Edit Metadata — Bulk Edit Photo Captions, Keywords & Copyright

Name: FolioSort — Edit metadata
Availability: InStock
Author: FolioSort

One photo at a time is how metadata never gets done.

A copyright line missing from years of work. A caption that belongs on a whole shoot. The same keyword spelt three ways across three trips. An editor that opens one file at a time turns each of those into an afternoon — and a batch tool that writes blind can't show you what a folder actually carries before it changes it.

It gets worse inside the file. The same caption or keyword can live in XMP, in IPTC and in EXIF, and when those copies disagree, two apps show you two different answers about the same photo.

See it all first. Change it once. Write it once.

Select photos and FolioSort reads them into one panel: every keyword with its count (“Beach 64/212”), titles and captions (“Mixed — 3 different titles”), author and copyright, rating and colour label, the date range and the places. Chips filter the photos down to the ones with No keywords, No place, No date or No author, so you can fill the gaps first — and an edit applies to exactly the photos shown.

Type a caption, add a keyword or strike one out, set the stars: each change turns orange and stays pending. The bar at the bottom says how many changes on how many photos, and Nothing is written yet, until you press Review & write….

Where a file's keyword lists disagree, FolioSort says so — and writing makes them agree.

How it works

Select → Change → Review → Write

STEP 01 · SELECT

Pick the photos

Select photos in the Library and choose Edit metadata… — or right-click a photo. Or open Tag & Fix › Edit metadata and Choose a folder….

STEP 02 · CHANGE

Every value, with its count

Each field shows what the photos carry and on how many. Filter to the ones that have none, then edit. Author and copyright remember your recent values.

STEP 03 · REVIEW

Now → After, before anything is written

Review & write… lists every change: the field, what it says now, what it will say after, on how many photos — and whether each goes inside the file or into a sidecar.

STEP 04 · WRITE

One write, one Undo

Write into N photos writes it all in one go, reads every file back to check it, and leaves a single Undo — on the result screen and later in Activity.

So every app can read it

Each field goes where photo software looks for it.

Keywords — XMP dc:subject and, for JPEG and TIFF, IPTC Keywords, with Lightroom's keyword hierarchy kept in step.

Title — XMP dc:title and IPTC Object Name.
Caption — XMP dc:description, IPTC Caption, EXIF ImageDescription.
Author — XMP dc:creator, IPTC By-line, EXIF Artist.
Copyright — XMP dc:rights, IPTC Copyright, EXIF Copyright.
Rating and colour label — XMP Rating and XMP Label.

IPTC is updated where the file already has it, as the Metadata Working Group guidelines say. JPEG, HEIC, PNG, TIFF and DNG get it all inside the file; any other RAW gets an .xmp sidecar beside it. Nothing else in the file changes.

Checked where it lands.

In our own tests, Lightroom Classic showed all seven fields — title, caption, author, copyright, keywords, rating and colour label — both from a JPEG and from a Canon CR3's .xmp sidecar. Windows Explorer's Details tab shows the title, authors, copyright, tags and rating. Apple Photos shows the title, caption and keywords of a JPEG, but it ignores the .xmp sidecar of a RAW and has no fields for author, copyright or stars.

For the tags the panel doesn't show, All tags (EXIF · IPTC · XMP) lists every tag of a photo, searchable. Standard tags can be edited there; maker notes stay read-only, because rewriting them can break the camera maker's own software.

Suggestions, never surprises. FolioSort can suggest a missing date from the file name, a place name for photos with GPS, and — with Elite — keywords from AI Tags. They appear dashed; Tab accepts one, Esc dismisses it, and an accepted suggestion still goes through Review.

Why it's safe

A batch edit you can read before it happens — and take back after

Nothing is written until WriteEvery change stays pending, in orange, until you review it. Quit with changes pending and FolioSort offers them back next time.

Now → After for every fieldThe review shows what each field says today and what it will say, with the photo count.

Someone else's change is never overwrittenA photo changed by another app after FolioSort read it is skipped and stays pending.

Every file read backAfter writing, FolioSort reads each file again and reports any that doesn't say what was written.

RAW files are never writtenTheir metadata goes into an .xmp sidecar. Videos are shown but not changed in this release.

One Undo for the batchPuts back what every field said before — and leaves alone a photo changed since.

Look at everything free. Write with Pro.

Reading your photos, the counts, the filters and the All tags view are free, on any number of photos. Free writes 100 photos at a time; Pro writes any number in one go. Keyword suggestions taken from the photos themselves come with Elite. Both are one-time purchases, with no subscription and no account — see pricing. FolioSort 5 is a free update for everyone who bought Pro or Elite.

FAQ

Edit metadata questions, answered

Which fields can I edit for many photos at once?

Title, caption, author, copyright, keywords, star rating and colour label, for every photo you select at once. The date and the place link to the Dates and Places screens, the camera is shown read-only, and the All tags view lets you edit any standard EXIF, IPTC or XMP tag of one photo, with maker notes kept read-only.

Which metadata tags does FolioSort write?

Keywords go into XMP dc:subject and, for JPEG and TIFF, IPTC Keywords, with Lightroom's keyword hierarchy kept in step. Title goes into XMP dc:title and IPTC Object Name; caption into XMP dc:description, IPTC Caption and EXIF ImageDescription; author into XMP dc:creator, IPTC By-line and EXIF Artist; copyright into XMP dc:rights, IPTC Copyright and EXIF Copyright. Rating and colour label go into XMP. IPTC is updated where the file already has it, as the Metadata Working Group guidelines say.

Does it change my RAW files?

No. For a RAW file, everything goes into an .xmp sidecar beside it, which Lightroom reads, and the RAW itself is never written. JPEG, HEIC, PNG, TIFF and DNG get the metadata inside the file.

Can it edit video metadata?

Not in this release. Videos in a selection are shown and counted, but never changed; the review screen lists them separately.

Can I undo a batch metadata edit?

Yes. The whole write is one batch with one Undo, on the result screen and later in Activity. Undo puts back what each field said before. A photo that another app changed after the write is left as it is and counted in the result.

Is Edit metadata free?

Reading your photos, the counts, the filters and the All tags view are free. Free writes 100 photos at a time; Pro writes any number in one go. Keyword suggestions taken from the photos themselves come with Elite. Prices are on the pricing page.

Batch edit photo metadata — see what every photo carries, change it once, review it, write it in one go.