Importing AI-Generated Metadata into Lightroom

PhotoScanr generates titles, captions, keywords, and descriptions for every image. If you edit in Adobe Lightroom Classic, the natural next question is: how do I actually get that text into the right Lightroom fields without retyping it?

This guide covers three workflows, from fastest to most automated. Pick the one that matches how many images you're tagging.

How PhotoScanr Fields Map to Lightroom

Before anything else, a field map. PhotoScanr's "generic" output maps cleanly to Lightroom's IPTC metadata panel:

In Lightroom mode specifically the semantics flip to match Lightroom's model: PhotoScanr's Caption becomes the long descriptive field (LR Caption), and PhotoScanr's Description field is relabeled Headline in the UI and holds a short one-line summary suitable for LR's Headline field. If you're not in Lightroom mode, Caption is shorter and Description is longer — most photographers then map PhotoScanr's Description to LR's Caption field.

Workflow 1: Copy and Paste (One Image, 30 Seconds)

For a single image or a handful, the fastest path is clipboard-based. No plugins required.

1. Upload the image to PhotoScanr, let the analysis finish.
2. Stay on the "Generic" platform tab. Click the copy icon next to Title, Caption, Keywords, or Description.
3. In Lightroom Classic, select the image, open the Library module, and show the Metadata panel (right side, IPTC preset).
4. Paste into the matching field. Keywords go in the Keywording panel below; paste all of them at once and Lightroom parses them by comma.

This is the right workflow for portfolio edits, stock submissions one at a time, and any case where you're making final tweaks by hand anyway.

Workflow 2: LR Transporter for Batch Imports (Recommended for 10+ Images)

Lightroom Classic does not have a native "import metadata from CSV" option. (It can import metadata from sidecar XMP files, but generating those yourself is more work than it needs to be.) The standard third-party plugin for this is LR/Transporter by John Beardsworth, a well-established Lightroom plugin sold at beardsworth.co.uk.

With LR Transporter installed, the workflow becomes:

1. In PhotoScanr, batch-analyze your images (Pro: up to 25, Power: up to 50). This requires a Pro or Power subscription; the free tier caps at 3.
2. Click the Export button and choose Export as CSV. You'll get a spreadsheet with one row per image and columns for title, caption, keywords, description.
3. (Optional) Open the CSV in Excel, Numbers, or Google Sheets and tweak anything you want to edit before import. PhotoScanr's output is a draft, not a final.
4. In Lightroom, import or locate the same images in your catalog. Select them.
5. Run File → Plug-in Extras → LR Transporter → Read from File. Point it at your CSV, map the columns to Lightroom fields (Title, Caption, Keywords, Headline), and run the import.
6. Every selected image now has its metadata populated, and LR's standard write-to-file options (Cmd+S / Ctrl+S) embed it in the file or sidecar.

The one thing to watch: CSV column names in the PhotoScanr export and the field names you map inside LR Transporter need to line up. LR Transporter asks you to pick per column, so if the header is "keywords" and you want them in Lightroom's Keywords field, select it explicitly during import.

Workflow 3: Sidecar XMP Files (Advanced, No Plugin)

If you don't want to pay for a plugin and you're comfortable at the command line, ExifTool can write PhotoScanr's JSON output directly into XMP sidecars that Lightroom will read on import.

Lightroom picks this up via Metadata → Read Metadata from File on the selected image(s). This is more fragile than LR Transporter because column counts, quoting, and character escaping all have to be right. Recommended only if you already use ExifTool in your workflow.

A Few Practical Notes

• Review before committing. AI-generated metadata is a draft. Spend 10 seconds per image glancing at the title and keywords before you hit the LR Transporter import. Corrections now cost less than re-exporting and re-importing.
• Write metadata to files. Lightroom stores metadata in the catalog by default. If you move images or rebuild a catalog, that metadata disappears unless you've written it to the file or sidecar. Turn on Catalog Settings → Metadata → Automatically write changes into XMP.
• Keywords are comma-separated. Lightroom is happy to receive them as a single paste; it splits on commas. The PhotoScanr CSV output is already formatted that way.
• Use Pro Style Preferences for domain vocabulary. If you shoot a specific niche (botanical, architectural, editorial), set a persistent Style Preference so PhotoScanr applies your preferred vocabulary to every export without you having to re-edit each CSV.