lost text in itpc

[Roger Vikstrom]

Apple MacBook Air 15" M4 chip 10-core CPU. Photo Mechanic Plus Version 2025.1, build 8239. Problem with metadata ITPC. When I enter image text and copyright information, and then close the window and gather the images into a folder, and open the ITPC window, there is no text there in any of the images. All other metadata remains, but not what I wrote in ITPC. I've never experienced this before. Best regards /Roger

[ahoward]

What types of files are you working with?

How are you "gathering the images into a folder"? Does the modification time of the files indicate that they are being modified in this process?

[Roger Vikstrom]

Collecting the images in a folder .nef and .jpg, using ingest, no modification times, the name I entered in the camera is there. Tried opening IPTC immediately after closing the window, then all the text is gone, including location for external SSD.

[ahoward]

Collecting the images in a folder .nef and .jpg, using ingest, no modification times, the name I entered in the camera is there. Tried opening IPTC immediately after closing the window, then all the text is gone, including location for external SSD.

Not sure what you mean by "no modification times". Every file has a modification time. Also not sure what location you are referring to. Do you mean the file path that appears at the bottom of the screen when you select an image on the Contact Sheet?

Screenshots or a screen recording demonstrating everything that you are doing would be most helpful.

[Roger Vikstrom]

Okay, I start by opening Ingest in the menu, choose the location for the SSD disk, then go into ITPC and add what I want to be ingested into the image. I close the window. I press ingest and get a message that I don’t have any text in the image. I close the window, open ITPC again, and it’s empty there. The text disappears as soon as I close the window.

[Kirk Baker]

Roger,

I think something has gone wrong with the preferences database on your system.  I'd like to see your Photo Mechanic log.  In Photo Mechanic go to the Help menu and choose "Reveal Support Data..." and moments later a Finder window will come forward with the zipped log file selected.  Use the 'Attachments and other options' link when you're composing your reply to this message and there you'll be able to upload your zipped PM log file.

Thanks,

-Kirk

[Roger Vikstrom]

Attached file regards Roger

[ahoward]

The screenshots along with the step-by-step of what you were doing was very helpful, thank you.

The log file does confirm that the preferences database is broken. In order to fix this, we'll want to have you create a new preferences database, but we would also like to get a copy of your current preferences database, as it may help us improve how errors like this are handled in the future.

First, follow the steps in this document to backup your preferences: https://camerabits.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/48000341456-backing-up-your-preferences-and-transferring-them-to-another

Then, quit Photo Mechanic.

Then, open a Finder window, click on the 'Go' menu in the menu bar, choose 'Go To Folder...' and then paste the following in the text field that appears:

~/Library/Preferences/ and then look for a folder called 'com.camerabits.PhotoMechanic'

Rename this folder. I typically do this by adding the date to the end of the folder name; for example: 'com.camerabits.PhotoMechanic-2025-05-15'

Then, right-click on this folder and choose 'Compress 'com.camerabits.PhotoMechanic...''. This will create a new Zip file.

Take that zip file and send it to us. It will contain any data that is saved in the program, so I would recommend sending it to support@camerabits.com as opposed to posting it here publicly.

Then, start up Photo Mechanic. You should now be able to modify the contents of the Metadata Template and have it hold. Once you try that, then go to preferences and load the file that you created after following the steps in the link above.

Your preferences should be restored and the preferences database should be re-built.

[Roger Vikstrom]

I'm not sure if this is the right file? named : com.camerabits.PhotoMechanic6.activation2025 I have mailed two zip files with similar names one marked demo.
Nothing happend when i tryed to test PM after nothing happnd no text
/Roger

[Kirk Baker]

Roger,

I'm not sure if this is the right file? named : com.camerabits.PhotoMechanic6.activation2025 I have mailed two zip files with similar names one marked demo.
Nothing happend when i tryed to test PM after nothing happnd no text

You must have gone to /Library/Preferences instead of ~/Library/Preferences
The tilde (~) is required and is important.

I suggest renaming your activation file back to its original name.  You may have to reactivate even if you correct the name of the activation file.

Andrew was trying to get you to rename a folder, not a file.  If you see that the item with the name com.camerabits.PhotoMechanic is not a folder, then don't rename it.  It should be a folder with exactly that name and no extra trailing text (like 'activation').

Please try again.

-Kirk

[Roger Vikstrom]

Hi Kirk i send a new file
now I think it will work, let me know
Regards
Roger

[Roger Vikstrom]

Continuing with the same topic. The IPTC text is now there since I dragged the files to  Photo Mechanic. When you open the IPTC window, the image captions etc. are there. But when I open the image in Photoshop, all the text is gone. The metadata from the camera is there, but not the text that was written in PM. The previous issue where text disappeared when the window was closed turned out to be a database error.
Regards Roger

[Kirk Baker]

Roger,

Continuing with the same topic. The IPTC text is now there since I dragged the files to  Photo Mechanic. When you open the IPTC window, the image captions etc. are there. But when I open the image in Photoshop, all the text is gone. The metadata from the camera is there, but not the text that was written in PM. The previous issue where text disappeared when the window was closed turned out to be a database error.

I suggest continuing your support case with the individual that was helping you.

-Kirk

[Roger Vikstrom]

ok thanks
Best regards
Roger