XnView Software

Procedure to reproduce this (minor) bug in v1.97 on WinXP SP3:

1. display a jpg-image containing EXIF and IPTC data in view mode, verify metadata with Edit > Properties:


2. remove all metadata with Edit > Metadata > Remove All Metadata, verify result with Edit > Properties:


3. save the modified file, verify result with Edit > Properties:


Obviously, all metadata were removed in step 2, but new EXIF data have been inserted into the image in step 3 (indicating that the image has been modified). This is not the expected result of the feature "Remove All Metadata".

The last Xnview version which completely removed EXIF data in view mode was v1.91.6, dated Oct. 2007 (yes, I found this ancient version in my backup...).

For now, the EXIF data can only be completely removed in browser mode, using a very different interface. My suggestion is to have a common interface for both browser and view mode. In addition I think the browser mode interface should be more clear in that the "OK" button is indeed the "Save" button which removes all selected metadata at once in the file(s). This interface is not consistent with other interfaces where the user is asked to explicitly save the modified file(s). Therefore, the user may be "surprised" because of this immediate action.

If you don't want Exif thumbnail when resaving, this option should work: Read/Write>Write>Jpeg>[ ]Rebuild embedded thumbnail
I undersand some browser and viewer interfaces are necessarily different because the first writes directly to file, while the other manipulates image data.

Thanks for the hint, this works.

To be frank, I wouldn't have associated this option with the observed result of the feature "Remove All Metadata". I think, rebuilding of an embedded thumbnail should be ignored by default if the file does not contain Exif data for the primary image. In this case, the embedded thumbnail should only be rebuild on explicit request (I cannot find such a explicit feature, neither "View > Rebuild Thumbnails" in browser mode nor "Rebuild Thumbnails" in the thumbnail's context menu do this job). But this is only my private opinion.