Dedicated XMP description/comment panel in Browser mode (always visible, rich text, large, independent tab)

[Radiance]

Feature request: Dedicated XMP description/comment panel in Browser mode (always visible, rich text, large, independent tab)

Hi XnView team and community,
I’ve been using XnView MP for years as my main image organizer (thumbnails large, folder-based workflow, copy/paste like Explorer), but there is one feature that feels like a huge missing piece in 2026:
A dedicated, always-visible panel/tab in Browser mode that shows the XMP dc:description (or IPTC Caption/Comment) as a large, readable block of rich text.
Right now the only ways to see my long notes/descriptions are:

In the Properties window (Properties Pane) → buried very far down in the XMP tab, mixed with dozens of other fields I don’t care about.
In the Info overlay (I key in viewer) → works great with custom HTML formatting (big, bold, multiline, blue, etc.), but I have to press I every time and it’s only in viewer mode, not in Browser.
In tooltip or thumbnail labels → very limited (short text, no real multiline support for paragraphs).

What I (and many illustrators/designers/moodboard creators) really need is:

An independent panel or tab in the Browser (next to Folders, Catalog, Preview, etc.) that is always visible and dedicated to showing only the XMP dc:description / Comment field.
It should display as large, rich text (multiline wrap, bigger font, bold possible, maybe even basic emotes/emoji support if possible).
Not glued as a second sub-tab behind the Properties pane. The Properties pane itself should be optional/hidable (or at least collapsible so it doesn’t take space when I only want to read notes).
This panel should update automatically when selecting a thumbnail in Browser, so I can quickly scan images + read full notes side-by-side with large thumbnails.

This is extremely useful for people working with moodboards, visual references, illustration, design research, storyboarding, etc. Being able to review hundreds of images quickly while instantly reading detailed notes/descriptions without extra clicks or switching modes would save massive time.
It’s incredible that in 2026 we still don’t have a proper way to prioritize and surface image notes/comments as a first-class, independent, always-on panel in Browser mode. Almost every other serious asset manager (digiKam, Eagle, Tonfotos, even Lightroom) has something like this.
Is this something the developers have considered? Or is there already a hidden setting/plugin/workaround I’m missing?
Thanks for any info or consideration — this would be a game-changer for a lot of creative workflows.

Also, I want to share that XnView MP + Picasa Photo Viewer is my lightweight combo for image organization, annotations & quick moodboard workflow (2026). Picassa viewer is smooth, XnView MP is useful.

[Radiance]

This would be game-changing for illustrators, designers, moodboard creators, storyboarding, visual research, and for everyone in general – reviewing hundreds of refs and images quickly while seeing detailed notes instantly.

Thank you

[jkm]

Welcome to the forums....

Thanks for your post. It's helpful to hear from other people who are using XnViewMP in such a way.

Some small notes first regarding some of the things you mentioned...

-Regarding the Info overlay (I key in Viewer): you don't have to press I every time; the function will stay on once turned on.

-What you're referring to as the "Properties Pane" is actually called the "Information Panel" or "Info Panel". Using the understood name for things will help clarify your requests and questions. The Info Panel has several tabs.

-You mention that Description is "buried far down in the XMP tab, mixed with dozens of other fields you don't care about." You evidently don't know that you can right-click on that item (or any other line) and select to add it to the Favorites panel, which is a tab on the Info Panel. You can have that field all by itself on the Favorites tab, or with whatever other data you select. Your active tab persists when you switch images, so once you bring the Favorites tab to the front, it will stay there.

But as you point out, these are single-line only displays. (Perhaps one easily made change could be to allow certain fields to be displayed multi-line.)

As for it being incredible that XnViewMP doesn't have this in 2026... Well, it doesn't surprise me at all. XnViewMP is primarily designed as an image viewer, not a metadata viewer or editor. Historically, it is not a DAM as are the other products you list. It's been an image viewer first (and it is excellent at that), with some other capabilities added on. Having something as specialized as you described, a panel dedicated to a single text field, is too niche to have ever been viewed as needed for such a product as XnViewMP. Just as you mention there are so many fields you don't care about, lots of people think the field you consider so important it needs its own dedicated panel is actually of no significance whatsoever. Different people have different needs, and catering to all of them is a challenge.

