Keywords not staying with images - URGENTLY need help!!!

[RsvlPhotoGuy]

So I tagged 4000 images in LR4, but when I view the same images in Windows or another LR4 on another computer the tags aren't showing up in the details of the image. Any suggestions why the tags aren't staying with the images? I desperatly need some help on this.

Thanks - Keith

[Brad Snyder]

Keith, how exactly did you tag the images in Lr?
What file format are the images in?
Have the images been exported from Lr?
When you say you view the images in 'Windows', what exactly does that mean?

Answers to all of these are important to figuring out what may be going astray.

[RsvlPhotoGuy]

Hi Brad - thanks for the reply.
I tagged the JPG images in the keywording section, where the big white box is.
No, I haven't exported images from LR. I haven't had to export in the past for the tag to stay with the image.
I use the Explorer window to see the hard drive, folders, etc. Clicking or scrolling over a file will display some info, tag info should show, but it doesn't.

[Brad Snyder]

Ok, in this case, Lr knows what your keywords are in its internal database.

Try an experiment, in Library module, select one of your images, verify the keywords are assigned, (in the big white box, as you say), then press Control-S. This will force a write of image metadata to the file. Then look at the file in the explorer window and see if the data is there.

Two things to be aware of.
1) In general, Lr doesn't write anything to your image files unless you specifically ask it to, or specifically configure it that way.
2) There are several ways of storing metadata (which includes keywords) in an image file, and Windows Explorer does not always play nice with all of those ways. The more modern your version of Windows, the more likely it is to be compliant. I'm not sure about Vista x32

If the experiment solves the problem, we can help you move forward.

I'm curious, if you're not exporting the images, are you making any post processing adjustments to them, e.g. exposure or cropping? If so, how are you getting the adjustments out of Lr?

[RsvlPhotoGuy]

I figured out why the images weren't keeping the tag. The Automatically Write Changes Into XMP option wasn't selected in the Catalog Settings dialog box. It was checked on my computer at home but I forgot to do that here at the office.

Your experiment didn't work LR said it was saving metadata to file but the keyword didn't show in Windows Explorer. I also tried saving metadata for the entire folder but that didn't work either.

I'm not making any adjustments to the images other than keyword entry. Some events I capture generate over 5000 images. Exposure, cropping, color adjustment, etc, need to be right at the time of capture. The event I'm working on now has 6716 images in it. I'm also having an issue with special codes I use as keywords but that's another issue.

I have done another experiment where I export images and the tag stays with the image. I might have to do this for the 4000 images I need tags for. I make the exported images smaller than the original since I don't need the tagged image original size.

[RsvlPhotoGuy]

Images are all ok now Brad. I think when I re-saved the metadata after I checked the XMP option that did the trick. Although I couldn't see it right away. Maybe my computer needed to be rebooted. I don't know for sure.

Thanks for your help Brad.