I'm trying to find any software that monitors (user defined) folders and writes custom metadata to anything put in that folder. Think that I mentioned this somewhere before but can't find the thread now.
I know about the "SetAttr META" command, which is useful, but is still a manual process. Dopus would be the best candidate to do this, as it's helper is always running in the background anyway, so it can also monitor folders for auto-writing to files.
So it's a type of personal signature. If I want my name put in the "Author" field of every picture that goes into a certain folder (pictures I create would be digitally signed by me); it would be ideal if Dopus could do that for me. Instead of me having to do the same task repeatedly, like it's the year 1024AD.
An example of this process is a program called Resonic, an audio program. You can set up custom destination folders, then set up what happens when you send a file to those folders. I can drop any audio files into a certain folder and they will be converted to .wav and their bit depth etc. changed to what I had set for those folders exclusively. So I'm looking for that, but with the software monitoring for changes and doing it without me having to tell it to do it.
Or is there another program that does this? I'm trying it with Synback Pro but it's not looking like it can do it. I would use Dopus for auto backing up too, if it would do it. But Synback Pro has a lot of options/situations for triggering backups.
Possible you say. ... I'm interested. Coding? How bad is it?
I'm starting to wonder why there isn't software that does these things by now.
I'm tempted to hire some programmers and make my own software company that does this one thing, and make a killing, cause there seems to be this giant hole in the market that no one has filled. Or I just haven't found it yet.
Cause it's super painful to have to repeatedly type out mundane nonsense like metadata and tags. This is not a problem that should exist with modern computing 2025. (I just remembered it's a new year). Where there is a pain point, there's an opportunity to solve it for a profit.
Well, it depends. If it's just to explicitly do what you indicate here, it would be simpler.
A script that allows you to configure watched folders and their respective actions, with inclusion/exclusion filters, would be more complicated.
On paper it sounds pretty cool, I don't know if there will be more users interested in something like this. I'm not so sure.
One of the problems that could appear is data corruption, for example.
(I'm not sure if there is any way to tell if a file is currently open for reading/writing, via Opus of course)
Some photo applications let you apply a metadata template to a batch of images. Photo Mechanic and Lightroom Classic have that feature. I think Adobe Bridge does also.
Yes, you can do that with Opus as well, e.g. with a previously preconfigured button. This script can also help if you need a more in-depth approach (using other values, etc.).
What the OP is referring to is doing that automatically, just based on the file's location.
Ok. Well I'm fishing for someone who already has done this or wants the same thing. Your script tool is pretty sweet, so if you could add auto writing to it, that would make it even better.
But I'm thinking that I will just compromise by making a button. A drop down menu that each entry is per file type maybe, or something like that. Each entry will start by checking the folder I'm currently in; for all files that have a certain attribute and selecting all files that match. Maybe I will use the A attribute, or use a custom status. New files won't have the status then when they are metadata processed the button command would add something to them so they don't get selected and processed again in the future.
Then it will clear all metadata on those selected files then write new metadata, based on the template I make. I will just have to manually click the button every day, then run Synback Pro to back them up after they have been processed. This isn't that bad, but is still an affront to me, being another basic ass office workflow efficiency, that's 30 years behind modern tech, in the age of quantum computing and backflipping robots.
That's why I mentioned Synback Pro. It has the option that it will run the backup on the folder when a certain condition is met. In the case of artwork, when it detects my art program has been closed it runs the program (mirrors folders, but it can't write metadata). This is good for both reasons. That the files are ready to be processed and that they are not currently being used. And I don't need any more frequent help from the helper program than once a day / once per session. Any more than that and it's overkill.
I will just have to be in the habit of not processing files until I'm done working with them, to avoid conflicts. Having to train my personal behavior because an automatic thing currently doesn't exist. You know, like when we trained dogs to automatically monitor sheep and coral them without having to ask back in like 6k BC, but hey who's counting amiright.
Data that populates the fields that were blank before. That have drop down menus that I can't remove now. Adding is the opposite of clearing.
