> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.realmacsoftware.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.realmacsoftware.com/squash/quick-guide/nodes/metadata.md).
# Metadata
Remove image metadata, add your own title, credits and keywords, or correct capture dates and locations
The **Metadata** section chooses what happens to each image's metadata when Squash exports it. It can remove what the source file carries, keep it, write your own information into every image in the batch, and correct capture dates and locations. These changes apply to the exported copies; your original files aren't touched.
### Modes
Choose a **Mode** at the top of the section.
| Mode | What it does |
| ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Remove All Metadata | Removes all of the source metadata apart from what is needed to display the image correctly. This is the default. |
| Keep All Metadata | Keeps the source metadata. You can still correct the [capture date](#capture-date) and [location](#location), or remove all keywords. |
| Replace Metadata | Removes all of the source metadata, then writes only what you set below. |
| Custom | Removes the kinds of metadata you choose, then writes what you set. |
Some information needed to display the image is always kept: orientation, resolution (DPI), colour model and colour profile name. Because Squash saves pixels upright, any orientation tag it keeps is reset to the normal orientation. Squash saves every image in sRGB, so a kept colour space tag says sRGB too.
### How to use it
Choose your settings in the **Metadata** section, then export. Nothing changes until you export, and your original files stay as they are. If you turn the section off with the switch in its header, exports go back to **Remove All Metadata**.
Save settings you use often as a [preset](/squash/quick-guide/presets.md).
#### Remove everything before sharing
Leave **Mode** on **Remove All Metadata**. This is the default, and takes out location, camera details, dates, your name and everything else.
#### Keep everything
Set **Mode** to **Keep All Metadata**.
#### Remove only your location
1. Set **Mode** to **Custom**.
2. Under **Remove**, select **Location** and clear the other four.
The same steps work for any mix: select what should go, and clear what should stay.
#### Add your name and copyright to every image
To keep the metadata your images already have:
1. Set **Mode** to **Custom**.
2. Under **Remove**, clear all five checkboxes.
3. Fill in **Creator** and **Copyright**, for example `© {{year}} Your Name`. `{{year}}` becomes the year you export.
4. If you have a page about your licence or terms, add it under **Website**.
To include only your credit and nothing else, set **Mode** to **Replace Metadata** and do steps 3 and 4.
#### Give each image a title
1. Set **Mode** to **Custom** or **Replace Metadata**.
2. Set **Title** to one of these:
* **Original Filename**, to use each image's own name: `IMG_0042.heic` is titled "IMG\_0042".
* **Export Filename**, to use the name it's saved with, as words: `red-car-at-night.jpg` is titled "Red Car At Night".
For titles that describe each picture, use **Describe** in the [Rename](/squash/quick-guide/nodes/rename.md) template together with **Export Filename**.
#### Add a description to each image
1. Set **Mode** to **Custom** or **Replace Metadata**.
2. Set **Description** to **Apple Intelligence**.
3. Export. Squash writes a sentence or two about each image on your Mac, which you can use as alt text.
This needs [Apple Intelligence](/squash/quick-guide/ai.md). Check the descriptions before you rely on them. Images redacted with the [Highlighter](/squash/quick-guide/nodes/redact.md) aren't described.
#### Add, replace or remove keywords
* **Add to the keywords images already have:** set **Mode** to **Custom**, clear **Other metadata** under **Remove**, type your keywords separated by commas, and choose **Add to existing keywords**.
* **Replace them:** do the same, but choose **Replace keywords**.
* **Remove them and keep everything else:** set **Mode** to **Keep All Metadata** and set **Keywords** to **Remove all keywords**.
#### Fix a camera clock that was wrong
1. Set **Mode** to **Keep All Metadata**.
2. Set **Capture Date** to **Shift**.
3. Enter how far to move the dates. If the camera was an hour behind, enter `1` under **Hours**; if it was an hour ahead, enter `-1`. A camera set to the wrong year might need `365` or `-365` under **Days**.
4. If the photos were taken in another time zone, you can also choose it under **Time Zone**. This records the offset without changing the time.
