XnView MP Tags Lost on Migration: Why It Happens and How to Fix It

XnView MP stores its categories, labels, and ratings in an internal database that does not travel with your image files. When you move to a new computer, reinstall XnView, or hand your image folder to someone else, all that tag work disappears. This is a known architectural limitation, not a bug. The fix is to use a tool whose metadata index lives inside the image folder itself.

This page explains why XnView MP tags are lost on migration, how its catalog model works, what your options are, and how refern approaches portable tagging differently. Because XnView MP is a genuinely capable free tool, the honest comparison matters: some users will stay with it and just needs to know how to back up their catalog properly. Others will decide the portability risk is not worth it.

Why XnView MP tags disappear when you migrate

XnView MP stores categories, color labels, and ratings in its own internal database, not in the image files themselves. According to the official XnView forum, this is by design: "Only XnViewMP will be able to read its own catalog." [source: XnView MP official forum]

When you move your image folder to a new computer, you are moving the images. The XnView database stays on the old machine in a separate location, typically in your user profile or AppData folder. Your images arrive on the new machine tag-free.

There is a workaround: you can manually copy the XnView database folder from the old machine to the new one. But this is not a documented migration workflow, it requires knowing where the database lives, and it is fragile if the installation paths differ between machines. Users have also reported tags vanishing without any migration at all: version updates can break tag display, and some users report needing to press F5 to refresh the browser before tags appear. [source: XnView MP official forum tagging bug threads]

The forum thread is direct: if your tags are only stored in XnView's internal catalog, they are locked to that installation.

The root cause: database-separate-from-files

Most image viewers with a tagging feature face the same tradeoff:

• Embed metadata in the file (EXIF/XMP/IPTC): Tags travel with the file permanently. Every tool that can read EXIF/XMP can see them. Downside: not every format supports it, and writing to files is a destructive operation that some users prefer to avoid.
• Store metadata in an internal database: Fast, flexible, supports rich data structures. But the database is only as portable as you make it. If it lives in a user profile folder rather than alongside the files, migration breaks it.

XnView MP defaults to the internal database approach. Unless you explicitly configure it to write tags to file metadata (which not all formats support cleanly), your tagging data lives in one place: the XnView catalog on that specific machine.

What XnView MP does well (be fair to the tool)

Before going further, it is worth being clear: XnView MP is genuinely capable, and for many users it is the right tool.

• Completely free for personal and educational use. Commercial licenses start at EUR 29 per seat (as of 2026). [source: xnview.com]
• Supports 500+ image and video formats, including RAW, HEIC, PSD, JPEG2000, DNG, and many obscure formats. Few tools match this breadth. [source: xnview.com]
• Runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux, including ARM64 Linux. [source: xnview.com]
• Does not copy your files. It browses your images in place, just like a file explorer.
• Fast and lightweight on old hardware.
• Batch rename, batch convert, duplicate detection, and EXIF metadata editing are all included.

If you manage a large, format-diverse image collection, work offline, do not frequently switch computers, and do not need a canvas or graph view, XnView MP earns its place. Its tagging system is a known limitation, not a dealbreaker for everyone.

The portable catalog alternative: metadata that lives in the folder

The solution to the migration problem is conceptually simple: put the metadata index inside the image folder, not in a separate application database. When you move the folder, the index moves with it.

Two tools take this approach:

TagStudio is free and open-source. It stores all tag data in a .TagStudio/ts_library.sqlite file at the root of your library folder. Copy the folder, bring the .TagStudio subfolder, and your tags come with it. TagStudio has a rich hierarchical tag system with parent-child inheritance, aliases, and namespaces. [source: TagStudio GitHub and documentation]

However, TagStudio is still in alpha as of mid-2026. Users report sluggishness on large libraries due to its Python runtime. It has no canvas, no color search, no browser extension, no visual similarity, and no Eagle import. Development cadence has been slow, with roughly a six-month gap between some releases. If free and open-source is your hard requirement and you only need tag-based organization, TagStudio is worth trying, with the caveat that it is not yet production-ready. [source: TagStudio AlternativeTo user reviews; GitHub Discussion #1022]

refern stores its SQLite index and generated data alongside, or in a configured data location associated with, the workspace. Normal workspace indexing reads existing images in place. To move to a new computer, copy or restore both the ordinary source files and the associated workspace data before opening that local copy.

refern costs $35 one-time. It is not free like XnView MP or TagStudio.

