Hello
I use XnView MP for my personal photos. I last updated to version 1.11.5 at the end of June. Before going on vacation, I last saved, captioned, and categorized my photos. Everything was working fine. The only issue was that, for newly categorized photos, the small flag in the thumbnail view was sometimes not displayed. However, the corresponding category box was still checked in the tab. To check if everything is alright, I switched to a different folder, switched back and then the small flag was visible.
Today, I wanted to edit new photos and noticed that the categories are missing from all my photos!!!
All other information (captions, location, etc.) is still there.
Can anyone help me figure out what to do to "restore" the my categories?
I'm quite lost...
Many thanks in advance for your help!
Categories are missing from all photos
Moderator: xnview
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jkm
- Posts: 710
- Joined: Sat May 11, 2024 12:43 am
Re: Categories are missing from all photos
Welcome to the forums...
Did you make any backups of your XnviewMP database, like using automated backup software? It's a good practice to have backups.
If not, you can post screenshots of the following screens (assuming it's the same as it was), so we can see how your app was configured; that way we'll know how metadata was being stored.
Settings:Metadata
Settings:Metadata:Sidecar
Settings:Catalog
Did you make any backups of your XnviewMP database, like using automated backup software? It's a good practice to have backups.
If not, you can post screenshots of the following screens (assuming it's the same as it was), so we can see how your app was configured; that way we'll know how metadata was being stored.
Settings:Metadata
Settings:Metadata:Sidecar
Settings:Catalog
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kyriora
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2026 3:02 pm
Re: Categories are missing from all photos
Hi jkm
Thank you for getting in touch.
I do have a backup - it's even located somewhere else in case of fire
. But I do this only once a year, so the last 10 months would be lost.
The screenshots are attached.
Thank you for getting in touch.
I do have a backup - it's even located somewhere else in case of fire
. But I do this only once a year, so the last 10 months would be lost.The screenshots are attached.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
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jkm
- Posts: 710
- Joined: Sat May 11, 2024 12:43 am
Re: Categories are missing from all photos
Thanks for the screenshots, that helps.
A couple of tips:
-Backups that aren't recent enough to be useful have little value. I suggest you implement some backup software that creates more frequent snapshots (like nightly) of your filesystem, or at least of critical files.
-Your XnViewMP settings are not well suited to data preservation; some information is stored in the database and nowhere else. I would recommend you either enable sidecar files, or enable all export options in Settings:Metadata. (basically: check every box on that page, but leave "Read Hierarchical keywords" unmodified.) That way, data is also stored on the filesystem, outside the database.
-If you use raw files or other formats that don't support metadata, enable sidecar files. (The "Update master file" checkbox will redundantly write the metadata to the image file as well if possible (like JPEG). Without sidecar files, for some file types it is impossible to store the metadata outside the database, because the file formats themselves can't contain it.
-Since you were not writing "Hierarchical Keywords", hierarchy information would have been lost.
(What XnViewMP calls "Categories" are in many other applications called "Keywords".)
The way your settings are configured (assuming they were always set this way), Categories should have been written to the actual image files, for those file types that support it. JPEG, for example, supports it. If you were keywording file types that don't support that type of metadata (like some raw files), keywords for those raw files would be lost. (See the tips above)
You can test that by looking at the properties of a file in Windows Explorer. If the Categories were written to the file, you will see them appear in the "Tags" field of the details tab of properties. If you do not see the categories there, you are out of luck.
For files that show the keywords as described above, you should be able to "restore" them into the database by selecting the file in XnViewMP, and then doing Metadata->Update Catalog from files. I suggest doing that on one or just a few files first to see if it produces a desirable result.
There is a problem with doing this, though. That command will overwrite the database information with the information from the file, including empty or null values, so you can lose information that is still in the database, but is NOT in the file.
For example, you were unfortunately configured to NOT write Ratings to the file. If an image is rated in the db, but has no keywords/categories, but the file itself has the keyword but no rating, then when you "Update catalog from files" the database will gain the category but lose the rating. That is a consequence of inappropriate settings.
With a bit of cleverness, you can work around simple issues like that for rating or color. For example, simply act on files that have "3-star" ratings as a group: the db record of the rating will be lost, but then you can immediately retag the files as 3-star. You would have to do that individually for each star rating and color. An annoyance, but manageable.
Hopefully this helps... Good luck.
A couple of tips:
-Backups that aren't recent enough to be useful have little value. I suggest you implement some backup software that creates more frequent snapshots (like nightly) of your filesystem, or at least of critical files.
-Your XnViewMP settings are not well suited to data preservation; some information is stored in the database and nowhere else. I would recommend you either enable sidecar files, or enable all export options in Settings:Metadata. (basically: check every box on that page, but leave "Read Hierarchical keywords" unmodified.) That way, data is also stored on the filesystem, outside the database.
-If you use raw files or other formats that don't support metadata, enable sidecar files. (The "Update master file" checkbox will redundantly write the metadata to the image file as well if possible (like JPEG). Without sidecar files, for some file types it is impossible to store the metadata outside the database, because the file formats themselves can't contain it.
-Since you were not writing "Hierarchical Keywords", hierarchy information would have been lost.
(What XnViewMP calls "Categories" are in many other applications called "Keywords".)
The way your settings are configured (assuming they were always set this way), Categories should have been written to the actual image files, for those file types that support it. JPEG, for example, supports it. If you were keywording file types that don't support that type of metadata (like some raw files), keywords for those raw files would be lost. (See the tips above)
You can test that by looking at the properties of a file in Windows Explorer. If the Categories were written to the file, you will see them appear in the "Tags" field of the details tab of properties. If you do not see the categories there, you are out of luck.
For files that show the keywords as described above, you should be able to "restore" them into the database by selecting the file in XnViewMP, and then doing Metadata->Update Catalog from files. I suggest doing that on one or just a few files first to see if it produces a desirable result.
There is a problem with doing this, though. That command will overwrite the database information with the information from the file, including empty or null values, so you can lose information that is still in the database, but is NOT in the file.
For example, you were unfortunately configured to NOT write Ratings to the file. If an image is rated in the db, but has no keywords/categories, but the file itself has the keyword but no rating, then when you "Update catalog from files" the database will gain the category but lose the rating. That is a consequence of inappropriate settings.
With a bit of cleverness, you can work around simple issues like that for rating or color. For example, simply act on files that have "3-star" ratings as a group: the db record of the rating will be lost, but then you can immediately retag the files as 3-star. You would have to do that individually for each star rating and color. An annoyance, but manageable.
Hopefully this helps... Good luck.
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kyriora
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2026 3:02 pm
Re: Categories are missing from all photos
Hi jkm
Ok, thank you for your help. I'll check/try that.
Have a good one
Ok, thank you for your help. I'll check/try that.
Have a good one
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user0
- XnThusiast
- Posts: 3120
- Joined: Sat May 09, 2015 9:37 am
Re: Categories are missing from all photos
How to fix missing metadata after moving fileskyriora wrote: Wed Aug 12, 2026 3:23 pm Can anyone help me figure out what to do to "restore" the my categories?
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kyriora
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2026 3:02 pm
Re: Categories are missing from all photos
Just wanted to let you know that my categories are "back". No idea about the reason, I didn't do anything. I only had to categorise the newest photos again. So, I'm very happy as you can imagine. Thank you for your support/advice.