Finally had a chance between shoots to stop and document this problem step-by-step.
I upgraded to 4.6.5 (Win XP) and the problem persists.
Here is what I do to recreate the problem.
1) I have a text replacement file with horse number (3 digits) and horse name (with "_" in place of any spaces in the name). Saved as a tab delimited TXT file. I make sure it is the only code replacement file PM is using under "Settings".
2) I encode the horse number manually during post processing into the IPTC "caption" field.
3) After I have manually set the caption fields to the horse number for all images, I select all images and open the IPTC Stationary Pad (CTRL+I). I set my IPTC Stationary Pad values to:
Supp Cat 2 = {caption}
Supp Cat 3 = \{caption}\
Special Instructions = \{caption}\_{caption}
4) I then click "Apply Stationary to Selected".
5) PM runs and does its magic kung fu on the IPTC values.
6) When the update is complete, I click on the "i" button next to the thumbnail. Everything looks good. Supp Cat 2 contains horse number, Supp Cat 3 contains horse name, and Special Instructions contains horse name concatenated with horse number with a "_" between them.
7). Now, here is where you can see the problem problem symptoms start. When I press ESC on the keyboard while I have the ITPC Info panel openl, I get a "Changes have been made. Do you want to save your changes?". Hmmmm, I didn't make any changes. I just opened the panel and then escaped out. I wouldn't think there would be any changes being made. (NOTE: at this point, if I do say "YES" to the dialog option, then the IPTC value for that image is correctly revised to reflect the code replacement).
![Cool 8)](https://forums.camerabits.com/Smileys/default/cool.gif)
To see the problem more clearly now, go into "Settings" and remove the TXT code replacement file. Now go back into the IPTC Info panel for a fresh image (same contact sheet). What I see now is
Supp Cat 2 - {caption} (e.g. 326)
Supp cat 3 - \(whatever the value of {caption} was\ (e.g. \326\ but should be "ZippyHorseName")
Special instructions - ZippyHorseName_326.
Soooooo, long explanation to an interesting problem. If the code replacement file is set in Settings, Supp Cat 3 resolves fine. As soon as you change it to something else or remove it, it not longer works correctly BUT the references for replacement in "Special instructions" works fine.
I can send you screen shots if you need more details.
Mike