroom Classic
Adobe Lightroom Classic cannot display metadata in columns, but all Keywords are visible and can be exported to a spreadsheet. Other metadata fields can be viewed for only one photo at a time. 

Photo Mechanic, Mylio, PhotoSweeper, and Finder
Metadata fields can be viewed for only one photo at a time.  

I created and saved filters in Directory Opus that allow me to filter for files with metadata in a specific field, or with metadata in multiple fields.

After a filter has run, I can:

  • Select and delete redundant and/or unneeded metadata.
  • Move metadata to a more appropriate field. I often move Comments to the Description/Caption field.

Determining What is Meaningful to Your Client

I recommend waiting until photos and videos have been gathered from all Sources before you work with your client to determine what specific information needs to be preserved. 

It’s often very difficult to know what words, phrases, or mysterious abbreviations may be meaningful to your client. 

For me, the best solution has been to send my client a list (or spreadsheet) of folder names for them to review. I send it after Exact duplicates have been removed, when I can see added information more easily.

When sending a list or spreadsheet, I exclude folder names with information I am certain my client wants preserved based on previous discussions and my knowledge of the collection.

In my experience, I’ve found it’s fairly easy to determine if other information added by my clients, like Keywords and Descriptions, need to be preserved.  

Example A
There are hundreds of photos in a folder named Amelia Jakarta. The photos depict several different people.

So, perhaps the photos were taken by Amelia, or sent to Amelia, or were sent to the client by Amelia. In a situation like this, I would ask my client if they want me to preserve the name Amelia.

I would definitely preserve the word Jakarta.

Example B
If my client had a folder named Hawaii pics from Mom, I would ask if it’s important that the photos are “from Mom”.

With the Directory Opus Print Folder feature, you can export a spreadsheet that includes anything you want it to include! I usually export a spreadsheet that includes all folder and sub folder names, then delete the folder names my client does not need to review.

If your client has added a lot of Keywords, I recommending using Lightroom Classic to export a list of those Keywords. 

Copying Photos and Videos from Computers and Devices

The only way to preserve folder names and folder structure while
gathering all your clients’ photos and videos is to copy all folders
(and their sub folders) your client will allow you to copy.

Even if there is no meaningful information that needs to be preserved, keeping the folder structure intact is recommended for a few other reasons, including preserving date information in folder names.   

Copying folders and their sub folders may result in copying files other than photos and videos, but it is the only method that will ensure that any information a client has added will be preserved.

It is the responsibility of Professional Photo Organizers and Photo Managers to preserve the folder structure in case folder names include meaningful information your client may want preserved. 

If information is written on devices or device cases (like CD cases), that information should be included in the name of the folder you will copy the photos to.

Example:
This example from a real client’s collection (with identifying information changed) shows meaningful information in multiple folder levels:

Information multiple folder levels

Gather XMP and JSON Files

When gathering files from a client’s Sources, always gather XMP and JSON files.
Those types of files store information that you may need to embed in the photo metadata.

Avoid searching for photo and video file extensions and then copying the results to the ‘Digital Hub’ or ‘Collection Hub’.

Files gathered will be removed from their folders, so all information in folder names and the folder path will be lost. 

A client’s photos and videos may be stored in unusual and unexpected places. So, gathering files non-selectively by copying anything your client will allow you to copy is the only way to ensure you gather all your client’s photos and videos.

Then use an application like Directory Opus to filter files by extension. Select and move or delete files other than photos, videos, Archives, and PDFs. Archives may contain photos and videos. PDFs can be scanned photos. It’s much faster than selectively gathering only photos and videos and preserving the folder structure.

Preserving Information in XMP Files

XMP files store metadata and edit information for RAW files.

When gathering files from a client’s Sources, always gather XMP files.

Sometimes clients want to keep their RAW files in case they want to do further editing. Those that do usually also choose to have the RAW files converted to .JPEG.

If a client has RAW files and any of them have corresponding XMP files, it is important to convert the RAW files to JPEG and save metadata to those .JPEG files.

Exporting From Apple Photos

Many organizing tasks can only be done accurately, thoroughly, and efficiently if photos and videos are exported from Apple Photos. 

Before exporting, ask your client what information—if any—they added within Apple Photos and look at the Album names. The application or method you choose for exporting photos and videos from a client’s Apple Photos Library should depend on what information the client added within Apple Photos that they want preserved. 

Almost all methods and applications will preserve all metadata a photo or video had at the time it was imported or added to Apple Photos.

This section includes general information only and is not intended to instruct people about how to export from Apple Photos. 