Comparing the three approaches

How refern handles tag portability

refern is built around the principle that your data belongs to you and should travel with your files.

When you create a normal workspace in refern, you point it at an existing folder. refern reads those existing files in place. Its SQLite index and generated thumbnails live alongside, or in a configured data location associated with, the workspace. The index stores:

• Hierarchical tags with tag groups, linked tags, and macros
• Ratings (1 to 5 stars), color labels, favorites
• Descriptions, notes, source URL, creator
• Content tags applied from embedded EXIF/IPTC/XMP metadata on import
• Full-text search index (SQLite FTS5)

To move to a new computer, back up or copy the source files and the associated refern workspace data, then restore them locally before opening the workspace. One license covers up to 3 devices, but refern has no built-in cross-device sync and simultaneous access to one live SQLite database is not a collaboration workflow.

Because refern reads embedded image metadata on import (EXIF, IPTC, XMP), images that already have keywords embedded in their metadata have those keywords applied automatically as tags when first indexed.

What refern cannot do

To be honest about the tradeoffs:

• It costs $35. XnView MP and TagStudio are free.
• It does not write tags back to image EXIF/XMP fields. The index is local to refern. If you move to a different tool later, your tags do not automatically come with you (though the SQLite database is a standard format a developer could read).
• It does not support 500+ image formats the way XnView MP does. RAW files are indexed and previewed via thumbnail; AVIF is not yet supported.
• It does not have XnView's batch image-conversion tools (refern is a reference manager, not an image processor), though it does include bulk rename for applying a shared name with numbered suffixes across many files.
• There is no cloud sync or sharing today. Cloud sync and shareable canvases are planned without published dates.

How to keep XnView MP tags safe today (if you stay with it)

If you decide to keep using XnView MP but want to protect your tags, here are the practical steps:

Option 1: Write tags to file metadata. In XnView MP settings, enable writing categories and labels to EXIF/IPTC/XMP metadata fields. This embeds tag data directly in files that support it (JPEG, PNG, TIFF). Tags then survive any migration because they live in the file. The downside: not every format supports embedded metadata, and writing to files is a change to the file itself.

Option 2: Back up the XnView catalog manually. Locate the XnView database folder (typically in your user profile under AppData on Windows). Copy it to an external drive or cloud storage. Before migrating, copy it to the same path on the new machine before launching XnView. This works but is fragile if paths differ.

Option 3: Use a tool with a portable index. If tag portability is a recurring concern for you, consider a tool whose design makes this automatic rather than manual.

Related reading

• What is a reference manager? for the difference between a viewer, a DAM, and a reference manager.
• Best Eagle alternatives for a broader look at image organization tools.
• How to tag reference images for a practical tagging workflow that works across tools.
• How to organize reference images if you are rebuilding your library from scratch.

The bottom line

XnView MP tags are lost on migration because the tool stores its catalog separately from your image files by design. This is a tradeoff the developers made deliberately: a separate database is fast and flexible, but it is not portable by default.

If you need tags that survive moves, reinstalls, and computer changes, choose a tool with a documented catalog-backup path and verify that the metadata travels with the files you copy. TagStudio stores its catalog under the library root. refern keeps its database in a workspace-associated location and also adds a canvas, color search, visual similarity, a browser extension, and a relationship graph.

If format breadth and zero cost matter more than portability, keep XnView MP and enable "write to file metadata" in its settings. That embeds your tags in the files themselves and makes them as portable as the files.