Import custom tags

[Volker]

Hello,

 

I hope that this has not been asked before.

 

I just upgraded from the standalone to the server version. When adding my photos into the server most of the tags are imported correctly, but it seems that all my custom tags are missing. Is there a trick for this?

 

Regards,

Volker

[rene]

Volker, did you check weather the left and right panel has those custom tags checked.

 

just open customize and see if the tags appear there but are unchecked.

[Murat]

Did you add your photos by the "Move To" command or via importing files?

 

To make visible your custom tags in your shared catalog you need to do the following actions:

 

1. Create the same set of custom tags in your destination catalog with identical tag properties.

2. Re-import your documents or select them and apply the "Item > Actions > Read Tags from File" command.

3. Make sure that you wrote your custom tags to the images in your source catalog before

4. Take into account that you can't write metadata for some media formats. And for those formats only the "Move To" command will work, but make sure that you finished the step #1 before, otherwise you'll lose the entered information about custom tags for moved items.

[Volker]

Hi Murat,

 

first I exported the custom tags from my local catalog and imported them into the shared catalog. This worked without any problems and everything looked good. In the second step I imported the documents into the shared catalog, but only a few of the custom tags were read correctly.

 

Regards,

Volker

[Murat]

first I exported the custom tags from my local catalog and imported them into the shared catalog. This worked without any problems and everything looked good.

 

Did you create these tags on the destination catalog prior to importing them?

 

 

In the second step I imported the documents into the shared catalog, but only a few of the custom tags were read correctly.

 

What Daminion version do you use? Can you send me a sample image with written custom tags for analyzing?

[Volker]

I attached a screenshot of my shared catalog showing that all of the custom tags are present.

[Murat]

Do their properties are equal in the source and destination catalogs? Can you send me an image that imports incorrectly to the destination catalog? And specify which tags where imported and which are no.

[Volker]

Sorry, didn't read your last post.

 

I attached a file with custom tags written. It contains the "Wurf" and the "Zwinger" tags. Just the "Wurf" had been imported correctly.

I am on version 3.0.0 build 971.

 

Volker

[rene]

Did you add your photos by the "Move To" command or via importing files?

 

To make visible your custom tags in your shared catalog you need to do the following actions:

 

1. Create the same set of custom tags in your destination catalog with identical tag properties.

2. Re-import your documents or select them and apply the "Item > Actions > Read Tags from File" command.

3. Make sure that you wrote your custom tags to the images in your source catalog before

4. Take into account that you can't write metadata for some media formats. And for those formats only the "Move To" command will work, but make sure that you finished the step #1 before, otherwise you'll lose the entered information about custom tags for moved items.

 

Murat, wouldn't it be much easier to be able just to import the custom tags by reading from file? I mean meanwhile I have approx. 14 custom tags with hundreds of subtags, recreating all of them would take months.

 

furthermore it would be much betterto be able to edit custom tags

[Volker]

You can export them with Catalog > Export Tags and write them to a text file.

When importing you have to manually create the top level tags (sigh) and can then import all of the subtags with Catalog > Import Tags. Not very comfy but it works.

 

Volker

[rene]

You can export them with Catalog > Export Tags and write them to a text file.

When importing you have to manually create the top level tags (sigh) and can then import all of the subtags with Catalog > Import Tags. Not very comfy but it works.

 

Volker

 

right, but it would be much better if the top level tags would be exported as well

[Mammut]

Yeah, there must be a way (as in every other software I saw in my life) to Daminion create its own custom tags from the image tags while importing. I mean, the custom tags are Daminion's own data, it must be capable to read its own data.

It's not user-friendly at all that we have to create these tags all the time when we need a new catalog. Especially we can't edit them, so if we make a mistake, there will be a lot of trouble.

But this is an old request, I remember I requested it, too.

[Volker]

I now imported more than 22.000 pictures. The custom tag 'Wurf' has been read correctly, whereas 'Zwinger' is empty for all of the pictures.

[Murat]

Did you check the first option when created the Zwinger tag?

[Volker]

Which option do you mean?