#### Date scans or other images that have none
To give a whole batch one date, such as scans from the same album:
1. Set **Mode** to **Keep All Metadata**.
2. Set **Capture Date** to **Set** and choose the date.
3. Select **Add 1 second per image** if you want apps to sort them in order. They're numbered by any capture date they already have, and then by their order in the list.
To use the date of each original file instead:
1. Set **Mode** to **Keep All Metadata**.
2. Set **Capture Date** to **From File Date**.
3. Set **File Date** to **Created** or **Modified**.
4. Leave **Use** on **Only when missing** to leave images that already have a date alone, or choose **Always** to overwrite them.
#### Add a location to images
1. Set **Mode** to **Keep All Metadata**.
2. Set **Location** to **Set**.
3. Enter the place in any of these ways:
* Type coordinates, such as `51.5072, -0.1276`.
* Paste a link from Apple Maps or Google Maps.
* Click the map button, search for a place or click on the map, then choose **Use This Location**.
4. Select **Also fill in place names** if you also want the city and country added.
Every image in the batch gets the same place, so export images from different places separately.
#### Share roughly where a photo was taken
1. Set **Mode** to **Keep All Metadata**.
2. Set **Location** to **Approximate**.
Each image keeps its own location, rounded to about a kilometre, without its altitude or direction.
#### Check the result
To see what an exported image contains, open it in Preview and choose **Tools > Show Inspector**. If a field you set is missing, check [Output formats](#output-formats).
#### Use the same settings every time
Metadata settings, including your Creator, Copyright, dates and location, are saved in [presets](/squash/quick-guide/presets.md):
1. Set up the **Metadata** section the way you want it.
2. Choose **Save New Preset…** from the preset menu.
Choose that preset whenever you need those settings. To apply it automatically, choose it for a [Watched Folder](/squash/quick-guide/watched-folders.md), and every new image in that folder gets the same metadata.
#### Set metadata in Shortcuts
Two [Shortcuts](/squash/quick-guide/shortcuts.md) actions work with metadata. Use them before **Squash Images** in your shortcut:
* [**Choose Metadata**](/squash/quick-guide/shortcuts.md#choose-metadata) picks what to keep: **GPS Location**, **Camera**, **Date & Time**, **Author** and **Other**.
* [**Edit Metadata**](/squash/quick-guide/shortcuts.md#edit-metadata) corrects the capture date and location, and can remove all keywords. On its own it removes all other metadata, so add **Choose Metadata** to keep some.
To write your Creator, Copyright, Website or Keywords from a shortcut, save them in a preset and finish with **Squash Images with Preset**. A preset's settings win over earlier actions in the shortcut.
#### Things to watch for
* **Replace Metadata removes everything first.** With **Capture Date** or **Location** on **Keep**, there's nothing left to keep, so the date or location is removed. To keep what an image has, use **Keep All Metadata** or **Custom**.
* **PNG algorithms:** **Zopfli** and **Crush** strip the text from PNGs, including fields you set. Use **oxipng**, the default, when PNG metadata matters.
* **GIF** files hold no image metadata, so there's nothing to keep from them.
* **Redacted images** aren't given Apple Intelligence descriptions, and lose their embedded thumbnail, XMP and maker notes, even when other metadata is kept. See [Highlighter](/squash/quick-guide/nodes/redact.md).
* **Your originals are never changed.** Metadata is only written to the exported copies.
### Choosing what to remove
In **Custom**, five **Remove** checkboxes appear. A selected checkbox removes that kind of metadata; clear it to keep that information in the exported file.
| Remove | What it covers |
| ------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Location | GPS coordinates and the GPS block, plus IPTC location fields: sublocation, city, state or province, and country name and code. |
| Camera & lens | Camera make and model, camera and lens serial numbers, lens make, model and specification, manufacturer maker notes (such as Apple, Canon, Fujifilm, Nikon, Olympus, Minolta and Pentax), firmware and other camera-identifying fields. |
| Date & time | When the photo was taken and digitised, including time zone offsets, the TIFF date, GPS date and time stamps, IPTC creation and release dates, and PNG creation and modification times. |
| Author & copyright | Artist, by-line, copyright notice, credit, source, contact details, usage terms and the camera owner's name, from TIFF, IPTC and PNG metadata. |
| Other metadata | Everything not covered above, such as exposure and capture settings, titles, descriptions, keywords and comments. |
To keep everything except your location, for example, choose **Custom** and clear every checkbox apart from **Location**.
