Metadata

Meta-what? If you're not familiar with the term, metadata refers to data that resides inside a file that provides extra information about the file itself. For example, a file might contain information about who created the file, when it was created, what client or job number it was created for, and so on. Digital photos might contain copyright information and even data about what kind of digital camera was used and what the camera settings were (called EXIF metadata) when the photo was taken. When you think about it, metadata makes files smart because the files themselves know more about what's in them.

Some metadata is added automatically to every file (such as which application created it), but you can also add your own. In any of the Adobe Suite applications, you can choose File, File Info to access the File Information dialog box, where you can add specific information to your file (see Figure 4.45). In fact, Adobe applications can automatically add metadata to files. For example, when you download comp images using the Adobe Stock Photos service (which we talk about shortly), metadata is added so that InDesign knows the image is a low-resolution comp image. When you preflight the file in InDesign, this metadata enables InDesign to alert you that the image isn't a high-resolution image that's fit to print at high quality.

Figure 4.45. The File Information dialog box in InDesign CS2.

Adobe helped to publish an open-standard platform for metadata called Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP), which is basically a way to describe metadata using XML. All Adobe applications write metadata into an XML header in the files they save. This information is available to any application or system that can read it. And although metadata is pretty cool on its own, it takes on a whole new meaning when you consider what Adobe Bridge can do with that information.