XnView Software

Hello all,

First post here. I am just learning this software and am excited about it's possibilities. I will probably be asking a lot of newbie questions that I cannot find the answers to with searches (I try my best to not ask duplicate questions). First up is if it is possible to add Labels to my, er, Labels in Thumbnail+Label view. Basically something that will remind me what I am seeing. As the example I included in the title, I would like to see the field I set up for EXIF: Date Taken to have a label preceding the information which reads "EXIF Date Taken:" so that the who field would read out:

"EXIF Date Taken: 7/31/2022 7:43 am"

Is this possible? I assume I would have to use a custom field to do this?

Also, can I have the Exif: Date Taken display with the seconds as well, and not just the hour and minute?

Lastly, I also have read that I cannot use XML or MXP information for the labels in Thumbnail. Is this still the case?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Welcome to the XnView forum and thank you for your first request, Damit! Always good to read from people that are excited about XnView.

Damit wrote: Mon Aug 01, 2022 5:48 pm...
EXIF Date Taken: 7/31/2022 7:43 am
...

For time format XnView MP supports 24hour format, only, so you cannot 100% get what you want but you can get close:
In "Tools > Settings | Browser | Thumbnail | Labels" you'll find all settings that refer to thumbnail labels. There you add one of the five custom fields and then set the custom field to "EXIF Date Taken: {EXIF:Date Taken [m/d/Y H:M]}" (without double quotes). If you want seconds included, then please set custom field to "EXIF Date Taken: {EXIF:Date Taken [m/d/Y H:M:S]}" (again without double quotes).

Damit wrote: Mon Aug 01, 2022 5:48 pm... Lastly, I also have read that I cannot use XML or MXP information for the labels in Thumbnail. Is this still the case?..

FAIK, you can use various info including EXIF and IPTC but I don't think that you can use XML or XMP (I assume that you meant XMP) but I'm guessing here.

Thank you so much, helmut! I really appreciate your help. It worked! I was hoping I would not have to use a custom field, but I guess we have 5 of them. I assume there is no way to get more custom fields. Hopefully it will be sufficient.

I am very excited about what this program can do. It was suggested to me in the Mp3Tag (an awesome program for tagging music) forum. I have been searching for years, constantly switching between Zoner, Bridge, Lightroom, & ACDSee for organizing and eventually tagging my photos and videos and have never been satisfied.

Sometimes I wonder if there may be something off with my system because things move sooo slow no matter how much money I throw at the problem.
I have tried others, and perhaps this before, but what I have found playing with this version of XMViewMP has me excited that it can serve some of the primary functions for which I used the other programs. It does seem to be faster, less buggy and more customizable than any program I have used.

If it serves my needs, I will definitely support it as I do MP3Tag. I think I have given MP3Tag more money than any other program I own, even though it is free, because I really value the utility it provides me. I hope I find the same here.

I tried to combine two values in one custom field, as I saw it was done in the preset custom field, but it did not work. Here is what I tried:
EXIF Date Taken: {EXIF:Date Taken [m/d/Y H:M:S]} EXIF Date Mod: {EXIF:Date Modified [m/d/Y H:M:S]}

The Date Take portion works but the Date Modified does not. What I get is this: EXIF:Date Taken 7/22/2022 12:41:39 EXIF Date Mod: {EXIF:Date Modified [m/d/Y H:M:S]}

I even tried the EXIF Date Mod: {EXIF:Date Modified [m/d/Y H:M:S]} by itself in another custom field but that did not work either. I cannot figure out why this does not work. Any ideas?

Maybe {EXIF:Modified Date [m/d/Y H:M:S]} ?

michel038 wrote: Tue Aug 02, 2022 9:00 am Maybe {EXIF:Modified Date [m/d/Y H:M:S]} ?

Unfortunately that did not work either. I just get the text: {EXIF:Modified Date [m/d/Y H:M:S]}

michel038 wrote: Tue Aug 02, 2022 9:00 am Maybe {EXIF:Modified Date [m/d/Y H:M:S]} ?

Hmm, is there a modified date in EXIF at all? I know of "Date Taken" but not of "Date modified" in EXIF. If you want the modified date of the file you can insert placeholder {Modified Date [m/d/Y H:M:S]}

PS: When editing custom thumbnail labels there is a button [>>] at the very right of the field. After pressing [>>] you'll see a menu with all available placeholders. When selecting a menu item the appropriate placeholder is inserted in the field.

PPS: Thank you for your nice story above, Damit. Sure enough it would be appreciated if you supported XnView be it by recommending XnView MP or by donating to Pierre, the author of XnView. But please first continue using XnView for a while and then see and decide.

michel038 wrote: Tue Aug 02, 2022 9:00 am Maybe {EXIF:Modified Date [m/d/Y H:M:S]} ?

Sorry it was a mistake, I was remembering file modified date instead of exif field

Then I tried (Custom) {EXIF:Date [Y-m-d_H-M-S]} , it seems to be working.
(Name of this field for ExifTool = exif:ModifyDate without space )
In XnViewMP, it's displayed Modify Date (in ExifTool tab of Information area)

Ah, so it had to do with the field title. Makes sense. Is there a map of field titles for IPTC and EXIF used in XnView MP? I did some searching and EXIF standard definition are "DateTime" and "DateTime Original", which, I believe, correlate to Date Taken and Date Modified. It seems that in XnView they are designated as "Date Taken" and "Date."

Without a map this may be confusing, so hopefully there is one that can be used as a reference.

Damit wrote: Tue Aug 02, 2022 7:01 pm ... Is there a map of field titles for IPTC and EXIF used in XnView MP? ...

FAIk, there is no such map. In Wiki for XnView MP you'll find a list of the date variables and some additional information, only. But as written above when editing a custom thumbnail label there is a button [>>] at the very right of the edittext field. After pressing [>>] you'll see a menu with all available fields/placeholders. When selecting a menu item the appropriate placeholder is inserted in the field.