Import EXIF, IPTC, XMP Tags Into Your Reference Library (2026)

By refern | Last updated: June 2026

TL;DR: refern reads EXIF, IPTC, and XMP metadata from your images on import and converts keywords into tags, preserving ratings, descriptions, creator, and source URL as metadata fields. If your files already have tags embedded from digiKam, Lightroom, Bridge, or Eagle exports, those tags survive the move with no manual re-entry.

If you have spent years tagging photos in digiKam or Lightroom, moving to a new tool feels like throwing that work away. It does not have to be. The metadata you embedded in those files travels with the files. refern reads it on import and surfaces it as first-class organizational data inside your library.

This guide walks through exactly what refern reads, how the import works, and what to expect when migrating from the four most common sources.

Before You Start

A few things to confirm before importing:

Your tags need to be in the files, not just the app database. Every app stores metadata differently. Some write tags directly into the image bytes (embedded). Others keep everything in a private database and optionally write to sidecar files. If tags only live in the app's database and you export the raw files without sidecars or embedded XMP, those tags are gone.

Check this before migrating:

• digiKam: Settings under Metadata confirms whether your tags are set to write to files or kept database-only. If database-only, run Edit > Metadata > Write All Metadata to Files before exporting. digiKam XMP portability is one of its core strengths.
• Adobe Lightroom Classic: Enable "Automatically write changes into XMP" in Catalog Settings, or select all files and press Ctrl+S (Cmd+S) to write XMP sidecars. Keywords, ratings, and labels will appear in the sidecar files that travel alongside your originals.
• Adobe Bridge: Bridge writes to XMP sidecars by default when you apply keywords or ratings. Those sidecar files should already be sitting next to your images.
• Eagle: Eagle stores metadata in its own .library folder database, not embedded in files. The Eagle import built into refern reads this database directly, so you do not need to pre-process anything. See the Eagle section below.

What refern Reads on Import

When refern indexes an image (on drag-drop, folder import, or workspace scan), it runs a metadata extraction pass over every supported file.

Here is what gets read and where it goes:

Tags created from imported metadata are weighted 0 (meaning they appear in your tag list but carry no manual priority signal) and are given a neutral gray color by default. You can edit them like any other tag after import. All auto-imported tags are grouped under an automatically created tag hierarchy called "Imported from file metadata" so you can identify and bulk-edit them if needed.

File format coverage (current version): refern reads metadata from JPEG and PNG files. DNG, TIFF, WebP, and HEIC files return empty metadata in the current version. Broader format support is planned. If your originals are in one of the unsupported formats, Lightroom or digiKam can export JPEG copies with the same metadata embedded before you import.

Step 1: Import Your Files Into refern

The simplest path is to point refern at your existing folder. refern never copies your files. It indexes the folder in place and stores its database (a refern-db.sqlite file) alongside your originals. Your folder structure on disk does not change.

To create a workspace:

1. Open refern and choose "New workspace" on the welcome screen (or from the sidebar).
2. Select the root folder where your images live.
3. refern begins scanning. A progress indicator shows how many files have been indexed and how many thumbnails have been processed.

For large libraries, the first scan takes a few minutes. Metadata extraction runs as part of the indexing pass, so by the time the progress bar completes, your tags are already in the database.

Importing a subset of files: Drag any folder or collection of image files from your system file manager directly into the refern window. A staging area appears where you can preview the files and apply additional tags before confirming the import.

Step 2: Verify That Tags Came Through

After the import completes, open any image that had keywords embedded and check the sidebar.

Tags that were read from file metadata appear in the "Tags" section of the metadata sidebar, exactly like tags you applied manually. If the image had hierarchical tags (from digiKam's TagsList or Lightroom's hierarchicalSubject), the hierarchy is recreated in your tag panel.

If an expected tag did not appear:

• Check whether the tag was actually embedded in the file. Open the image in the source app and confirm the keyword shows in its metadata panel. If the source app only stores keywords in its database and the file does not have them embedded, refern has nothing to read.
• Check the file format. TIFF and DNG files do not have metadata extracted in the current refern version. Convert to JPEG for the migration if needed.
• Run a manual re-scan. Go to Settings, then Re-scan metadata for all images. This re-reads metadata for every image in your library and applies any newly found tags without removing what is already there.

Step 3: Review the Imported Tag Hierarchy

Go to the tag panel in the sidebar. You will see a tag hierarchy node called "Imported from file metadata" containing all tags that were created from embedded metadata. This keeps auto-imported tags visually separate from tags you created manually in refern.

From here you can:

• Rename tags that used inconsistent casing or spelling across your source app.
• Merge tags that represent the same concept (for example, "portrait" and "Portrait" imported from two different tools).
• Assign colors to tags you want to visually distinguish in the grid.
• Move tags out of the auto-import hierarchy and into your own tag tree by editing the hierarchy in the tag panel.

Step 4: Set Up Metadata Auto-Import for Future Imports

By default, refern reads metadata on every new import. Two preferences in Settings control this:

• Auto-import embedded metadata as tags (default: on): reads keywords and applies them as tags for every new file added to any workspace.
• Auto-import sidecar metadata (default: on): reads description, rating, creator, and source from sidecar or embedded fields.

These settings apply going forward. The Re-scan metadata option in Settings applies the same logic retroactively to files already in your library.

Migrating From Specific Tools

Migrating From digiKam

digiKam is one of the best tools in the world for metadata portability. It writes tags directly into image files via XMP by design, so the organizational work you did in digiKam is embedded in your originals and will survive a migration to any tool that reads XMP.

