Windows Explorer - Year (Metadata?) Defined Where? SOLVED

[shade-cabin-hammock]

Hi,

Windows explorer has a value for year.

2022-05-08_19-46-57-878.png

I checked Document Properties & Document Properties > Additional Meta Data. Can't seem to see where to define that?

2022-05-08_19-38-36-414.png

If we want to the year to show up in Windows Explorer - where do we add that value?

Thanks!

SCH

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi SCH,

I don't think you can, I think that, like Album, Album Artist, Album ID etc that they were designed for multimedia files like MP3.
I am not aware of any other PDF software that can add metadata to use this.

[shade-cabin-hammock]

Hi Paul,

AH! Icicic... got it.

THANKS!

Sincerely,

SCH

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

[Jensen Head]

If we want to the year to show up in Windows Explorer - where do we add that value?

ID3v2 as part of XMP allows you to set the year. This is the

Code: Select all

xmp:CreateDate

tag.
_

xmpCreateDate.png

("Adobe XMP Specification Part 3: Storage in Files" 2020)
_
This tag is correctly displayed in Windows Explorer for audio files, but is not displayed if it is assigned to PDF.

PDF with xmpCreateDate.png

2022-06-10_19-43-41.png

_
I don't know what's the matter.

[Ivan - Tracker Software]

Honestly, I'm not sure what you are looking for.
In PDF the creation date (not just a year!) might be stored in two places:
1) document's Info dictionary
2) in document's metadata (xmp:CreateDate)

[shade-cabin-hammock]

Hi,

For myself it's usually for comparative purposes during research.

For example, if the work was created before or after a specific event - WWII; Origin of the Species Published 9/24/1859, etc.

Or, even just the century. Lots of folks weighing in on subjects BUT...it's be nice to be able to take a look at ONLY the 17th century's list of writers on a specific issue.

Don't have to open each one and drill down. And, then file names can be a bit more reserved to naming - rather than:

1859-9-24-Origin of the Species

Sincerely,

SCH

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, shade-cabin-hammock

Unfortunately There is nothing that can be done from our end to change this, despite all the similarities, XMP metadata =/= PDF Metadata. We can store the items which are supported by the PDF specification (in this case, the creation date), and windows should properly read those items. Anything beyond the default items, including custom fields, may be usable by windows in certain cases, but it is not something that I can help you to configure, nor something that I can guarantee will be possible.

Kind regards,

[shade-cabin-hammock]

Hi Daniel,

Ah! Yep. I do follow.

First! Thanks for following up on my parenthetical aside! That's REALLY appreciated. !

On thing that just occurred to me... among all the columns in Windows explorer (see below) - are there any that could be repurposed to hold a date value? Any within the metadata that are easily available to us via PDF-X?

My first thought was "Copyright" - but I only see a

Copyright Notice

text box

in Document Properties. Added a value there - didn't show up.

2022-06-14_11-59-38-506.png

Can you think of any OTHER fields we COULD add values to as a kind of a workaround?

Fingers crossed!

Sincerely,

SCH

2022-06-14_11-56-46-753.png

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, shade-cabin-hammock

None come to mine off the top of my head, but if you are consistent with which one you are uising, any metadata field which windows can show the content of in the file explorer should work. I am afraid that will need to be a trial and error process on your part though.

I hope you can find a solution that helps with your personal preferences.

Kind regards,

[Jensen Head]

shade-cabin-hammock, you might be interested in a list of PDF metadata fields added to Windows File Explorer by PDF-XChange Shell Extensions — viewtopic.php?p=194316#p194316

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

[Jensen Head]

I checked Document Properties & Document Properties > Additional Meta Data. Can't seem to see where to define that?
If we want to the year to show up in Windows Explorer - where do we add that value?

I guess you want prism:copyrightYear.

I believe that something like this xmp file would be sufficient for import:

Code: Select all

<?xpacket begin="" id="W5M0MpCehiHzreSzNTczkc9d"?>
<x:xmpmeta xmlns:x="adobe:ns:meta/" x:xmptk="XMP Core 6.0.0">
	<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#">
		<rdf:Description rdf:about=""
				xmlns:prism="http://prismstandard.org/namespaces/basic/3.0/">
			<dc:format>application/pdf</dc:format>
			<prism:copyrightYear>2025</prism:copyrightYear>
		</rdf:Description>
	</rdf:RDF>
</x:xmpmeta>
<?xpacket end="w"?>

If only PDF-XChange could import it (it doesn't now).

But you can use the powerful FOSS utility ExifTool.
͏
Add year:

Code: Select all

exiftool -XMP-prism:copyrightYear=2025 input.pdf

Check the value:

Code: Select all

exiftool -XMP-prism:copyrightYear input.pdf

Or view all metadata:

Code: Select all

exiftool.exe -v1 -s input.pdf

It will look something like this:

Code: Select all

> exiftool.exe -XMP-prism:copyrightYear=2025 exemple.pdf
1 image files updated
> exiftool.exe -XMP-prism:copyrightYear exemple.pdf
Copyright Year: 2025
> exiftool.exe -v1 -s exemple.pdf
ExifToolVersion = …
FileName = exemple.pdf
Directory = …
FileSize = …
FileModifyDate = …
FileAccessDate = …
FileCreateDate = …
FilePermissions = …
FileType = PDF
FileTypeExtension = PDF
MIMEType = application/pdf
PDFVersion = …
Linearized = …
PDF dictionary (1 of 2) with 9 entries:
  0)  ID = [<…>,<…>]
  1)  Info (SubDirectory) -->
  + [Info directory with 1 entries]
  | 0)  ModifyDate = (…)
  2)  Length = …
  3)  Root (SubDirectory) -->
  + [Root directory with 3 entries]
  | 0)  Metadata (SubDirectory) -->
  | + [Metadata directory with 3 entries]
  | | 0)  Type = /Metadata
  | | 1)  Subtype = /XML
  | | 2)  Length = …
  | | + [XMP directory, … bytes]
  | | | XMPToolkit = Image::ExifTool 13.30
  | | | CopyrightYear = 2025
  | | | ModifyDate = …
  | 1)  Pages (SubDirectory) -->
(…)

However, please note that in Windows File Explorer this field will not be displayed until you have a handler that adds this field to be displayed as a column and for indexing.

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

[Mathew]

Sorry if I'm misunderstanding, but the PDF-XChange shell extension makes metadata from the pdf visible in Explorer. For example, if I add year: 1865 to the Keywords in PXCE:

image.png

This shows up both in the file properties:

image(1).png

AND if I enable "Tags" in the explorer view:

image(2).png

it's right there in explorer:

image(3).png

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, Mathew

My understanding was that they wanted to add additional custom metadata fields, instead of using the keywords or other "almost but not quite right" fields. and by extension, be able to see some of those and search them.

Your solution is certainly a great workaround in most cases, but I am not sure if it meets the needs here.

Kind regards,