Custom Metadata Panel in Lightroom Classic - adobe-dmeservices/custom-metadata GitHub Wiki
Custom Metadata Panel in Lightroom Classic
The Custom Metadata Panel is available in Adobe Lightroom Classic (version 12 and later). It uses the same Views, Tabs, and Presets as the panel in Adobe Bridge, Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro and InDesign.
To access the panel in Lightroom Classic, click Library > Plugin Extras > Custom Metadata from the menu bar and choose Edit Custom Metadata.
Note: You must edit Views and Tabs in Bridge or another supported application. Editing Views and Tabs is not available in Lightroom Classic.
Switching Between Tabs
You can switch between Tabs in the Edit Custom Metadata window or in the Plugin Extras menu. If you switch in the Edit Custom Metadata window, you will need to reload the panel to see the newly selected Tab.
Supported Field Types
All standard XMP read/write field types work in Lightroom Classic:
| Field Type | Notes |
|---|---|
| Text / MultiText | ✓ |
| Language Alternative / MultiAltLang | ✓ |
| Number / MultiNumber | ✓ Partial support for EXIF rational format, decimal precision, and display unit (2.0.21) |
| Date / MultiDate | ✓ |
| Dropdown / MultiDropdown | ✓ |
| Checkbox / Checkbox Group | ✓ |
| Switch / Switch Group | ✓ |
| Radio Group | ✓ |
| Structures | ✓ |
| Tags | ✓ |
| URL / MultiURL | ✓ |
| Section Divider / Subsection Divider | ✓ |
Unsupported Field Types
The following field types are not available in Lightroom Classic. If a View contains these fields, they are silently hidden when the View is loaded — they do not cause errors and do not affect the other fields in the View.
| Field Type | Why it is not available |
|---|---|
| Map | Requires document-level APIs not available in Lightroom Classic |
| History | Reads XMP history from the host application; not exposed in LrC |
| Links | Requires the host application's linked-item document model |
| Fonts | Requires the host application's font enumeration API |
| Swatches / Plates | Requires the host application's color swatch and ink model |
| Search | Bridge-only; creates a Bridge collection from search results |
| Table | Not supported in LrC |
| Calculation | Calculated fields are not evaluated in LrC |
| Hidden | Hidden fields are not supported in LrC |
| Camera Metadata (QuickTime) | Requires atom-level file access not available in LrC |
| Office Metadata | Office document formats are not applicable in LrC |
If you maintain a View that is used in multiple applications and want to include these field types for Bridge or InDesign users, you can safely add them — they will simply not appear when the same View is opened in Lightroom Classic.
Hierarchical Keywords
Lightroom Classic uses a hierarchical keyword system. When writing Tags fields that contain hierarchical keywords, the panel uses the | character as the hierarchy separator (e.g., Animals|Birds|Heron), matching Lightroom's own keyword sync behavior. This ensures that keywords written by the Custom Metadata Panel appear correctly in the Lightroom keyword hierarchy, and that keywords created in Lightroom appear correctly in the panel.