Re-Import of images, keeping existing edits

Software darktable
1

Apologies - I think my question has been covered before, but I cannot find the topic…

I store my Raw images in Linux directories by year - 2022, 2021, etc.

I recently moved from Linux Mint to Ubuntu, and lost the contents of my image database. I was in a hurry, so I re-imported all my 2022 images which I knew would overwrite all my existing XMP files. That worked, and I’m good with that.

However, I have all my images from previous years that I’d like re-import, and I want to keep my existing edits (XMP files). I see there is a setting: Preferences>Storage>Write sidecar file for each image . If I set this to Never and re-import (and then change back after the import), would this retain my existing edits for the re-imported files?

Thanks!

2

Existing XMP files are not overwritten during an import (unless there is a new bug).

3

Do not use the Copy and Import function of darktable. It only copies the raw and ignores the xmp.

You need to use the Add to Library. Adding to library will read and keep the xmp you already have.

Test it in just one small folder first so you see the results before trying to do the complete tree.

1 Like
4

Ok, this looks like my bad - but with a bit of a caveat.

I did a Add to Library on a test directory, and I confirmed that my edits were retained! Yay!
But - and this is the caveat - all the XMP files in the test directory were rewritten, resulting in the ‘Modified’ dates of the XMPs being set to today. So all my edits were retained, but you get what appears to be a brand new XMP file, making it look like you have lost your edits.

In my defense, I take a lot of duplicate shots, and I think I must have looked at an unedited duplicate. Combine that with the new dates on the XMP files, and I erroneously concluded that the XMPs were re-written.

Again, this was totally my mistake, and that darktable is working correctly. Thanks to Kofa and G-Man for their timely responses!