It looks like I might have accidentally tagged over 500 files with a keyword. All of the files are in the Pending Meta Data Write-Back collection. How do I remove the tag from each file? Is there a way to make sure that was the only incidental change? Maybe I accidentally did 2 tags or perhaps I did some facial recognition that I want to keep?
Quote from: bobneedshelp on June 01, 2025, 10:56:03 PMIt looks like I might have accidentally tagged over 500 files with a keyword. All of the files are in the Pending Meta Data Write-Back collection. How do I remove the tag from each file?
You can select all the affected files and open the Keywords panel. Any keyword that exists in all the files should appear in bold text. If you Ctrl-click on that keyword, it will become crossed out. If you then click the green check mark, that keyword will be deleted from all the selected files and the database will be updated. If you change your mind about the deletion, click the red X instead to cancel, and nothing will be changed.
If the common keyword really does belong in some of those files, but not all of them, I don't know how you would isolate only the mistakes for deletion other than by selecting each file individually, or in small groups of similar images, and deciding whether or not to delete the keyword.
QuoteIs there a way to make sure that was the only incidental change? Maybe I accidentally did 2 tags
Then look for two (or more) keywords that appear in all the files and decide if you entered them by mistake.
Quoteor perhaps I did some facial recognition that I want to keep?
I don't understand what you're asking about there.
The steps @sybersitizen describes are the way to do it.
Selecting multiple files shows you a "merged" view of the keywords of all of these files in the Keywords Panel.
You can now remove (or add) keywords and IMatch removes (or adds) all of these keywords from/to all selected files.
Tip: To see all files with the "wrong" keyword, go to the Category View and select the @Keywords category for that keyword. You can then simply select the files which should not have the keyword (manually or by searching in the File Window Search Bar or by using the Quick Filter or Filter Panel) and remove the keyword by pressing <U>.
Quoteor perhaps I did some facial recognition that I want to keep?
A better way for me to ask this is: "Is there a history component that shows all of the changes made?" I did find a history view (so I can see when the changes were made and that they were made to the metadata only). No facial recognition, annotations, ... were recorded in the history. This in itself was helpful as I can see when the changes were made and that it was only made to Metadata, but I don't know what metadata was changed.
The history view was helpful as I could go back to a backup if I wanted and know which one I would select. I decide just to make modifications to keywords as you suggested above. Thanks for the help. It would be a great feature request to know exactly what Metadata was changed.
IMatch records a file history: The History Panel (https://www.photools.com/help/imatch/panel_hist.htm?dl=hid-1)
IMatch also records when files were added, viewed or modified (any modification, not just metadata) in Collections (https://www.photools.com/help/imatch/col_basics.htm?dl=hid-1)
All files with modified and pending metadata are marked as pending for write-back and available in the corresponding collection.
The features enable you to quickly find the files which you have accidentally modified (if you recall the day).
Since you know that keywords were changed by you, you can select the files, remove the unwanted keyword in the Keywords Panel and continue with your work.
IMatch does not record every metadata change you make and the before and after.
I doubt many users would ever have a need for such a feature, because it would:
a) quickly clog up the database and
b) accidental change of metadata is pretty rare
If you have made changes in the database and you want to undo everything, you can force-reload the metadata with Shift+Ctrl
F5 > Reload Metadata. This reloads the metadata from the file.
Tip: When you accidentally change metadata and you confirm it in the Metadata Panel, just use Edit menu > Undo or press <Ctrl>+<Z> to undo the changes.