Bug 372158

Summary:	Allow changing metadata of multiple images at once
Product:	[Applications] digikam	Reporter:	Simon <freisim93>
Component:	Plugin-Generic-MetadataEdit	Assignee:	Digikam Developers <digikam-bugs-null>
Status:	REPORTED ---
Severity:	wishlist	CC:	adrien.cordonnier, caulier.gilles, iwannaberich, kde-bugs, metzpinguin, randy.wolf
Priority:	NOR
Version:	5.3.0
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Other
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Simon 2016-11-06 21:33:02 UTC

Maybe I am mistaken but as far as I can see, there is no possibility to batch edit metadata. You can edit metadata one by one in the metadata editor or you can apply a template in the BQM. Both are way too cumbersome for an easy task like adding a photographer name to the "Artist" field of several images.
 
What I would like to see is the possibility to select multiple images and fire up the metadata editor to apply changes to all the selected images simultaneously.

The case where images already contain differing metadata could be solved by either greying these conflicting fields out or adding a placeholder like "multiple values".

Comment 1 Kristian 2017-05-24 15:10:00 UTC

I'd like to see this feature, too.

Apparently, this workaround does not work anymore since digikam 5.0.0: https://scribblesandsnaps.com/2013/08/07/apply-exif-metadata-to-multiple-photos-in-digikam/

Can somebody confirm?

Comment 2 Adrien Cordonnier 2017-09-19 14:08:05 UTC

I confirm this bug with digikam 5.3 (Debian stable).

My workflow was:
1. Search tab / Advanced search / search for a specific camera model
2. Select all (Ctrl+A)
3. menu Item / Modify metadata
4. check Name and Author checkboxes and type the camera owner's name twice
5. click Next

Steps 4 and 5 need to be repeated for each photo, i.e. several thousands of times in my case. The added info is displayed in the Metadata right tab when a single photo is selected. Yet no information is displayed when several photos are selected, even the information shared by all the selected photos. The information cannot be modified there (neither single nor multiple photo selection). 


The expected behaviour is:
1. Select several items
2. menu Item / Modify metadata
3. click checkboxes of fields to be modified with tri-state checkboxes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkbox#Tri-state_checkbox) 
4. click Apply to all

Same behaviour would also be expected from the Metadata right tab.

Note: such metadata editor exists in Amarok. The dialog shows Previous / Next / By track checkbox / Save and close / Cancel. Previous and Next buttons are greyed when By track checkbox is not checked.

Comment 3 Maik Qualmann 2019-07-19 11:11:01 UTC

*** Bug 409990 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 4 randy.wolf 2024-08-20 15:19:55 UTC

I would like to see this as well. A good rationale, if one is needed:  digital scanning of negatives and prints. 

Modern digital cameras do a good job of inserting metadata but for scanned images it is necessary to modify the "date taken" or "creation date" by hand. If you have many scanned images it is good to be able to update the dates, or other metadata for a particular photo shoot session at once after scanning those images, a workflow like:
- select multiple images
- select menu Item | Edit Metadata...
- change multiple fields
- click Apply or Ok
- changes are applied to all selected images

Currently only the first selected image is modified.

Comment 5 Maik Qualmann 2024-08-20 15:44:42 UTC

With digiKam, the following things can be applied to multiple images at the same time:
- Date/time or correction
- Geolocation information
- Keywords/tags
- Rating
- Color label / pick label
- Image title
- Image comment
- Address/location information via templates

Maik