Just another 'Adobe Metadata Mess' example

[loweskid]

After keywording some images with IMatch I was later viewing the folder in Adobe Bridge and I noticed that on some files (but not all) the keywords were showing twice.  I viewed one of the files in both Bridge and IMatch at the same time and took a screenshot - see attached. On the left is the Bridge metadata panel and on the right is IMatch.  If I open the file in Photoshop that is also showing double keywords but other non-Adobe software (IMatch, IMatch 3, Windows Explorer) just shows a single set of keywords.

It's not a problem, I'm sure it's just an Adobe 'feature', and I don't expect anyone (certainly not Mario) to waste any time trying to figure out what's going on here.  I'm just curious if anyone else has come across this and to show an example of Adobe 'metadata mess'.

[Mario]

Strange. Never saw that and I use Ps and Lr.
Maybe your keyword flattering or keyword list in Lr causes this when Lr merges keywords...?

[loweskid]

I have Lightroom installed but only use it for the LRTimelapse plug-in, so these images have never been touched by LR.  I have only ever used IMatch for keywording, right from IMatch 3 - never Bridge or LR.   Anyway, the images in question were destined for the Alamy photo agency and have all passed quality control today - with just the one set of keywords showing..

When I get some spare time I'll delve into it and see if I can reproduce it - I'm curious.

[Mario]

You can use the ExifTool Command Processor in IMatch to see the raw metadata in the file.
Run the "List Metadata" and then use the search box to check for Keywords and Subject. If there are no dupes in the file, Ps / Lr are making them up somehow.

[loweskid]

I've figured it out.  Basically, Adobe Bridge will allow the same keyword to be entered multiple times.  See attached - I've entered the word 'test' five times directly into the Bridge metadata panel.  Bridge and Exiftool show the five keywords but IMatch ignores the duplicates.

This came about because I had entered some keywords in the wrong files so I had Bridge and IMatch open at the same time and was using copy/paste to transfer the keywords to the correct files.  I must have somehow pasted the keywords back into Bridge - not sure how but I'll not be using this method again so I'm not going to waste any time trying to remember.

It was easy to get rid of the duplicates - in IMatch I clicked the pencil icon in the metadata panel to mark the field as modified, saved to the database then did a write-back.  This cleared the duplicates.

Incidentally, in Bridge if you switch to the 'Keywords' workspace and try to enter a duplicate it throws up a warning and won't allow the duplicate to be entered.  But using the default 'Essentials' workspace you can enter a keyword as many times as you like with no warnings.  Bizarre or what? 

[Mario]

Neat analysis.

Bizarre or what?

All software has bugs
There is probably a way to report bugs to Adobe?

[Carlo Didier]

Neat analysis.

Bizarre or what?

All software has bugs
There is probably a way to report bugs to Adobe?

Probably, but they'll also probably either deny it or ignore it ...