A week or two ago I posted an example here of a custom panel for Bridge CS4′s File Info dialog (in fact I just updated that post after finding an Adobe error relating to where to install custom panels on Mac). But it’s worth saying that as well as using the much-improved Bridge, if you want to display custom metadata in the File Info dialog it means… displaying the File Info dialog – And that’s a touch tedious when you just want to check one custom field’s value and when Bridge’s main window already has a perfectly good Metadata panel.

So in that post’s only comment I wasn’t too surprised when “some guy” asked if it was possible to make it show custom metadata. While I answered no, I was pretty sure that wasn’t the case, and it turned out to be as easy as copying the properties.xml file from my existing File Info panel, and dropping it in a new folder called “custom”:
- on PC: “C:Document and SettingsUSERNAMEApplication DataAdobeXMPCustom File Info Panels2.0custom”
-on Mac: “/Users/USERNAME/ApplicationData/Adobe/XMP/Custom File Info Panels/2.0/custom”

The nice thing about this is that you can easily group metadata from various sources, so in my panel there’s a grouping of fields from Expression Media’s namespace and some from Lightroom/Bridge. You can easily mix ACR or GPS or IPTC or EXIF into this alphabet soup – it’s only XML as the Groaning OAPs would put it. The panel is now included in my CS4 File Info panel for Expression Media metadata.

I have to reflect though. While it’s good to be able to display any XMP-based metadata in Bridge, should one really have to know XML to do so? I could ask exactly the same of Lightroom 2 too, because custom metadata fields are still only available if you’re prepared to put on your wellies and wade around in Lua. As a result, Adobe users jump through hoops adding to their keywords all sorts of information which really should stay private. By contrast, for ages Extensis Portfolio has let normal users set up custom fields and read/write to XMP namespaces, and even the XMP-allergic Aperture has offered custom fields them since day 1 (see Ian Wood’s post here). In short, why do Adobe assume Joe the Ever So Slightly Pointy-headed Photographer won’t set up and exploit custom metadata fields?