Photo Mechanic Plus > Feature Requests
Using catalog functions while "offline"
krubin:
I absolutely understand this perspective, and the interoperability concerns that are raised with other packages (I'm an IT guy).
That said, there is little need for an offline catalog if all of the original files are required to be online to do any activities.
I can see this working as a cache, where "offline" updates are cached until they can be permanently written to the sidecars, which would be the authoritative reference. I realize that this introduces substantial implementation headaches, but inability to do any work with an offline catalog renders PM+ to basically PM + an offline browser, which I think falls well short of its potential.
- Ken
DaveBurbank:
There's some really good discussion in this thread. FWIW, I had hoped that I could create a catalog of all of my images regardless of where they were and whether they were currently online. Furthermore, I hoped (expected?) that I would be able to spend time in PM+ enriching my photos' metadata with additional keywords, ratings, IPTC data even if the images were offline. And then when the images are back online in the future I'd like to save/write all of my metadata changes back to the original photos/sidecars.
I believe this functionality already exists in Lightroom. My hope/expectation was that PM+ would also do this but do it better.
syncrasy:
I am adding another vote for offline catalog editing. I would use the functionality to add new metadata to catalogued images in a "travel/return" scenario.
To test this on PM+, I created a "travel" catalog on my desktop and copied the catalog folder/files to my laptop. When I tried to add metadata (two persons' names) to all the (preview) images using the Metadata (IPTC) Template, I got an error popup that says, "None of the selected photos are in a format that can be captioned by this version of Photo Mechanic Plus." (See attached.)
From a usability perspective, if adding metadata is not possible with an offline catalog, then the error message should state so. Currently the message implies that the photos could be captioned if only they were in the right format or if I obtained a different version of PM+. It doesn't give me any clue that the issue is related to being offline. (Perhaps the current language is so vague because you might decide to add the functionality in the future.)
But I would much prefer that you add offline catalog functionality rather than just fix the message wording.
Here's an example of the value of offline editing... I just returned from a trip with a Media Pro "travel" catalog created expressly for the purpose of editing metadata for hundreds of scanned historical photos using a second computer (my laptop) while interviewing elderly people about the photos (to get names of people, places, historical notes, etc.). When I returned home I was able to merge the new metadata into the original images on my desktop (see attached dialog below). Media Pro saved me dozens of hours (if not days) of rework. If I am understanding the current plans for PM+ functionality correctly, I would not be able to do this with PM+.
Kirk Baker:
Mark,
--- Quote from: syncrasy on August 13, 2019, 08:06:03 PM ---I am adding another vote for offline catalog editing. I would use the functionality to add new metadata to catalogued images in a "travel/return" scenario.
To test this on PM+, I created a "travel" catalog on my desktop and copied the catalog folder/files to my laptop. When I tried to add metadata (two persons' names) to all the (preview) images using the Metadata (IPTC) Template, I got an error popup that says, "None of the selected photos are in a format that can be captioned by this version of Photo Mechanic Plus." (See attached.)
From a usability perspective, if adding metadata is not possible with an offline catalog, then the error message should state so. Currently the message implies that the photos could be captioned if only they were in the right format or if I obtained a different version of PM+. It doesn't give me any clue that the issue is related to being offline. (Perhaps the current language is so vague because you might decide to add the functionality in the future.)
But I would much prefer that you add offline catalog functionality rather than just fix the message wording.
Here's an example of the value of offline editing... I just returned from a trip with a Media Pro "travel" catalog created expressly for the purpose of editing metadata with a second computer (my laptop). When I returned home I was able to merge the new metadata into the original images on my desktop (see attached dialog below). Media Pro saved me dozens of hours (if not days) of rework. If I am understanding the current plans for PM+ functionality correctly, I would not be able to do this with PM+.
--- End quote ---
That is correct. In the initial release of Photo Mechanic Plus we will not support metadata changes to non-local files. I know this will be disappointing to you but we have to finalize on a feature set that we can complete this year and supporting edits that will sync-up with files when available is not something we can achieve in that time frame.
-Kirk
carlseibert:
Mark - You could probably do what you are talking about currently with a spreadsheet and Photo Mechanic's Code Replacement feature. There are several ways you could accomplish the task in regular old non-Plus Photo Mechanic, actually.
-Carl
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