Sync metadata from JPEGs to RAW files in a second library? And: Replace photo in library with externally edited version?

[bimbamborius]

Hi everyone,

Is there a way to use osxphotos sync to transfer metadata (e.g., title, description, keywords) from JPEG files to a second Photos library that contains only the corresponding RAW files?

It works fine for JPEGs, but syncing to the RAWs doesn’t seem to work—perhaps because of the different formats (JPEG vs. RAW), even though the filenames match.

Background: I don’t want to import JPEG+RAW pairs into the Photos app, because I use iCloud Photos and, as far as I know, there’s no way to delete just the RAW later.

My current workflow:

My camera saves JPEG and RAW to separate cards.
I import the JPEGs directly on my phone and sync them to iCloud.
On the desktop, I use osxphotos to export photos with custom filenames and metadata.
I layout photo books using the JPEGs (in Scribus, InDesign, or Affinity Publisher).
After finalizing the layout, I locate the matching RAWs, edit them, and export them using the same filenames—so I can replace the JPEGs in the layout.
RAW editing is done in a separate Photos library, Lightroom, or another editor.
Additional question:
Is there a way to replace a photo in the Photos library with an externally edited version (e.g. a JPEG exported from RAW), while preserving all metadata, albums, and links?

Thanks so much in advance for any ideas or tips!

[RhetTbull]

Is there a way to use osxphotos sync to transfer metadata (e.g., title, description, keywords) from JPEG files to a second Photos library that contains only the corresponding RAW files?

Currently this is not possible. The osxphotos sync command uses the fingerprint (like a file hash) of the file to match photos between libraries. There is an open issue (#1740) to allow a custom signature that could be used to find the matching RAW photo to do the sync. If you know python, you could write a custom script using the osxphotos API to do this but it's not currently possible with the command line tool.

Is there a way to replace a photo in the Photos library with an externally edited version (e.g. a JPEG exported from RAW), while preserving all metadata, albums, and links?

This is on the roadmap (#909) but not yet implemented. Once implemented, you'll be able to do all sorts of customer transforms on the photo while preserving metadata (e.g. strip Live video, strip RAW, reduce file size, etc).