sidecar files & non-destructive editing on darktable 5.6 user manual

sidecar files

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

darktable is a non-destructive image editor and opens all images in read-only mode. Most data created within darktable (metadata, tags, and image processing steps) is stored in separate .XMP sidecar files. These files are stored alongside the original Raw files and allow darktable to store information about the images as well as the full editing history without touching the original raw files. When you import an image into darktable for the first time, an XMP file is automatically generated. The generation of XMP files can be disabled in preferences > storage > XMP sidecar files but this is not recommended in normal use.

importing sidecar files generated by other applications

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

When importing an image, darktable automatically checks if it is accompanied by a sidecar file. As well as looking for files named <basename>.<extension>.xmp and <basename>_<number>.<extension>.xmp (darktable’s XMP file naming formats) darktable also checks for the presence of a file in the form <basename>.xmp (the naming format for Lightroom’s XMP sidecar files). Files with the latter naming format will be read by darktable but will not be written to. Once the image has been imported, darktable will generate an additional XMP file using its own naming convention.

local copies

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Many users have huge image collections stored on extra hard drives in their desktop computer, or on an external storage medium (RAID NAS, external hard drives etc.).

It is a common requirement to develop a number of images while travelling using a laptop and then later synchronize them back to the original storage medium. However, copying images manually from the main storage to the laptop and back is cumbersome and prone to errors. The “local copies” feature of darktable has been designed to directly support these use cases.