Bug 513321

Summary:	Metadata templates applied to multiple items overwrite existing information in all items selected with that from first item
Product:	[Applications] digikam	Reporter:	tba22333 <tba22333>
Component:	Metadata-Template	Assignee:	Digikam Developers <digikam-bugs-null>
Status:	RESOLVED FIXED
Severity:	normal	CC:	tba22333
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	8.8.0
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Microsoft Windows
OS:	Microsoft Windows
Latest Commit:	https://invent.kde.org/graphics/digikam/-/commit/1823f9d75783fa8c417231579c572787bcc0743e	Version Fixed/Implemented In:	9.0.0
Sentry Crash Report:

Description tba22333@tpg.com.au 2025-12-13 22:08:03 UTC

I have created metadata templates seperately for different Creators, leaving the location blank, and for different locations, leaving the Creator blank. I have applied the various Creators to multiple images by selecting them by camera model.
I then proceeded to enter the Location metadata. If I select multiple images for a given location which has multiple Creators, when I apply a template for the location (with no Creator), it overwrites all the images with the Creator from the first selected image.
Conversely, if I enter the locations first, then select images of one Creator with different locations and apply a template for that creator (with no location), it will overwrite the locations in all the images with the location from the first image.
I have 1000's of images from a trip with three of us taking photos, and after entering all the location metadata, I should be able to enter the Creator in three goes by selecting the relevant camera models. But instead I have have to create 3 templates for each of the 100's of locations with a different Creator.
This is really frustrating and time consuming and would really appreciate a fix. It means entering this metadata takes 10 times as long as it should. The whole concept of creating templates to enter metadata into multiple items is inefficient and time consuming, but with this bug makes it much worse.

Comment 1 tba22333@tpg.com.au 2025-12-13 22:49:14 UTC

I did do a search before submitting this bug report, but only now I found that this has already been reported in 2010 (ref.231114) with a status of "Resolved".
This is not fixed, it is still a problem

Comment 2 Maik Qualmann 2025-12-18 11:46:00 UTC

Git commit 61f873236fa26f11702116ae03ca10dc3cf68e78 by Maik Qualmann.
Committed on 18/12/2025 at 11:44.
Pushed by mqualmann into branch 'master'.

first step to fully merging templates
In addition to the title in the template setup, it
can now be defined whether the template should be merged.
BQM adaptation is still pending.

M  +15   -15   core/libs/metadataengine/containers/metadatainfo.cpp
M  +2    -2    core/libs/metadataengine/containers/metadatainfo.h
M  +23   -10   core/libs/metadataengine/containers/template.cpp
M  +8    -0    core/libs/metadataengine/containers/template.h
M  +2    -2    core/libs/metadataengine/dmetadata/dmetadata.h
M  +20   -20   core/libs/metadataengine/dmetadata/dmetadata_iptc.cpp
M  +18   -17   core/libs/metadataengine/dmetadata/dmetadata_template.cpp
M  +3    -1    core/libs/properties/captions/disjointmetadata.cpp
M  +2    -12   core/libs/properties/captions/itemdescedittab_infoview.cpp
M  +9    -0    core/libs/template/templatemanager.cpp
M  +1    -1    core/utilities/geolocation/geoiface/items/gpsitemcontainer.cpp
M  +12   -1    core/utilities/setup/setuptemplate.cpp

https://invent.kde.org/graphics/digikam/-/commit/61f873236fa26f11702116ae03ca10dc3cf68e78

Comment 3 Maik Qualmann 2025-12-18 21:23:02 UTC

Git commit 1823f9d75783fa8c417231579c572787bcc0743e by Maik Qualmann.
Committed on 18/12/2025 at 21:22.
Pushed by mqualmann into branch 'master'.

add the option to fully merge templates
FIXED-IN: 8.9.0

M  +1    -1    NEWS
M  +11   -4    core/libs/metadataengine/containers/template.cpp
M  +2    -2    core/libs/metadataengine/dmetadata/dmetadata.h
M  +88   -20   core/libs/metadataengine/dmetadata/dmetadata_iptc.cpp
M  +83   -20   core/libs/metadataengine/dmetadata/dmetadata_template.cpp
M  +1    -1    core/utilities/geolocation/geoiface/items/gpsitemcontainer.cpp

https://invent.kde.org/graphics/digikam/-/commit/1823f9d75783fa8c417231579c572787bcc0743e

Comment 4 Maik Qualmann 2025-12-20 18:00:59 UTC

Git commit e67b0fc93e7cbbb10ce34baac566ae5e5118e46c by Maik Qualmann.
Committed on 20/12/2025 at 18:00.
Pushed by mqualmann into branch 'master'.

add note text about the template mode

M  +38   -6    core/libs/template/templateselector.cpp
M  +2    -1    core/libs/template/templateselector.h

https://invent.kde.org/graphics/digikam/-/commit/e67b0fc93e7cbbb10ce34baac566ae5e5118e46c