Over the last several months, however, a lot of work has gone into XnViewMP to begin to give it the capabilities a DAM should have, and to give it the capabilities of a robust organizer in addition to a viewer. You might perhaps have noticed some of these features being added in releases starting with 1.9.4 at the end of September. The work in this regard continues, but it will take some time.

That being said, I think there is some value in what you are suggesting. But I think you probably don't go far enough.

Although a dedicated panel for mere viewing of a single field would be a waste, what do you think of the following?

A panel that allows the multi-line display and editing of the most important commentary tags in a single place, with the ability to show/hide only the selected fields, chosen from:

• IPTC Title
• IPTC Description
• XMP Title
• XMP Description
• Image Description
• Document Name
• XP Title
• XP Comment
• XP Author
• XP Subject
• User Comment

I'm not sure about rich text... These fields do not natively support rich text formatting, and embedding markup characters will cause ugly compatibility issues with other applications that don't support the markup. It's one thing to do whatever you want with information the application only keeps in private storage. But for metadata that is stored in standardized fields because it must be shared, compatibility must be considered.

I'd be interested to hear your further thoughts...

[Radiance]

Welcome to the forums....

Thanks for your post. It's helpful to hear from other people who are using XnViewMP in such a way.

Some small notes first regarding some of the things you mentioned...

-Regarding the Info overlay (I key in Viewer): you don't have to press I every time; the function will stay on once turned on.

-What you're referring to as the "Properties Pane" is actually called the "Information Panel" or "Info Panel". Using the understood name for things will help clarify your requests and questions. The Info Panel has several tabs.

-You mention that Description is "buried far down in the XMP tab, mixed with dozens of other fields you don't care about." You evidently don't know that you can right-click on that item (or any other line) and select to add it to the Favorites panel, which is a tab on the Info Panel. You can have that field all by itself on the Favorites tab, or with whatever other data you select. Your active tab persists when you switch images, so once you bring the Favorites tab to the front, it will stay there.

But as you point out, these are single-line only displays. (Perhaps one easily made change could be to allow certain fields to be displayed multi-line.)

As for it being incredible that XnViewMP doesn't have this in 2026... Well, it doesn't surprise me at all. XnViewMP is primarily designed as an image viewer, not a metadata viewer or editor. Historically, it is not a DAM as are the other products you list. It's been an image viewer first (and it is excellent at that), with some other capabilities added on. Having something as specialized as you described, a panel dedicated to a single text field, is too niche to have ever been viewed as needed for such a product as XnViewMP. Just as you mention there are so many fields you don't care about, lots of people think the field you consider so important it needs its own dedicated panel is actually of no significance whatsoever. Different people have different needs, and catering to all of them is a challenge.

Over the last several months, however, a lot of work has gone into XnViewMP to begin to give it the capabilities a DAM should have, and to give it the capabilities of a robust organizer in addition to a viewer. You might perhaps have noticed some of these features being added in releases starting with 1.9.4 at the end of September. The work in this regard continues, but it will take some time.

That being said, I think there is some value in what you are suggesting. But I think you probably don't go far enough.

Although a dedicated panel for mere viewing of a single field would be a waste, what do you think of the following?

A panel that allows the multi-line display and editing of the most important commentary tags in a single place, with the ability to show/hide only the selected fields, chosen from:

• IPTC Title
• IPTC Description
• XMP Title
• XMP Description
• Image Description
• Document Name
• XP Title
• XP Comment
• XP Author
• XP Subject
• User Comment

I'm not sure about rich text... These fields do not natively support rich text formatting, and embedding markup characters will cause ugly compatibility issues with other applications that don't support the markup. It's one thing to do whatever you want with information the application only keeps in private storage. But for metadata that is stored in standardized fields because it must be shared, compatibility must be considered.

I'd be interested to hear your further thoughts...