[Volker]

I check on of the files with the metadata viewer. It says:

 

---- XMP ----

XMP Toolkit XMP Core 5.4.0

Creator Tool Daminion ® https://daminion.net

Metadata Date 2014:01:26 17:46:46+01:00

Date Acquired 2012:08:04 18:53:44

Wurf J 2012-01-05

Photographic Sensitivity 100

Zwinger Lough Ree, Lough Ree|Jarah of Lough Ree

 

 

So, here we see both, Wurf and Zwinger.

[Murat]

Which option do you mean?

 

You need to check the below two options for the Zwinger field:

- Multiple tag values can be assigned to the same file

- Tag values can be hierarchical

[Murat]

Yeah, there must be a way (as in every other software I saw in my life) to Daminion create its own custom tags from the image tags while importing. I mean, the custom tags are Daminion's own data, it must be capable to read its own data.

It's not user-friendly at all that we have to create these tags all the time when we need a new catalog. Especially we can't edit them, so if we make a mistake, there will be a lot of trouble.

But this is an old request, I remember I requested it, too.

 

Each Custom Tag has a set of properties, like visibility in the left panel, type of values, etc... And depending from these properties it stores differently in the database. We can't just import it from the file without a specification that will tell us how we can import the custom tag value and how to create this tag.

 

This is why you need to create the custom tag specification in the "Catalog > Custom Tags" window before importing files.

 

The second reason why custom tags are not created automatically while image importation is the time that is necessary to create custom tags on large databases. It might take a few minutes in the large catalogs (with more than 300,000 items in the catalog).

 

And at least the third reason: imagine that you imported some images from the Internet or from your friend. And after a while you'll discover that you have 50 custom tags that you didn't create. Somewhat that you don't expected to see.

[Mammut]

Each Custom Tag has a set of properties, like visibility in the left panel, type of values, etc... And depending from these properties it stores differently in the database. We can't just import it from the file without a specification that will tell us how we can import the custom tag value and how to create this tag.

This is why you need to create the custom tag specification in the "Catalog > Custom Tags" window before importing files.

 

I think that if I show a custom tag in the Proterties tab or not, it shouldn't be related with the custom tag creation itself. You could create it always, and hide it or show it depending on the settings.

The show or hide property need to be only an attribute, indepentent from the custom tag creation itself. Especially that the creation takes a lot of time and can cause errors, while the show or hide it property is just a stage.

 

At least you could ask the user at the end of importing that "hey, i found custom tags, do you want to create them automatically?" With a Yes and No button (with an option to remember it always).

 

By the way, I'm displaying all of the custom tags in both tabs, because I didn't create them to not see them, and I think most of the users use them this way. So it can be a default option to create and show them automatically.*

 

The second reason why custom tags are not created automatically while image importation is the time that is necessary to create custom tags on large databases. It might take a few minutes in the large catalogs (with more than 300,000 items in the catalog).

 

Well, sorry, but I think that's a completely wrong reason, because the program needs to work instead of the user. At least I think it would be better.

But your solution is this: the program can work a few minutes less, but the user should work for hours to create the tags manually. Well, great. :D Seriously, it takes hours to search 50 tags in other catalogs, and re-create them. We are not highlanders (at least I think :D) to live forever, so the time is a precious thing.

 

Btw, the importing process is slow with large catalogs anyway (I tested it a lot of times), this few minutes don't matter at all.

 

And at least the third reason: imagine that you imported some images from the Internet or from your friend. And after a while you'll discover that you have 50 custom tags that you didn't create. Somewhat that you don't expected to see.

 

Well, there is my ask the user window idea above. I think it's better than the

 

But1: I think that delete 150 unnecessary custom tags is way faster than re-create 50 manually. So this is some kind of win-win situation.

 

But2: if Daminion doesn't import those tags, I will never know those tags are there, there will be a lot of unused and unknown data in the images, which is a hundred, no, a million times worse in my opinion, because this is a DAM, we handle the tags in the program. Or I have to use another program to handle Daminion's own tags?

