Why do XMP sidecar files get added to catalog?

[thebittergreen]

As expected, if I add XMP metadata to a file format that doesn't natively store it (like a gif), NeoFinder makes a new .xmp sidecar file on the disk. This all makes sense.

But the next time that I do an Update Catalog command, the sidecar file itself gets added to the catalog, so that NeoFinder shows both the original (gif) file, as well as .xmp file. Obviously, the metadata in that file is already represented on the gif file, so this extra item isn't of much use.

Of course, I can filter out these files, or occasionally find them all and delete them from the catalog, but am wondering if there is a way to tell NeoFinder to ignore them when creating/updating a catalog? None of the checkboxes in the Ignore tab of the Cataloging Settings seems applicable to this.

[neo-admin]

The NeoFinder Users Guide has more:

https://www.cdfinder.de/guide/3/3.10/ex ... oging.html

Please check out the "Note" section at the bottom of that chapter.

[thebittergreen]

Thanks for the pointer.

Please don't use this to try to filter out XMP sidecar files. These files are extremely important, as they contain metadata for your files, and you really want NeoFinder to read these.

That makes sense. I know that I want NeoFinder to read the XMP sidecars. I guess I just didn't expect it to show them to me as distinct entries in the catalog, since all of the data that they contain is shown and edited through the associated primary file.

Instead, use the Display Filter to hide these from view.

That's what I've been doing, e.g. using All Media. But it gets awkward when I want to use the same filter pop-up for something else, like No Persons, since the XMP sidecars also don't have persons.

It would be nice to have a distinct control for hiding the sidecar files, I guess.

[TJ Asher]

I agree, an option to "permanently" hide XMP sidecar files would be helpful/beneficial.

As I am wading through thousands of files and wanting to select images to add keywords I have to skip all the XMP files which makes an already tedious task that much more tedious.