Hi jkm,
Thanks for the reply. about the Favorites tab trick – I tried it, and it's cool to have just the description there, but it's still a single long line, no multiline wrap for paragraphs, also very small. That's why I think a dedicated tab in Browser mode that shows it as a big multiline block would be way better for quick reading while scanning thumbnails.
The reason I suggest this is because in the Info Panel, the properties can't be hidden – they stay fixed, so XMP ends up as the second tab behind them. It makes it hard to see just the description fast.
To make it clear: I get that the XMP or metadata itself is just plain text (even with emojis, I tested and it works fine in the external .xmp). My point is that this tab/window could be like a simple viewer that takes that plain text and displays it nicer – bigger font, bold, color, multiline wrap – but without changing the original XMP at all. The editing stays normal/compatible, just the display gets upgraded to "rich text view" mode, and the user can adjust the size/style if they want. Like a cool tab with display options for that text, without rewriting the normal compatible format, just the view.
About your idea: yes, that would be excellent – a window with all those fields (IPTC Title, XMP Description, User Comment, etc.), and the ability to hide or show whichever ones I want, so I can leave only the ones I need. That sounds perfect, all users will like that, especially combine with awesome text display, (that's what I meant to say that in 2026 viewing images and put notes on it should be a common feature now).
That's all I really meant – something quick and independent in Browser for reading notes easily, especially for moodboards and image review.
Thanks for considering it!

Also, Sorry for the tone and comparisons in my first post — I used an AI tool to help draft it quickly in English and didn’t review/edit it properly before sending, my first language is spanish. Those parts about digiKam, Eagle, etc., weren’t even my words; I haven’t even used those programs myself, so I didn’t mean to criticize or make XnView MP sound weird. I also want to clarify that I know the other metadata fields are very useful for many people (photographers, archivists, etc.) that part was also grok's words, not mine. — I just personally only need the description visible fast for my workflow, so I hide/collapse everything else until I need to use some of those. My only real point is the dedicated Browser panel for reading XMP description notes fast and big.

Thank you. I hope my feedback is useful too.

[jkm]

Thanks for your reply. It will all be taken into consideration. I can’t make any promises.

Communicating on forums in a different language can be a challenge. Certainly using something like Google Translate is ok if necessary.

But here, you're communicating with human beings. The people here expect the same in return. I would strongly encourage you to never again use “AI slop” to enhance your posts here. Now I learn I wasted some of my time responding to nonsense that wasn’t even from you. It’s not appreciated. At least you were honest about it, afterwards. I do thank you for that. I accept your apology, but hopefully it will not occur again.

Cheers…

[Radiance]

Thanks for your reply. It will all be taken into consideration. I can’t make any promises.

Communicating on forums in a different language can be a challenge. Certainly using something like Google Translate is ok if necessary.

But here, you're communicating with human beings. The people here expect the same in return. I would strongly encourage you to never again use “AI slop” to enhance your posts here. Now I learn I wasted some of my time responding to nonsense that wasn’t even from you. It’s not appreciated. At least you were honest about it, afterwards. I accept your apology, but hopefully it will not occur again.

Cheers…

Yeah they added unnecesary stuff. Your advice is acepted too, no more AI slop to comunicate/translate/resume from now on.

Saludos

[cicciobello]

A panel that allows the multi-line display and editing of the most important commentary tags in a single place, with the ability to show/hide only the selected fields, chosen from:

• IPTC Title
• IPTC Description
• XMP Title
• XMP Description
• Image Description
• Document Name
• XP Title
• XP Comment
• XP Author
• XP Subject
• User Comment

This is a really good idea.

I use {XMP:Description} a lot and only use XMP companion.
In the fullscreen information I display it in HTML (excellent).
In the browser (which I use 98% of the time), I put them in the tooltip (always in HTML), but in this case you can only see them by waiting with the cursor over each file, and this is not convenient.

The "Favorites" panel for tags is really excellent, but displays little text (I have {XMP:Description} that can be many lines long) and in small fonts (be patient). Long lines are truncated with "...".

I also need to quickly view descriptions (even long ones) in XMP.

I believe that the fastest solution to (partially) integrate these features into MP is to modify the existing "Favorites" panel like this:

- View the complete comment in multiple lines (be patient with the text size).
- Change color to fixed entries (example: yellow, with dark theme) to distinguish them from values.
In my case, in fact, the "description" item seems to be part of the text that I inserted in "description" (same color, same size). If I change the column width, I have little space left for the description. I could move the panels to the long side, but I prefer to maximize the browser area and keep the vertical panels at most 20% of the width of the display.

As for being able to edit the description, I currently use the "Edit XMP" dialog.
If there was the possibility to change the description within the "Favorites" panel it would be convenient, but I understand that this is a whole other game.

[Radiance]

Thanks for your reply.

Hey, I just realized that if the same [comment/info displayed] on the viewer can also be seen on the browser, maybe as a secondary Information Displayed Formatting,

the current is on
Tools > Settings > View > Info → "Information Displayed Formatting".

