Skip to content
Arams · User manual

Exchange ratings and labels through metadata

What you will do

Section titled “What you will do”

Configure Arams to write XMP sidecar files, customize a color-label name, assign different ratings and labels to two photographs, and save those values. You will then check the sidecars with ExifTool, the external metadata reader used for this verified example.

Before you start

Section titled “Before you start”

Sign in to Arams on Windows and work on disposable copies of your photographs. This example uses full-resolution copies of maxine-01.jpg and maxine-02.jpg (6064 × 4040 pixels). The copies begin without XMP sidecars.

These steps were checked with the English interface in Arams 1.10.2. ExifTool 13.41 was used as the external application. The test did not analyze, retouch, or export the photographs, and both the source JPEGs and their working copies remained byte-for-byte unchanged. Only the new .xmp sidecars held the saved ratings and labels.

Steps

Section titled “Steps”

Choose how Arams saves metadata

Section titled “Choose how Arams saves metadata”
  1. Click Settings and make sure General is selected.
  2. Scroll to Metadata sync.
  3. Open Save metadata to. Arams 1.10.2 offers auto and xmp in this menu.
The Save metadata to menu in General settings showing the auto and xmp choices.
Choose xmp for this workflow so Arams writes separate XMP sidecar files. Arams 1.10.2 · Windows · English
  1. Choose xmp.

This workflow deliberately selects xmp so that the result is a separate sidecar file. The verified test did not establish how auto chooses a destination; use xmp when following these steps.

Configure color-label naming

Section titled “Configure color-label naming”
  1. Under Metadata sync, open Color label preset.
  2. Choose Adobe Lightroom.
  3. Replace the first label name, Red, with Client Select and press Enter.
  4. Check that the field shows Client Select and the preset menu shows Adobe Lightroom (Edited).
Metadata sync settings with xmp selected, the Adobe Lightroom (Edited) preset, and the first label named Client Select.
Editing a label changes the preset to Adobe Lightroom (Edited); the first color now writes Client Select. Arams 1.10.2 · Windows · English

This changes the text stored for that color. The remaining labels keep the names supplied by the preset; in this example, the second label is Yellow.

Assign ratings and labels

Section titled “Assign ratings and labels”
  1. Return to the home screen, create a disposable project, and import the copied JPEGs. See Import photos for the verified import procedure.
  2. Click maxine-01.jpg, press 4, then press Ctrl+1. The card shows rating 4 and the first color label.
  3. Click maxine-02.jpg, press 2, then press Ctrl+2. The card shows rating 2 and the second color label.

The preset names determine the label text that will be written. In this configuration, the first color writes Client Select and the second writes Yellow.

Save ratings and labels to XMP

Section titled “Save ratings and labels to XMP”
  1. Click maxine-01.jpg.
  2. Hold Ctrl, click maxine-02.jpg, and release Ctrl. Confirm that the counter shows 2 photos / 2 selected.
  3. Right-click either selected card and choose Update metadata.
  4. Wait for Updated metadata for 2 images.
Two selected photographs in Arams showing ratings 4 and 2 with red and yellow color labels.
After Update metadata, the selected cards retain their distinct ratings and color labels; the XMP values were checked separately with ExifTool. Arams 1.10.2 · Windows · English

Arams creates maxine-01.xmp and maxine-02.xmp beside the working JPEGs. The screenshot confirms the visible ratings and label colors in Arams; the next procedure checks the serialized values independently.

Inspect the XMP files in an external application

Section titled “Inspect the XMP files in an external application”

  1. Open PowerShell in the folder containing the working JPEGs and their new sidecars.

  2. Run ExifTool against the sidecar files:

    Terminal window
    exiftool -Rating -Label maxine-01.xmp maxine-02.xmp

  3. Check the values associated with each file:

    SidecarRatingLabel
    maxine-01.xmp4Client Select
    maxine-02.xmp2Yellow

The verified run read these values with ExifTool 13.41 after Arams reported that it had updated both photographs. This proves the exchange only for that reader and these XMP fields; it does not establish compatibility with every photo application.

Check the result

Section titled “Check the result”

The two .xmp files exist beside the copied JPEGs. Arams shows ratings 4 and 2 with different color labels, while ExifTool reads 4 / Client Select and 2 / Yellow from the corresponding sidecars. Hash checks confirm that neither the authorized fixture JPEGs nor their disposable working copies changed.

If it does not work

Section titled “If it does not work”
  • No .xmp files appear: return to Settings and confirm that Save metadata to is xmp. Select the photographs again, choose Update metadata, and wait for the confirmation message.
  • The label text is not Client Select: check that the first field under Color label preset contains Client Select and the preset shows Adobe Lightroom (Edited), then apply Ctrl+1 again and update the metadata.
  • The values belong to the wrong photograph: compare each sidecar’s base filename with the JPEG name, then compare the rating and label shown on its card in Arams.
  • ExifTool is unavailable: install or provide an external application that can read XMP Rating and Label, then test it explicitly. Do not assume compatibility from the values visible in Arams alone.
  • You need to protect originals: stop and make disposable copies before continuing. This verified workflow intentionally writes only beside copies.
Section titled “Related topics”