Before importing to refern:

1. In digiKam, open Settings and check the Metadata tab. Confirm that "Write Tags to Image Files" is enabled.
2. Select all images (Ctrl+A) and run Edit > Metadata > Write All Metadata to Files.
3. Point refern at the same folder. refern will read digiKam:TagsList (slash-separated hierarchical paths) and dc:subject (flat keywords) from each file.

What transfers: tags (flat and hierarchical), star ratings, descriptions.

What does not transfer: face recognition data, geolocation, album organization (folder structure transfers because refern reads the actual disk folders), batch processing queues.

digiKam is honest that it provides full XMP read and write, which refern does not. If writing metadata back to image files is important to your workflow, digiKam remains the stronger choice for that specific capability. refern reads on import and stores metadata in its own database without writing back to your originals.

Migrating From Adobe Lightroom Classic

Lightroom stores keywords in its catalog database by default. Before migrating:

1. In Catalog Settings, enable "Automatically write changes into XMP."
2. Select all photos and press Ctrl+S (Cmd+S) to force-write current metadata to XMP sidecars.
3. Import the same folder into refern. refern reads lr:hierarchicalSubject (pipe-separated paths like "Animals|Dogs|Retrievers") and dc:subject keywords from the sidecar files.

Lightroom's hierarchical subject format is supported: "Animals|Dogs" becomes a two-level tag hierarchy in refern with "Animals" as the parent and "Dogs" as the child.

Star ratings (1 to 5) are read from xmp:Rating. Color labels are not directly mapped (Lightroom color labels are stored as label names, not numeric codes, and do not have a universal XMP equivalent), but you can apply refern color labels manually after import.

Migrating From Adobe Bridge

Bridge writes XMP metadata to sidecar files next to your originals by default when you apply keywords or ratings. Bridge is a strong tool for deep IPTC/XMP metadata editing, and its metadata writes are standard-format and fully readable by refern.

No pre-processing is needed if you have been using Bridge with default settings. Point refern at the same folder and metadata will be read automatically.

Bridge does not have a hierarchical keyword structure identical to digiKam's or Lightroom's, but it writes keywords to dc:subject, which refern reads as flat tags.

What transfers: keywords, ratings, descriptions, creator.

What does not transfer: Bridge collections (these are device-local virtual groupings with no disk equivalent that refern can read), Photoshop batch automation settings, Camera Raw develop settings.

Migrating From Eagle

Eagle does not embed metadata in your original image files. It stores all organizational data (folders, tags, ratings, notes, source URLs) in its proprietary .library folder database. The original files Eagle copied are unmodified originals with no embedded tags.

refern handles this with a dedicated Eagle importer. To use it:

1. In refern, go to File > Import from Eagle.
2. Select your Eagle .library folder.
3. refern reads Eagle's internal database and recreates folders, tags, ratings, source URLs, and notes in your refern workspace.

What transfers: folder structure, tags, star ratings, source URLs, notes/annotations.

What does not transfer: Eagle-specific color labels (mapped as best as possible to refern's color label system), any tags applied only inside Eagle's database after the library was created.

Note that Eagle copies all files into its .library folder on import, so your originals already live inside the library. refern can point at the library folder itself or at your original source folders if you kept them.

Common Problems and Fixes

Tags are missing after import. Most likely the tags exist in your source app's database but were not written to the files. In digiKam, run Edit > Metadata > Write All Metadata to Files. In Lightroom, enable "Write XMP automatically" and force-sync with Ctrl+S. Then use Re-scan metadata in refern Settings.

Duplicate tags with slightly different names. Apps write keywords with whatever casing or spelling you used at the time. "landscape" and "Landscape" both appear. Go to the tag panel, select both, and use the merge option to combine them.

Ratings did not import. XMP Rating=0 is treated as no rating in refern (consistent with the XMP specification, where 0 means "unrated"). Check that your source app wrote a rating of 1 or higher. Ratings stored only in an app database without XMP write will not transfer.

Hierarchical tags are flat instead of nested. refern reads digiKam:TagsList and lr:hierarchicalSubject for hierarchy. If your source app wrote keywords only to dc:subject, they arrive as flat tags. You can rebuild the hierarchy manually in refern's tag panel by dragging tags into parent-child relationships.

A format that should work is not being read. Check that the file is a JPEG or PNG. Metadata extraction for DNG, TIFF, WebP, and HEIC is planned but not available in the current version.

Next Steps

Once your tags are imported and cleaned up, a few refern features become much more useful with a tagged library:

• Search with tag: operators and combine them with rating:, color:, and type: filters to build precise queries without touching a folder.
• Set up smart folders that auto-populate based on your imported tags so your favorite tag combinations always have a dedicated view.
• Use the relationship graph view to explore how your tags, folders, and canvases connect after your first week of use.
• If you imported from Eagle, see the refern vs Eagle comparison for a full breakdown of what each tool does differently.

A Note on Honest Limitations

refern reads metadata on import but does not write metadata back to your image files. If metadata portability (the ability to embed tags back into files so they travel with the originals if you later switch to a third tool) is a hard requirement for your workflow, digiKam and Adobe Bridge both provide full XMP read and write, which is a genuine advantage over refern's current read-only approach. This is the right tool for workflows where metadata is written into the files themselves and needs to stay there. Metadata write-back is on the refern roadmap.

What refern gives you in return is a canvas to compose those tagged references visually, a relationship graph to navigate how they connect, and a search system with 14-plus typed operators that goes well beyond keyword matching.

Conclusion

Your existing metadata work is not lost when you move to refern. If your source app writes tags to XMP (digiKam, Lightroom, Bridge), those tags transfer automatically on import. If you are coming from Eagle, the built-in importer reads the Eagle database directly. Either way, you spend your first session in refern with a tagged library, not a blank slate.