XnView MP 1.10.5 64-bit on Windows 11.
Reproduce steps:
1. Open some image that contains EXIF data
2. In main menu choose Metadata->Clean metadata...
3. Ensure all checkboxes are selected, confirm by clicking OK
4. Save image
5. Right click on image->Properties, go to EXIF tab
6. All data are still here and not removed
Switching to next/previous image and back doesn't help. You need to restart the app to see that the data was removed. ExifTool tab is updated btw, the problem is only with EXIF tab.
Please fix. It leads to confusion when you check the tab to confirm that the data was removed.
EXIF data in image properties is not updated after cleaning metadata
Moderators: xnview, Dreamer
-
teslasystems
- Posts: 5
- Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2025 3:09 am
-
jkm
- Posts: 422
- Joined: Sat May 11, 2024 12:43 am
Re: EXIF data in image properties is not updated after cleaning metadata
I agree, this is poor behavior.
It's actually worse than you realize. If sidecar files are turned on, data is not removed from the sidecar file at all. That's a second problem, and it leads to a third problem...
You do not actually have to restart the app for the metadata changes to be recognized. If you do a Metadata->Update Catalog from files, the database (and thus the EXIF tab) will then show the refreshed data. But because the metadata was not removed from the XMP sidecar file, that metadata is re-imported into the database when Update Catalog from Files is performed. That's the third problem; the deleted metadata is effectively undeleted.
Unfortunately, this is another aspect of a longstanding problem, where certain metadata editing activities (like Edit XMP, Edit IPTC) do not force updates to the database, which then requires the user to manually "Update Catalog from Files". So that's a known issue.
It's actually worse than you realize. If sidecar files are turned on, data is not removed from the sidecar file at all. That's a second problem, and it leads to a third problem...
You do not actually have to restart the app for the metadata changes to be recognized. If you do a Metadata->Update Catalog from files, the database (and thus the EXIF tab) will then show the refreshed data. But because the metadata was not removed from the XMP sidecar file, that metadata is re-imported into the database when Update Catalog from Files is performed. That's the third problem; the deleted metadata is effectively undeleted.
Unfortunately, this is another aspect of a longstanding problem, where certain metadata editing activities (like Edit XMP, Edit IPTC) do not force updates to the database, which then requires the user to manually "Update Catalog from Files". So that's a known issue.