### Adding your own metadata
In **Replace Metadata** and **Custom**, you can write information into every exported image. A field you leave empty writes nothing. A value you set always wins: it replaces what the image already had for that field, even when **Custom** keeps that kind of metadata or removes it.
| Field | What it writes |
| ----------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Title | **None**, the image's **Original Filename** without its extension, or its **Export Filename**: the name it is saved with after [Rename](/squash/quick-guide/nodes/rename.md), with hyphens and underscores as spaces and each word capitalised. A Describe filename such as `red-car-at-night` becomes the title "Red Car At Night". |
| Description | **None**, or **Apple Intelligence**, which writes a sentence or two about each image on your Mac, useful as alt text. See [Descriptions](#descriptions). |
| Creator | The photographer or author. |
| Copyright | A copyright notice. Type `{{year}}` for the year the image is exported, for example `© {{year}} Your Name`. |
| Website | A web page about the image's copyright or licence. |
| Keywords | Keywords separated by commas. |
Click the **i** button beside **Title** or **Description** for a reminder of how each option works.
**Creator**, **Copyright**, **Website** and **Keywords** can include the date and your own [variables](/squash/quick-guide/variables.md). Click the **+** in the field to add **year**, **month**, **day**, **time**, **date** or a variable at the cursor, or type a tag such as `{{var:Client}}`. These appear as chips, including `{{year}}` in **Copyright**. All of them use the moment the export starts, and other text in braces stays as you typed it.
In **Custom**, when **Other metadata** is kept, a menu below **Keywords** chooses whether your keywords are **added to existing keywords**, **replace keywords**, or whether to **remove all keywords**, which writes none and keeps the rest of Other metadata. **Keep All Metadata** has the same choice to remove them. In **Replace Metadata**, your keywords are the only ones.
Squash writes each value to the standard fields that apps such as Photos and Lightroom, and websites, read:
| Value | Where it's written |
| ----------- | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| Title | IPTC object name, PNG title |
| Description | IPTC caption, TIFF image description, PNG description |
| Creator | IPTC by-line, TIFF artist, PNG author |
| Copyright | IPTC copyright notice, TIFF copyright, PNG copyright |
| Website | XMP web statement (`xmpRights:WebStatement`) |
| Keywords | IPTC keywords |
In JPEG and TIFF files, IPTC limits how long some fields can be, so Squash shortens its IPTC copy of a long title, description, keyword, creator or copyright without splitting a character. The TIFF and PNG copies keep the full text.
Metadata settings, including your fields, are saved in [presets](/squash/quick-guide/presets.md). [Watched Folders](/squash/quick-guide/watched-folders.md) and [Shortcuts](/squash/quick-guide/shortcuts.md) actions that use a preset write the same metadata.
### Descriptions
With **Description** set to **Apple Intelligence**, Squash asks Apple Intelligence to describe each image when you export. Descriptions are generated on your Mac and images never leave it. The option needs Apple Intelligence; see [AI Setup](/squash/quick-guide/ai.md). Where it isn't available, the option is dimmed.
Images with marks from the [Highlighter](/squash/quick-guide/nodes/redact.md) in Redact mode are never described, because a description could mention what was covered. Their other metadata is still written.
Descriptions are made for the image with your sidebar edits applied. If you change what the image shows, for example by cropping it or adding an effect, Squash describes it again at the next export.
