2

I would like help with terminal syntax code please to add a tag to jpeg files using ExifTool. I want to add general notes to some old scanned jpeg pictures of my ancestors for my kids to be able to easily access in the future. I am using Linux Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

Marty
  • 75
  • 3
  • 16

1 Answers1

2

Try adding your notes to the Description tag. Your command would look like this:
exiftool -Description='Some notes' file.jpg

This command creates backup files. Add -overwrite_original to suppress the creation of backup files. Add -r to recurse into subdirectories.

You could also try hdwolf's jExiftoolGui for a GUI that uses exiftool behind the scenes. It will help deal with the confusing mess that is metadata.

StarGeek
  • 463
  • 3
  • 7
  • That works perfectly, just one thing I used exiftool -ImageDescription='Some notes' file.jpg I can now view the image description notes in the show exif data under the view tab using LXimage viewer. Thank you StarGeek – Marty Aug 17 '21 at 09:55
  • 1
    `ImageDescription` is the corresponding tag in the EXIF block for `Description`, which is part of the [IPTC Photo Metadata Standard](https://www.iptc.org/std/photometadata/specification/IPTC-PhotoMetadata). It is not a wildly used tag, though, so not very furture proof. If you continue to use exiftool, then using the [MWG tags](https://exiftool.org/TagNames/MWG.html), specifically, `-MWG:Descripton='Some Notes'`, would be a better option, as that will write multiple corresponding tags. – StarGeek Aug 17 '21 at 14:48
  • Otherwise, I would suggest a Digital Assets Mangagment (DAM) program like [DigiKam](https://www.digikam.org/) or [Darktable](https://www.darktable.org/). They will write more complete metadata that will be the most future proof. – StarGeek Aug 17 '21 at 14:49