Odd when a computer assumes camera data when the picture file wasn't taken with a camera. Who told Dopus that every digital picture that exists was created with a camera? It sure wasn't me.
And svg files don't have "exif" support so Dopus can only give me a comment, rating, dates and tags. No author, copyright info. So I can't even do this manually, apparently. I might have to use a different program for metadata and tags entirely. Dopus doesn't give a tooltip preview for svg's either.
I can't put my own damn name on my files, guys. That's where we're at.
The fields were blank before but the information did exist?
I'm not upset about the appearance of generic default data; I'm just mentioning the irony of a command that is supposed to clear data resulted in the opposite.
I'll make a feature request for the metadata pane.
That's good, thank you.
I made a filter status and icon so when my "metadata is processed" tag is on files (ASM) it shows the status. I could filter folders by status; it's much better column filtering than using tags.
SetAttr META * doesn't delete the EXIF metadata chunk from the file, it simply sets the value of all the fields that Opus supports to "empty". For a string this is an empty string. For a field that's stored numerically, this is 0. For some numeric fields, 0 still means something.
We've never claimed SetAttr META * can be used to delete the metadata chunk altogether.
Yes, empty fields is the ideal result from using SetAttrr META *. If this command zero's out some things to make them default, was there no zero there already? Why was the metadata fields blank before? Did this add a chunk that wasn't there before? Because if the zeroes already existed then the metadata pane would have published these default fields before I sent the clear command. ?
The problem with how this works is I don't know if I set "Scene Capture Type" to Standard myself (for example), or if it's a result of a metadata clear.
So ideally the metadata pane would show blank fields when the data hasn't been modified since the file was created. Or instead a little dot icon before every field that has been modified by the system, and a little star for everything that's been modified by the user. Or even different text colours.
Even better would be the hiding of metadata fields per user config; my request.
I just had to add "colour" to my dictionary. Somebody tell Google that Canada exists.
This seems like a philosophical question more than anything. Why does it even matter? Set the fields to the values you want them to be set to, and clear/ignore the fields you don't care about at all.
Nothing defines whether a JPEG is from a camera or some other source, or a mix of the two; they are just JPEG files containing image data and possibly also metadata, in all cases.
Opus has no way to know which fields each person wants for each file. Maybe that will be configurable one day, but there aren't that many lines in the metadata panel for it to really get in the way of anyone, IMO.
There are a few examples on the forum of script add-ins people made which provide custom metadata dialogs that only show a subset of values in a custom layout. That's possible if you want to lazer-focus on just the fields you need for your workflow. But IMO it's easier to just use the fields you care about and not waste time thinking about the other fields.
There's no way to know what data was in a file in the past, or who/what modified each of the individual metadata values in the past. JPEG, EXIF and most filesystems do not track that information.
The metadata panel already shows a red triangle next to fields which you have edited and not yet saved, which is all it can do in terms of indicating if a field has changed or not.
Just curious about how it works. But using this clear command does create the problem that I mentioned about not knowing who or what created the metadata. Because my camera does write metadata to files. I'm not excited about having to a/b compare then remember which fields are affected by this clear command. I wish that the command wouldn't do anything to fields that were previously blank.
I would love to ignore the fields I don't care about. Which is why I'm asking to be able to hide them. There are so many fields that there are scroll bars and multiple sub groups. It's not just about setting the metadata, but for reading it later. The data I would want to see is presented to me without having to use a scroll bar or close sub groups. Repeatedly wading through fields of bloat is inefficient.
Almost all of it is useless to me and most people. And with other file types like videos too. You guys are good with allowing customizations. I can already hide things with the folder formats. All this would need is to add a folder format tab to configure metadata pane fields.
A metadata pane "read mode" would be handy. Only the file dates and fields that are not default would appear. Click on an edit button and the metadata pane is in "edit mode" where all fields are now visible for editing.
The folder I put the files in defines it. This is why folder formats would work for this request.
I think most people who work with content organize their content by folders.
That's why you give us the option in the settings to configure it ourselves. It wouldn't work for the file types options because different types of content share the same file containers, but it would work for folder formats.
I'm interested. Coding? How bad is it?