If your client wants information added in Apple Photos to be preserved:

PowerPhotos 3

  • Preserves all Album names, as well as Keywords, Titles, and Descriptions added within Apple Photos.
  • PowerPhotos 3 has the most comprehensive options for exporting from Apple Photos and allows for preservation of Album names, which are converted to folder names. 
  • Smart Albums are exported as Albums.
  • But leave the Date field unchecked! If you don’t, photos without an EXIF DateTimeOriginal will have either the file/system Date Created or Date Modified copied to the EXIF DateTimeOriginal field. 

CopyTrans Cloudly

  • Preserves Album names only.

Apple Photos – Export with Metadata 

  • Warning! Using this method will cause a file/system date to be copied to photos without an EXIF DateTimeOriginal, and so is not recommended.
  • Album names will not be preserved, but Keywords and Captions added within Apple Photos will be preserved. 

CYME Avalanche – Export to Lightroom Classic
This one’s complicated! 

  • The good news: It’s the only application that will preserve names of people.
  • The bad news: When metadata is added to files in Lightroom Classic, or when files are exported from Lightroom Classic, photos without an EXIF DateTimeOriginal will have either the file/system Date Created or Date Modified copied to the EXIF DateTimeOriginal field.

PhotosTakeout 

  • Warning! Using this method will cause a file/system date to be copied to photos without an EXIF DateTimeOriginal, and so is not recommended.
  • Album names will be preserved,
    along with Keywords and Captions.
  • PhotosTakeout does not export Smart Albums.
  • If you do not include metadata on export, the photos and video will be stripped of all metadata, so there is no way to export truly ‘unmodified’ files—files as they were when they were added to Apple Photos!

Names of People
Only Avalanche will preserve names of people and add them as Keywords, but Avalanche causes problems for photos without an EXIF DateTimeOriginal.
Names of people can be added as keywords within Apple Photos, but in my opinion, it’s not worth the time it takes if there are a lot of people named. Consider using Facial Recognition to add names of people as Keywords or advise your client that re-naming people in Apple Photos after the organized collection is installed may be a more economical option for them.

Memories and Trips
‘Memories’ and ‘Trips’ are photo slideshows created by Apple Photos. The photos used in a slideshow cannot be exported intact, but a video can be created from a Memory or Trip and exported. 

  • Preserve ‘Favorites’ by creating an Album for Favorites or add the Keyword ‘Favorite’ to all Favorites.
  • Ask your client if they have added dates to photos within Apple Photos, as those dates may be lost unless you can isolate the photos to which dates were added.

Downloading from Google Photos

Recommended Method: Google Takeout

If Google Takeout is used to download photos from Google Photos, the photos will download with all the EXIF, IPTC, and XMP metadata they had when they were uploaded. Names of Albums created in Google Photos will be converted to folder names.

.JSON files included in the Archive(s) downloaded store metadata—including Descriptions, names of people, Favorites, and locations—added within Google Photos.

An application or an ExifTool command must be used to add the metadata in the .JSON files to the photos and videos.

MetaData Fixer and Mylio are applications that read the metadata in the .JSON files, but there are drawbacks to using those applications those applications for this task.

Descriptions
If a photo has a Description before it is added to Google Photos, that Description will not be displayed in the Description field in Google Photos. If a new Description is added within Google Photos, and then MetaData Fixer is used, the original Description will be overwritten.

Names of People
Names of people are added to the XMP: PersonInImage and the IPTC Person Shown fields. So, names won’t be visible in many applications.  

Favorites
Favorites are indicated in the .JSON files by the word ‘true’ but that will not be added to any metadata field.

Warning About Dates
Any photos that were uploaded to Google Photos without an EXIF DateTimeOriginal will have the date they were downloaded copied to the EXIF DateTimeOriginal field and other date metadata fields!
The dates of photos that did have an EXIF DateTimeOriginal when they were uploaded to Google Photos will be unaffected.

If Google Takeout .zip files are imported to Mylio by following the instructions in the Mylio manual, Mylio will recreate the Google Photos Albums. 

Mylio does not claim to add other metadata from the .JSON files to photos—and does not.

If the metadata is then saved to those files using that Mylio feature, the date they were downloaded will be copied to the EXIF DateTimeOriginal field and all other date metadata fields!

Ask your client if they have added dates to photos within Google Photos, as those dates are stored in the .JSON files, and so may be lost unless you can isolate the photos to which dates were added.

The Method I Use
I created two versions of an ExifTool command for Directory Opus that adds metadata from the .JSON files to the photos. 

