Reinstallation of XP view - categories gone

[Minigini]

Two years ago I started categorizing all of my photos using XP View MP / XP View. A few weeks ago our computer was set up again and all programs were deleted. When I reloaded your program on the computer, I noticed that the work for the last two years was gone, as no photo was assigned to any (or different) categories. I've tried both XP view and XP view MP.

Can you help me to solve this problem?

[xnview]

do you have made a backup of database?

[Minigini]

Unfortunately not. I assumed that the categories would be stored in the metadata of the image. However, contrary to expectations, all my files on the computer were still preserved when I got it back from the repair.

Could the data still be hidden somewhere on the computer?

Is it possible to save the categories in the metadata of the photos instead of the database with XN View MP/xn view classic?

[cday]

Unfortunately not. I assumed that the categories would be stored in the metadata of the image. However, contrary to expectations, all my files on the computer were still preserved when I got it back from the repair. Could the data still be hidden somewhere on the computer?

If you are using XnView MP, browse to Tools > Settings > Integration and open the database locations shown to see if there are files there.

A possible complication is that the location of the database files is selectable, as you will see, but if you used the default locations before, a clean re-installation of XnView MP should restore those locations. If you in fact changed the database file locations, I'm not sure whether a re-installation would automatically find them, but in any case you can select each of the available alternative locations to see if the files are there.

As a general principle, probably best to backup database files periodically anyway in case of a catastrophic failure such as a disk crash!

[Minigini]

Thank you - unfortunately it didn't work either.

Is there a way to store the categories directly in the metadata of the photos?

[michel038]

Yes, I tried to explain this here
https://forum.xnview.com/viewtopic.php? ... f352143540

For photos already categorized, with export options enabled , a method is to select all files having a specific category (click the category in categories filter pane), uncheck category, wait a short while, check back and release selection. When selection is released, keywords are written according to "export" options in settings, metadata window.

[Minigini]

Un grand merci! Je vais essayer et réaffecter mes photos à différentes catégories. C’est peut-être aussi une bonne occasion de se séparer de certaines photos ou d’organiser les catégories différemment.