Migrate from ThumbsPlus to XnView

[Juliennn]

Hi everyone,

I would like to migrate from (old) ThumbsPlus software to XnView.
To be fully honest I have no idea how to proceed because I have 1 custom field on my pictures on ThumbsPlus and I would like to keep it on the new solution.
I exported the database, it looks similar to CSV in structure (or I can eventually transform the format to CSV), but is one single huge file containing all the informations of the pictures, including the path, the names, and the metadata fields with values.

Do you have a procedure I can try to import this or part of it to XnView?
Do you think I can keep all metadata fields, even custom fields I created with the migration?

Thank you for your time reading me

[michel038]

Which format for the pictures ? Jpg only ?
If yes, a method could be to use ExifTool and embed metadata in the photos (as iptc or xmp, xmp format can handle custom fields) ;
Then, "import" jpegs in XnViewMP, it will read embedded metadata...

Can you show a small sample of the exported DB ? (headers and 2 or 3 lines of data)
Do you think you would be able to use sqlite db browser ? (I'm not !)

[Juliennn]

Hi Michel,

There are multiple types of files, main part is indeed JPG, but there are some TIF files, some GIF (few),

The ThumbsPlus export has a lot of different columns, one with the file path, one with the file name, then sizes, etc... also including a "user fields" column which seems to contain lot of fields (like comment, location, type, whatever) that seems to be created by users (like annotations maybe), and all separated by ";" in the values fields.
File is quite complex to be honest... but is somehow just kind of a .csv, so I guess it can be used...
I also converted it to Excel.

I am familiar with SQL, but I already have the file in csv format, what do you suggest with SQL?

I added a "two lines extraction" from the original export, it contains the header row, and 2 example rows.

Thank you

[michel038]

The first question I should have asked is: Is the information you've added to photos with TB present in the iptc or xmp metadata of those photos?
To check : select a photo in XnViewMP browser and show Iptc or Xmp tab in "Information" pane.

If they are, enable the "Import" options in Settings>Metadata, and use Settings>Catalog> "Add Folders" button.
(XnViewMP is able to import some xmp or iptc metadata in it's catalog : keywords, ratings, color labels, face tags only. Other metadata can be edited or found in searches, but are not handled in the catalog)

If not, it's perhaps possible with ThumbsPlus to force writing metadata in the photos ? (or in xmp sidecar files)
I don't remember if Gif and Tiff formats support embedded metadata.
Otherwise, i think it will be a bit difficult to build a compatible database, I'm not able to help much more. Maybe create a sample db for 2 or 3 photos in XnViewMP, then open it (file=xnview.db) with sqlite, and update the tables found with your own data ?