Maybe in the future there are two options:

Information Displayed Formatting on viewer

Information Displayed Formatting on browser

so it can be formatted differently from the viewer one, and also the viewer one can stay always displayed with I, while the user can choose to view/hide the one on browser as they like with another key.
Because that pretty much solves it using something that the program already has.


cheers. also cool insect emotes

[jkm]

Hey, I just realized that if the same [comment/info displayed] on the viewer can also be seen on the browser, maybe as a secondary Information Displayed Formatting,

Seen on the browser how? As an overlay? And how does the app know which file to show the info for, except by mouseover? And that function already exists: Tooltips.

Speaking of which, I want to circle back to something you said in your original post:

In tooltip or thumbnail labels → very limited (short text, no real multiline support for paragraphs).

That is true for Labels, but it’s not true for Tooltips.

Tooltips support VERY long text in appropriate fields, like IPTC:Caption or XMP:Description, and multi-line paragraph style text wraps just fine. Try it.

So other than a lack of formatting like a selectable font, what’s wrong with Tooltips?

[jkm]

In the browser (which I use 98% of the time), I put them in the tooltip (always in HTML), but in this case you can only see them by waiting with the cursor over each file, and this is not convenient.

Following up on Tooltips, not convenient how?

Yes, mouseover is required, but the wait time is very short. Additionally, to display the information in a panel, you would actually have to cursor-to or click an image to select it, before the panel would show the information. So I'm not seeing how a panel is more convenient in any significant way, at least for simple viewing.

For editing, as I said earlier, it would be a totally different story. Tooltips are useless for editing, and a panel would work well. That's why I'm positing a combination display/editor panel. For just display, it doesn't seem a needed addition to me. It's not my intention to argue it; I want to know if I'm missing something.

[Radiance]

Hey, I just realized that if the same [comment/info displayed] on the viewer can also be seen on the browser, maybe as a secondary Information Displayed Formatting,

Seen on the browser how? As an overlay? And how does the app know which file to show the info for, except by mouseover? And that function already exists: Tooltips.

Exactly, an overlay. It will be seen above some folders or thumbnails just a little bit. I use the bottom left position to place it in Viewer; I can see the image and the little box info overlay doesn't bother me, even on top of some parts of the image. I imagine the same overlay on browser, on where I would use just a little small text format, but still visible fast.

Speaking of which, I want to circle back to something you said in your original post:

In tooltip or thumbnail labels → very limited (short text, no real multiline support for paragraphs).

That is true for Labels, but it’s not true for Tooltips.

Tooltips support VERY long text in appropriate fields, like IPTC:Caption or XMP:Description, and multi-line paragraph style text wraps just fine. Try it.

So other than a lack of formatting like a selectable font, what’s wrong with Tooltips?

I have set Tooltips too, I put the comments there too, I just use XMP sidecar and comment stored on descript.ion file. So with that two lines of text is enough for me. Its good to know I can have a lot more text on appropiate fields, thank you.

But I must say that the waiting time for the tooltips, even if is just 1 or 2 seconds, is still a "stop, wait" for it to show it, and that slows down fast workflows, quick scans and reads of files, and general flow in my opinion. So it is much more appreciated an info/comment that is just displayed there of course when you click/touch an image, and then start moving with the arrows on the folder for example, or just scroll and click any image, and the info changes for each image with comments, no waiting, instant display of the info/comment overlay there at the botton left on the browser.

I think the mouse hover can stays as it is with the tooltips only, If one want to see the overlay comment/info just click/touch one image.

I use it like this:

"Information Displayed Formatting"

{XMP:Description}

{Annotation}

I set the font, size, color and background color opacity, and the overlay is clean, displaying on the Viewer while I watch the images. The same overlay on the Browser will work just fine. I suggest two options in settings or a duplicated option for each (Browser/Viewer), so we can make it a little smaller on the Browser with maybe a different color, and set a big display on the Viewer. Fast overlay/info view in both places; I will put them both on the bottom left, easy to find and read.

It can be enhanced with your idea of editing it all others infos/comments too, with a shortcut key. For example, in my case, if I is for showing it on the Viewer, maybe another key opens the editor menu to choose any or just shortcuts to quickly edit each one of them. Also, being able to edit XMP on the Viewer would be cool. I have set a shortcut for "editing XMP" and also for "edit comment descript.ion", but the XMP doesn't work there on Viewer, only the "edit comment (descript.ion)" can be used on Viewer directly but is bugged or don't save properly there. (I don't know about the others infos) but only on the Browser the editing works.

