TIP 27: Adding File Metadata with XMP

Metadata is a labeling technology that frequently includes fields such as keywords and a description. Metadata may not sound very exciting, but it makes your images more valuable because they become easier to find and use, especially in large projects with lots and lots of files.

Learn More About XMP

To learn more about Adobe's open-source metadata technology visit the Web site at http://www.adobe.com/xmp.

Some of the things that make Adobe's Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) so great are that it's based on XML, it's an open and documented standard, and anybody can implement it in their software. A wide variety of file formats support XMP metadata, including JPEG, GIF, Photoshop, Illustrator, PDF, EPS, and TIFF.

To add or edit metadata to a file, select the file or files in the Site window and choose File > File Info. Edit the desired fields and click OK (Figure 27). It's really that easy, and now those fields can be accessed by the Adobe Bridge (see Tip 225), Adobe Version Cue (see Chapter 12), and several third-party digital asset management systems.

Figure 27. You can edit metadata for single file or multiple files all in one dialog box.