Incorrect metadata displayed in tooltip

This isn’t the end of the world for me, in fact it’s barely an issue at all, but just pointing it out in case DOpus is actually to blame and there’s any room for improvement. The attached screenshot shows a JPEG file being hovered over with the mouse in a DOpus lister, and displaying the Comment metadata field from a different JPEG file that I added the comment to months ago, when in fact no Comment metadata exists in the file under the mouse pointer.

Some of the other metadata displayed in the tooltip is also not quite correct, though I don’t believe any of it’s being taken from another image file:

Actual Aperture is is F/1.99 (when file is opened in Set Metadata dialog), but displayed in tooltip as F/2.0. (Being rounded, I suppose?)

Subject Distance is displayed as 0.285 mm (which can’t possibly be right anyway) in Set Metadata, but in tooltip as 285 mm.

Other than those, everything is correct.

Does that happen consistently for the file in question?

If so, are you sure there's no comment in the file? What else have you checked with?

Can we have a copy of the file to look at? (Please zip it first as the forum often strips metadata from images.)

@Leo

I think the technically correct answer is “no”, but it is still going on with that particular copy of the file in that particular location. I’ve created copies of it now, both in the same folder and in a sub-folder, and neither copy is showing any Comment metadata in the mouse-hover tooltip.

Before I go on with your other questions, I should point out that this isn’t the first time I’ve seen this happen when hovering the mouse over an image file in DOpus, though unfortunately I can’t remember all of the specifics about the previous occurrence now. I can tell you that it happened several months ago, probably February or March, with a different file, but I think the Comment metadata shown in the tooltip was from the same file that I had previously set the Comment field for, which makes me suspect that this is somehow related to DOpus program history. I had made a note to bring it up here at the time, but never got around to it. Would you like me upload a copy of that file as well, if I can find it?

The Set Metadata dialog, the Metadata Pane, and ExifTool all indicate no Comment in the file.

7-zipped copy of file exhibiting the phantom Comment:

BURST20180612174539434_COVER.7z (3.2 MB)

If it matters, the path to the file’s location on my hard drive is:

“D:\Users\MAZE\Pictures\Temp\KBZE”

7-zipped copy of source of Comment:

1970-11-10 - Boston Review of the Arts - 02[text]01.01.jpg.7z (1.5 MB)

Path to file on my hard drive:

“D:\Users\MAZE\Documents\Vonnegut\Mediography\Kurt\1970-11-10 - Boston Review of the Arts\Temp”

  1. Within D:\Users\MAZE\Pictures\Temp\KBZE, is there any descript.ion file?

    • Note that if there is, it will usually be a hidden file.
    • If there's a hidden file in the folder, the status bar will usually show a red Hidden: 1 count, or similar.
    • Click that hidden count, if it appears, and it will switch to say Everything and should show the file.
  2. Are there any NTFS Alternate Data Streams (ADS) set on the file?

    • Within D:\Users\MAZE\Pictures\Temp\KBZE, select Tools > Command Prompt Here to open a command prompt in the folder.
    • Run the command dir /r
    • The output will list any files in the folder, and also any ADS data, which looks like another listing for the same file but with a : in the middle of the name, similar to these:

@Leo

No hidden files, and no other files whatsoever. Note that I have DOpus Prefs set to always show hidden files.

FYI, this file was a photo that my brother had just taken and sent to me by email, which I saved to a folder designated for temporary storage of any images he sends me by email while I decide what, if anything, I want to do with it. The file that the phantom Comment comes from has never been anywhere near that folder.

Relevant output of dir /r:

12-Jun-2018  17:58         3,385,987 BURST20180612174539434_COVER.jpg
                                  26 BURST20180612174539434_COVER.jpg:Zone.Identifier:$DATA

In any case, although I am no expert on Alternate Data Streams, I suspect that BURST20180612174539434_COVER.jpg:Zone.Identifier:$DATA isn’t the culprit for this particular metadata snafu, because it also exists with an identical size in the other location I copied the JPEG to, which does not exhibit the phantom Comment. Anyway, I see that you not only had different output from dir /r, the filesize of your copy of the JPEG is different from what I have here and what I uploaded in the 7-zip. What’s up with all that, and where does the ADS come from?

You're right that the Zone.Identifier is unlikely to be involved; that probably just indicates the file was saved by a web browser.

The filesize and ADS difference in my dir /r listing were due to me modifying the file and forcing an ADS comment on it. They shouldn't matter.

So far I can't explain what you're seeing, but it does look like a bug somewhere, and not something to do with the image or other data on disk.

If you come across a reliable pattern to reproduce it, or any other clues, please let us know. We'll keep an eye out for any similar reports as well, in case a cause emerges. My guess is that it will require a combination of actions (e.g. display the tooltip for image A, then B, then C).

@Leo

Here’s an interesting twist: I haven’t closed the lister window displaying the folder containing BURST20180612174539434_COVER.jpg since I noticed the phantom Comment, and it remains open now (it’s a dual horizontal with single folder tree, in case anyone is wondering) with multiple tabs in both listers. But I just opened the same folder in a new lister window (same type, which is my default), along with some other tabs displaying various related locations in preparation to move the file to other folders and see if the phantom Comment is still there, but the phantom Comment is not even displaying for that file in the same folder but new lister window.

Also, in the original lister window, I just added an actual Comment to the JPEG, which then displayed for the file via tooltip and lister description field. I went back and deleted the Comment, and the file showed no sign of any via either method.

(By the way, did you notice that in the original screenshot I uploaded for this thread, the phantom Comment was also displayed in the lister description field?)

I don’t recall at this point how long before the phantom Comment showed up the other day I had hovered over any other image files, or other files in general, to display any tooltip info, but I don’t think I had done that at all immediately prior to it. My conservative estimate would be if I did it, it would have been at least half an hour to an hour prior, and likely not in the same lister window. In any case, I hadn’t even looked at the folder containing the actual source of the phantom Comment (1970-11-10 - Boston Review of the Arts - 02[text]01.01.jpg) or done anything with that particular file in months, until after the phantom materialized.