I'm scared. Please help me make sure I don't do something stupid.
With 24,344 categories I think it is time for some cleanup.
Attached is a partial screen shot of my Categories. I believe the category (highlighted) IPTC Keyword are leftovers from IM3.x before I upgraded to the current system of IM5.x data driven Keyword categories. Can I just right click on IPTC Keyword and Delete? Can I do this without affecting the keywords already in image files?
IM v5.8.2 on Win 10.
Thanks for helping me reduce my heart rate!
1. Make a backup copy of your database. Just copy the file in Windows Explorer.
2. The IPTC Keyword category in your screen shot looks like a normal category to me (not a data-driven category).
Note: The only category for which IMatch mirrors changes back into the keywords in your files is @Keywords. And you cannot delete @Keywords anyway.
3. Delete the IPTC category. May take a bit, depending on the speed of your computer.
4- Afterwards, run a database diagnosis and then a Compact & Optimize to reclaim the disk space used by this large category set.
Thanks Mario.
24,344 categories reduced to 12,721. IM start time of 22 seconds (database and some files on solid state disk) reduced to 16 seconds.
I suspect going from the Folders tab to the Categories tab will now be a bit quicker but I forgot to take a "before" reading. That trip was getting to be a bit long on my otherwise fast system.
Thanks again!