XnView Software

I think you're right in the sense that if there is no category filter selection the ALT-click behaviour is not well-defined. For instance, if I select a folder and then go to the catalog filter and ALT-click on a category I get no results. ALL does not affect the filter selection but then neither does what is currently displayed in the browser- for instance selecting a folder then going to catalog filter with global match selected the current folder display has no affect on the filter results.

It might be more transparent if, when using the catalog filter, the images currently displayed in the browser always matched the current selection and do away with the global match and current folder match options. Then when a folder is selected and then the catalog filter is selected the current folder contents are displayed and selected (ie current folder match). And if ALL is selected all images are displayed and selected (ie global match).

imo it should work like this:

user0 wrote: Mon Apr 14, 2025 4:47 pm

xnview wrote: Sun Nov 05, 2023 3:25 pm 'All' is not the same as no selection, it's all files in the catalog.

but resetting/clearing filters should revel all files, limited only by Match option:
- global - show all files in catalog
- current folder (+subfolders) - show all cataloged files from current folder (+subfolders)

Browser - Catalog filter - add Unset filters and rework Special items

mkc73 wrote: Sat Aug 23, 2025 1:06 pm Just to be clear : in the case where the category change only affects one file of the 10000 selected, all 10000 image files are updated ?

Currently yes, but shouldnt

Thanks to your detailed description I can reproduce the problem.

Even more discombobulating - if I select 10000 images, set a new category - decide actually I didn't want to do this and unset it - it still writes out all the XMP data again and there is no clean way to stop it doing this.

mkc73 wrote: Sun Aug 31, 2025 9:42 am Even more discombobulating - if I select 10000 images, set a new category - decide actually I didn't want to do this and unset it - it still writes out all the XMP data again and there is no clean way to stop it doing this.

do you want to try the beta version?

Love to - where do I find the link?

mkc73 wrote: Sun Aug 31, 2025 12:03 pm Love to - where do I find the link?

i send you a PM

This problem is supposed to be fixed in XnView MP 1.9.4. Please check and confirm the bug fix here.

Hi Pierre,

Just to be clear: change in 1.9.4 made to ensure that only images with changed metadata are written to works as expected i.e select 10000 images, make a category change that only affect one image; deselect images -> only one image written to.

However, in the course of testing 1.9.3 beta I came across a slightly unexpected behaviour which may have always been present : scrolling browser window also results in changes being written out whereas I had believed that changes were only written out on deselecting images.

This behaviour is present in 1.9.4 as well.