One version of my command will not add or change a photo’s EXIF DateTimeOriginal, and the other version will. I use the version that is best suited for each client’s project.

My command adds names of people as Keywords—without overwriting pre-existing Keywords.
For Favorites, it adds add the word ‘True’ to the Title field. I later use a filter to find photos with ‘True’ in the Title field and add the Keyword ‘Favorite’ and/or a 5-Star Rating to those photos.

Identifying and Removing Duplicate Photos

When removing duplicates, there is no easy solution for preserving information a client wants preserved AND keeping the highest quality files (within reason).

Duplicate photos and videos often have different information:

  • Different folder names or Album names.
  • Different filenames.
  • Different Keywords.
  • Different Captions/Descriptions.
  • Different Titles.
  • OR one duplicate has added metadata and the other does not.

In my experience, the higher quality file is very often not the one with the added metadata, or the one in the folder with a meaningful name. Often the pixel dimensions and files size are very different, as in this example from a collection I am currently organizing (with meaningful folder names intentionally blurred):

Smaller files meaningful folder name

Duplicate Cleaner.Duplicate Cleaner (by DigitalVolcano)

It is the only duplicate removal application with the option to scan for duplicates:

  • In folders with the same name, and even multiple levels of folder names.
  • With the same Keyword(s), Rating, Title, Description, or Comment.

  • ·        
    With same dimensions and within
    a specified file size tolerance.

It is the only duplicate removal application that can be used to:

  • Add or edit Keywords and Star Ratings of duplicates.
  • Edit filenames
  • Edit folder names.
  • Move lower quality duplicates to a different folder with a meaningful name.
  • Move lower quality duplicates to a new folder with a new meaningful name.

It is the only duplicate removal application that can:

  • Display the metadata of all duplicates in a group for easy comparison in a list.
  • Filter duplicates found by folder name, filename, or added metadata.

PhotoSweeper
PhotoSweeper’s Auto-Mark settings include options to mark duplicates based on:

  • The presence of added metadata—but sometime files have different added metadata, or the added metadata is unneeded, like the Caption ‘Olympus Digital Camera’.
  • The length of the folder name—but how often is that important?
  • The length of the folder path—but how often is that important?

While it is possible to preserve added information and the higher quality file when using PhotoSweeper, it would require checking the metadata for every duplicate—one at a time! A higher quality duplicate without meaningful information could be located on the storage device and it could be moved to the folder with the meaningful name, or metadata could be added to the file, but that would be unreasonably slow. 

Mylio

  • The Photo DeDupe tool is very sensitive to file size, so if a photo has added metadata, and its duplicate does not, they may not be identified as duplicates.
  • Added metadata is not displayed in DeDupe results.
  • The Photo DeClutter tool does not display added metadata in results.

dupeGuru
dupeGuru does not display added metadata in results.

Cisdem Duplicate Finder
Cisdem does not display added metadata in results. 

Awesome Duplicate Photo Finder and Duplicate Photos Fixer Pro
These and other similarly named applications work much like PhotoSweeper.

Applications including Duplicate Cleaner, PhotoSweeper, and dupeGuru give uses the option to ‘lock’ or ‘protect’ folders with names that need to be preserved. 

If any duplicates in the ‘locked’ or ‘protected’ folders are lower quality, this Standard will not be achieved.

Preserving Meaningful Information When Removing Duplicates

When the lower quality duplicate is the one with the information a client wants preserved, there are a few techniques that can be used to preserve the information that will be lost when duplicates are removed. 

Information can be preserved in many ways, including:

  • Adding Keywords and/or other metadata to the duplicate that will be kept.
  • Editing the folder name of the duplicate that will be kept.
  • Editing the filename of the duplicate that will be kept.
  • Moving the duplicate that will be kept to a different folder.
  • Making notes and/or taking screenshots so that information that will be lost when duplicates are removed can be added later.

Converting Added Information to Embedded Metadata

Words in folder names and filenames that a client wants preserved should be added to the most appropriate metadata field. That is usually the Keywords field, but a 5-Star Rating could be assigned for words like ‘Favorite’ or ‘Best’ in addition to adding the Keyword ‘Favorite’.

As I remove duplicates with Duplicate Cleaner and flatten the folder structure with Directory Opus, I edit folder names and use an underscore to separate words that will become Keywords.

When I’m ready to convert words in folder names to Keywords, I relace all underscores with a semi colon (which is used to separate Keywords) then use a command I created for Directory Opus to copy the folder names to the Keywords field. 

Once that has been done, the folder names are no longer needed.

The same can be done for filenames.

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