 

*edit:

oh, and of course I think there could be a settings for default options (hierarchical or not, numeric or text, etc.) for the new unknown custom tags, and let the user set it. Or at the window where daminion asks it after the import, the user can set the default value, and change only 1-2 tags, and after that says yes with the correct settings. I think it would be way faster anyway than the current do it all yourself again and again solution.

 

edit2:

Or forget the whole import thing, and do this separately in an "import custom tags from files" command (in example in the Actions menu). We can select the files, run this command, and Daminion creates the custom tags based on the settings.

That way the import process remains at the same speed as now, and the user can spare her/his time, and the software can work instead of her/him.

[Murat]

Thanks for the discussion: it helps us to locate the best way to solve an issue with migration of custom tags.

 

But2: if Daminion doesn't import those tags, I will never know those tags are there, there will be a lot of unused and unknown data in the images, which is a hundred, no, a million times worse in my opinion, because this is a DAM, we handle the tags in the program. Or I have to use another program to handle Daminion's own tags?

 

These are not the Daminion's tags, but the user defined ones. This is important, because after importing images from external sources with embedded Daminion custom tags you can see in one beautiful day that your Custom Tags list grows from 3 to 120 tags. And it's hard to locate which one yours and which one no. Especially if there are tags with the same names.

 

Of course we can mark Custom tags that were created by yourself to distinquish them from others but you should to be ready to check your Custom Tags list periodically to avoid appearence of unwanted custom tags.

[Volker]

You need to check the below two options for the Zwinger field:

- Multiple tag values can be assigned to the same file

- Tag values can be hierarchical

 

Hurray, that was the solution. It seems that I had recreated 'Zwinger' with the wrong options.

 

Thanky a lot!

Volker

[Mammut]

These are not the Daminion's tags, but the user defined ones. This is important, because after importing images from external sources with embedded Daminion custom tags you can see in one beautiful day that your Custom Tags list grows from 3 to 120 tags. And it's hard to locate which one yours and which one no. Especially if there are tags with the same names.

 

Of course we can mark Custom tags that were created by yourself to distinquish them from others but you should to be ready to check your Custom Tags list periodically to avoid appearence of unwanted custom tags.

 

Oh, I see, so you mean every tags created by other softwares. Well, I think it's one more reason to at least show a list of them with an option to import or not. I cleared a lot of images with batchpurifier based on daminion's information (especially to kill all of the custom tags I created in daminion older versions, and I completely forgot about them, and because i can't import them, i don't want unnecessary data), who know, what useful tags I deleted?

[Murat]

Oh, I see, so you mean every tags created by other softwares.

 

Nope, I mean custom tags created by another users using Daminion.

 

Well, I think it's one more reason to at least show a list of them with an option to import or not.

 

An image with custom tags might be in the middle of the file list for importing. And the import process might be interrupted by a Confirmation Message when you'll return from a lunch and thought that it was already finished.

[Mammut]

Nope, I mean custom tags created by another users using Daminion.

 

Well, then I think Daminion should handle those tags, it doesn't matter who created the tags. That user needs to know about them who get the files.

If I understand right, you created a system where a user creates custom tags in a file, and pass the file, other user creats his own custom tags, pass the file, a third one creats his own custom tags, etc, so every each on of them has own custom tags there. But I think this leads only to a lot of duclicated info. But okay, keep it this way, but give the user another option.

 

An image with custom tags might be in the middle of the file list for importing. And the import process might be interrupted by a Confirmation Message when you'll return from a lunch and thought that it was already finished.

 

That's why I said show it after* the import process. ;) Not in the middle, it doesn't make any sense, no one is watching daminion's importing process, today I imported 11000 images from 8am till 17pm (it's that slow with a 100,000 item catalog, I wouldn't mind if I could just press that yes button now, instead of working another 2-3 hours with the custom tags), I would be crazy to watch it.

 

But anyway, read my "edit2" part in the long post about the action menu command. That could solve the importing problems. It's a separate solution.

 

*okay, I said "end of the importing", but I meant after the whole current process.

[rene]

couldn't daminon ask us if we what customs tags to be imported or not