### Capture Date
In **Keep All Metadata**, **Replace Metadata** and **Custom**, **Capture Date** can correct when each image was taken. A date you ask for is written even when **Custom** removes **Date & time**.
| Option | What it does |
| -------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Keep | Follows the mode: the date stays if the mode keeps it. In **Replace Metadata**, that means it's removed. |
| Shift | Moves each image's date by the days, hours and minutes you enter, which can be negative. Use it when a camera's clock was wrong. An image with no date stays without one. |
| Set | Gives every image the date you choose. Select **Add 1 second per image** to space them a second apart, in order of their original capture date and then their place in the list. |
| From File Date | Uses the **Created** or **Modified** date of the original file, **Only when missing** from what's being written, or **Always**. |
With **Shift** and **Set**, **Time Zone** can also record a UTC offset. It doesn't change the time, only the offset saved with it. **Shift** otherwise keeps the image's own offset, and **From File Date** uses your Mac's time zone.
Squash writes the date to the EXIF original and digitised dates, the TIFF date, the IPTC creation date and time, XMP (`photoshop:DateCreated` and `xmp:CreateDate`) and the PNG creation time, so they agree. GPS date stamps aren't changed.
The `{{date}}` token in [Rename](/squash/quick-guide/nodes/rename.md) and `{{year}}` in **Copyright** still mean the date you export, not the capture date.
### Location
In the same modes, **Location** can correct where each image was taken. It's written even when **Custom** removes **Location**, and images redacted with the [Highlighter](/squash/quick-guide/nodes/redact.md) get it too, because it comes from you rather than from the image.
| Option | What it does |
| ----------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Keep | Follows the mode: the location stays if the mode keeps it. In **Replace Metadata**, that means it's removed. |
| Set | Gives every image the same place. Type coordinates such as `51.5072, -0.1276` or `51°30'26"N 0°7'39"W`, paste an Apple Maps or Google Maps link, or click the map button to search for a place or click on the map. |
| Approximate | Rounds each image's own location to about a kilometre (two decimal places). Images with no location stay without one. |
Both write only the position, so altitude, direction and speed are dropped. GPS date stamps stay if they're kept.
With **Set**, **Also fill in place names** adds the city, state or province, and country to the image's IPTC location fields. Without a connection, they're left out.
{% hint style="info" %}
Searching the map and filling in place names use Apple's map services, which receive your search text or the coordinates. Nothing is sent unless you use them, and your images never leave your Mac. See the [Privacy Policy](/squash/extras/privacy-policy.md).
{% endhint %}
### Settings from earlier versions
Settings and presets saved before the **Mode** menu load with the mode that matches their checkboxes: all selected becomes **Remove All Metadata**, all cleared becomes **Keep All Metadata**, and anything else becomes **Custom** with the same checkboxes. Earlier builds had a single **Remove EXIF data** checkbox; with it selected, settings load as **Remove All Metadata**, and with it cleared, as **Keep All Metadata**.
### Output formats
JPEG, PNG, TIFF, HEIC and AVIF carry everything Squash writes. PNGs exported with the **Zopfli** or **Crush** algorithm lose their text metadata, including the fields you set, so use **oxipng** (the default) when PNG metadata matters; see [Format](/squash/quick-guide/nodes/format.md#png-algorithms). **WebP** and **JPEG XL** keep EXIF information when you choose to keep it, such as camera, date and time, location, and author and copyright details. Squash also writes the title, description, keywords, creator, copyright, website and capture date into their XMP, but not other IPTC or XMP metadata from the source file.
**AVIF** metadata is kept only on Macs where the system can write it. Formats preserve supported fields rather than every possible metadata block. Check your exported files if particular metadata is essential.
Exports do not copy the source file's creation or modification dates. These file dates are separate from capture dates embedded in the image's metadata.
### Visible information
Removing metadata does not remove people, addresses or text visible in the image itself. Use the [Highlighter](/squash/quick-guide/nodes/redact.md) to cover them. See the [Privacy Policy](/squash/extras/privacy-policy.md) for how Squash handles images with Apple Intelligence.
Squash 3 reference screenshots
These screenshots show the earlier Squash 3 interface.
---
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