Metadata

Fill fields from the camera with ExifID

Names from the camera, not the keyboard. An ExifID set is a lookup table: column A is matched against something the photo already carries, and the matching row's other columns become {exif_b} to {exif_f} wherever you use them.

What a set does The ExifID screen Create a set What a key can match Rows Test the set Bind the set Use the tokens Troubleshooting

What a set does

Two sets people build first:

Question	Match on	Fills
Who made the photo?	Camera body serial	Photographer, copyright and credit, so a second camera’s frames land with the right byline and nobody types it.
Where were you in the game?	Card folder	A period. Name the camera’s folders SET1, SET2 and so on, and each frame says which set it came from.

One set can do both. Add a second way to identify and give it its own columns.

The ExifID screen

The ExifID sets screen: a filter, and two sets, Before and After and State Volleyball, each with its columns, rows, match type and link status — Each set shows its columns, rows, what it matches on, and where it's used.

Open it from Settings ▸ ExifID, or from Manage sets… in the ⌘I editor's ExifID picker.

Control	What it does
+ New ExifID Set	Opens the set editor on a blank set.
Filter by name or description	Narrows the list.
Used by …	The templates and folders bound to this set, so you know what an edit affects.
Not linked yet	Nothing is bound to it, so its tokens resolve empty outside the editor. Bind it in `⌘I` (see Bind the set).
Edit / Delete	Opens the set, or removes it.

Create a set

The ExifID set dialog: name State Volleyball, two columns, column B named VB Sets, and one card folder key matching SET1 to SET5 — A card-folder set: camera folders SET1 to SET5 become 1st set to 5th set.

1
Name it and pick the columns
Give the set a name, then pick how many columns it has. Column A is what gets matched, so 2 means one value to fill (B) and 6 means five (B to F).
2
Say what each column means
Name B to F. The names show on the token buttons, so the picker reads “Photographer” instead of “col B”.
3
Choose how to identify the photo
Pick what column A is matched against, tick the columns that key fills, and add the rows.
4
Create, then bind it
A set does nothing until something points at it. See Bind the set.

Name and number of columns

The Name field and the Number of columns picker, 2 to 6

What each column means

Column B, {exif_b}, named VB Sets — Each column shows the token it becomes.

Identify by, in order

One key, Card folder (from the memory card), filling VB Sets, with rows SET1 to SET5 and the Add row, Paste and Import buttons — A key: what it matches, which columns it fills, and its rows.

Control	What it does
Match type	What column A is compared with. See What a key can match.
fills	The columns this key may fill. This is how one set answers two questions: the serial key fills photographer and credit, the folder key fills the period.
↑ ↓	Moves the key up or down the list.
× (red)	Removes the key.

Each key that matches fills its ticked columns. When two keys fill the same column, the one higher in the list wins.

What a key can match

Match type	Compares column A with	Use it for
Camera body serial	The body’s serial number	The photographer holding that camera.
Camera model	The model, such as Canon EOS R3	Each body of that model.
Camera make	Canon, Nikon, Sony	Telling brands apart.
Lens model	The lens the camera recorded	Lens-specific credits or notes.
Card folder (from the memory card)	The DCIM folder the frame was copied out of, such as `103EOS_D`	Periods of a game. Recorded at ingest (1.0.120 on), so it still works after the photos move.
Card folder contains	Text anywhere in the card folder name	The one to use for card folders. Cameras roll `101EOS_B` to `102EOS_B`, so a row of `101` names the period and `EOS_B` names the body.
Folder prefix	The start of the folder the file is in now	Folders named `101 Baseball` or `101_baseball`. Stops matching if the file moves.
Folder name contains	Text anywhere in the folder name	When the identifying part sits at the end of the folder name.
Folder name (exact)	The whole folder name	One folder, one value.
Original filename prefix	The prefix the camera gave the file, kept through a rename	Camera 1 set to `AS1`, camera 2 to `AS2`. Easier to hand an editor than a serial.
Filename prefix (current name)	The start of the file’s current name	Files already renamed the way you want.

For the “contains” types, the longest matching row wins, so 101EOS_B beats 101. For exact and prefix types, the first row that matches wins.

Rows

Control	What it does
+ Add row	Adds an empty row to this key.
Paste	Pastes rows copied from a spreadsheet.
Import…	Loads a TSV, CSV, TXT or XLSX file into the key you run it from.
× (grey)	Removes that row.

Test the set

The Test section of the set editor, with the Test with a photo button — At the bottom of the set editor.

Test with a photo… runs the set on a photo you pick, using what's on screen now, not the last saved version. For each key it shows what the photo carries, whether it matched, and what it filled, then the final value of each token.

A test on a game photo: the card folder 100EOS_D shows no match, and {exif_b} is empty — No match: no row holds 100EOS_D yet, so {exif_b} stays empty.

The same photo after adding a row: 100EOS_D matched, Period: during, and {exif_b} reads during — Matched: the key filled Period, so {exif_b} reads “during”.

“Matched, but filled nothing” means that key's columns aren't ticked, or a key higher in the list already filled them.

Bind the set

A set only fills in where something points at it. There are three ways to bind one.

Where	What it does
`⌘I` editor ▸ ExifID	A pick here is used for this screen only. use for this folder binds it to the folder the photos are in. use everywhere makes it the default for folders without their own. See Build an IPTC template.
Saved with a template	Save the template with a set picked and the set travels with it, including into the folders that template is written to.
Ingest dialog ▸ ExifID	Automatic uses the template's set, or else the destination folder's. Pick one to override it. It's bound to the new folders after the copy. See Ingest from a card.

Use the tokens

•{exif_b} to {exif_f} work anywhere other tokens do: template fields, the ingest folder pattern and filename, Rename Files, and FTP paths.
•At ingest they resolve as the files are copied, so the folder name and the caption can both carry the period.
•A frame no key can identify gets a gap, never the raw token.

Troubleshooting

What you see	Why, and what to do
Tokens empty everywhere except the editor	The set isn’t bound. The ExifID screen says Not linked yet. Use use for this folder or use everywhere.
A whole folder resolves empty	Nearly always the key. A card-folder key on photos that weren’t ingested by GalleryID 1.0.120 or later, or an exact key on a folder or file name that changed.
The wrong value wins	Two keys fill the same column. Move the one you trust higher in the list.
One frame is blank	No row matches what that frame carries. Check the match value against the photo’s serial, folder or name.

Build an IPTC template with tokens →Ingest from a card →