My suggestion is for a solution that could be implemented without having to create a whole new panel to save developers time. by instead duplicating the current one on Viewer for Browser. And allowing editing of XMP on both Viewer/Browser (and any other info if missing yet) and that it functions with the already-existing shortcuts for quick edits.

And also the overlay could be as small as is set with the font size, so it won't occupy too much fixed space on the UI that the panels normally use on the Browser, it won't mess with people's current XnViewMP layouts.

[cicciobello]

In the browser (which I use 98% of the time), I put them in the tooltip (always in HTML), but in this case you can only see them by waiting with the cursor over each file, and this is not convenient.

Following up on Tooltips, not convenient how?
Yes, mouseover is required, but the wait time is very short.

When you have hundreds of images, moving the mouse and waiting for the tooltip takes too long.
Try moving between images with the keyboard (arrow keys, page up/down). Or, by typing a character (or two, quickly) you can move to the file that starts with that character.
In this case, you can read the data you are interested in instantly in the "Favorites" window.

Much, much faster than using the mouse.

[jkm]

But I must say that the waiting time for the tooltips, even if is just 1 or 2 seconds, is still a "stop, wait" for it to show it, and that slows down fast workflows, quick scans and reads of files,

Seconds? You're aware you can reduce the tooltip delay to whatever you want by altering the MouseHoverTime registry setting, right? When I mouse between images in XnViewMP, the tooltip display is almost instant.

[When you have hundreds of images, moving the mouse and waiting for the tooltip takes too long.
Try moving between images with the keyboard (arrow keys, page up/down).

Only if you are reviewing every image in sequence, where it takes 1 keypress (left,right) to get to the next image. But if you're examining only selected images, then the images can be several keystrokes apart on the screen. Mouse is faster than hitting keys 4,5,6,8,10 times. PgUp/Dn is irrelevant, because it takes you to an unknown, off-screen image, not a specific image you've selected.

When considering efficiency of an interface, human behaviour and reactions must also be considered. The real advantage of a static panel vs tooltips in terms of potential maximum speed is that the panel is always in the same position. When anything changes on the screen, especially with text, it takes the brain a period to reassess what is there and acquire the target for focus (reading) and this is measured, minimally, in hundreds of milliseconds. With tooltips, even if the delay on the tooltip is zero (which you can set), every time the tooltip appears, it is in a different place on the screen. This slows the ability of the brain to reacquire and recognize the text. With a static panel, you can blindly hit an arrow key to advance, keeping your eyes fixed to the same spot to read the text as it changes. Even this speed advantage is nullified to an extent if you are examining the image as well; then your eyes move back and forth and your focus shifts.

But if you're selecting images with the mouse, a fixed panel might again be slower. You have to look where you're pointing to select the image, and then your eyes need to redirect and refocus on the panel which is elsewhere on the screen; whereas the tooltip will appear right where you're looking.

Some people just prefer the keyboard, and some just prefer the mouse. How efficient an interface is in terms of maximum speed and economy of motion will greatly depend on user behavior and what sort of workflow they choose. What's faster for one person might be slower for another.

All that being said, it's important to recognize that XnViewMP has always primarily been a viewer or something of a general purpose app; it's not optimized to be a high-speed culler or annotator. As I think you've seen over the last few months, great strides have been made in enhancing its organizational capabilities, and giving it functionality that goes beyond being a simple viewer and more towards the sorts of things a sophisticated DAM can do.

When creating new functionality for the app, the general goal is to create maximum utility for the greatest number of people. Things that only benefit small numbers of users, or speed increases in very niche scenarios are of lesser priority.

I think existing tooltips provide good utility for viewing info, but a panel for combination viewing/editing would provide greatly increased efficiency for workflows where frequent information update or commentary is required. The Categories panel is relatively efficient for applying preset keywords, but currently there is not an efficient means to enter a short unique text description for each image. That currently involves going into a dialog, selecting a tab and finding a field, entering something, writing it to file, etc, repeat. Very clunky if you want to add descriptions to large numbers of images.

Thank you all for your comments. This has been a good conversation... I can't make any promises of course, and there are other things on the roadmap first, but I'm hopeful something can be done along these lines in the future.