Syncomatic is a Lightroom 3 plug-in to synchronise Library metadata between pairs of files whose names are identical or have a suffix like -edit but where the file types differ.

For example, imagine you have a large number of raw files in Lightroom and have added lots of different keywords, titles, ratings and other metadata. Also in Lightroom are the JPEGs which you have created from these raw files, so there’s a 1234.jpg as well as a 1234.raw, a 6789.jpg and a 6789.raw, and so on. But for some reason the JPEGs don’t have any metadata, or it’s not up-to-date. Syncomatic simply runs through the two groups of pictures and makes the metadata of 1234.jpg the same as 1234.raw, makes 6789.jpg match 6789.raw…..

Another example of its use is someone who transfers small JPEG images to his computer while shooting, allowing customers to see them immediately and put rating stars or comments on some pictures. After the shoot he transfers the RAW files from the camera to the computer, and then transfer the ratings from JPEG to RAW using Syncomatic.