LEARNING CUMULUS (POWER TIP):
Add License Info (and More) to Every Photo You Distribute
Make sure copyright, usage restrictions, contact information and more goes out with every photo you distribute.
Canto Cumulus can add metadata right inside your photo files, which means no matter where those files go, it will be
clear who owns them, how they may be used and—best of all—how to contact you for further license or purchase info.
“May I use this file?”
Ignorance is a bad excuse for the misuse of any
photo, but it’s certainly the most popular.
People usually know how a newly licensed photo
may be used, because the licensor makes restric-
tions clear. But what happens when a photo has
been floating around an office or file server for
years? Will anyone remember its usage terms—
let alone who to contact for additional licenses?
It’s more likely the photo will be misused, or that
a photo whose usage terms are known will be
used instead.
Both situations are bad if the original photo is
yours. No one wants to miss revenue opportuni-
ties, but who has time to police the Internet look-
ing for license violations?
Even in what might appear to be a slam-dunk
copyright infringement case in your favor, a judge
might ask to see what precautions you took to
ensure your usage terms were clear.
Fear not! Cumulus is here to help make sure you
make your terms as clear as possible.
Mark your territory
Cumulus can easily add visible watermarks to
photos you distribute, but that won’t fly with
licensees who need “clean” images.
Instead, you can have Cumulus add copyright
and contact information into an “invisible” sec-
tion of the file that can been viewed from within
most professional design applications, like the
Adobe Creative Suite. We call this a metadata
“write-back.”
Figure 1 shows the Adobe Creative Suite “File
Info” window, which shows metadata that was
saved inside the file. The fields highlighted are
great for indicating who owns a photo, how it
may be used, and where to go for more info or
additional licenses.
You could enter metadata manually via Adobe
Creative Suite (and other) applications, but why
bother? Let Cumulus do it for you! That way
Canto, the Canto logo and Cumulus are registered trademarks of Canto. Other company and product names might be trademarks of their respective owners.
EDU/mkTIP-WriteBackLicenses/2010.01
Catalog field write-back property
The Copyright Notice field is included in all newly
created Cumulus catalogs by default, which
saves us the steps of adding the field to our cata-
log and view sets. But we do need to change a
property of the Copyright Notice field so that
Cumulus will write-back the contents of the field
into the asset.
NOTE: The Modify Catalog Settings permis-
sion is required to perform the following steps.
1. Open the Preferences window for your catalog
and navigate to Catalog Settings > Record
Fields. This is where the catalog’s fields can be
seen and edited.
2. Find and select the Copyright Notice field in
the list and click the Properties button. Under
the Field Linking tab, set the “When Writing
FIGURE 1: Use File > File Info in most Adobe Creative Metadata...” check box property shown in
Suite applications to access the File Info window.
Repeating important information in more than one field figure 2.
increases your chances of that info being seen by
applications that don’t support all fields.
you’ll know the information gets properly embed-
ded, and that it’s the correct information.
Matching metadata fields
Thanks to metadata standards like XMP and
IPTC, Cumulus and Adobe applications can share
metadata both ways. This means metadata you
enter via Adobe File Info windows can be seen
and edited Cumulus, and vice versa.
Cumulus actually supports far more metadata
fields than just those visible in the Adobe File Info
window. But to ensure your important notices
can be seen by virtually any Adobe software user,
it’s a good idea to stick to using only the fields
Adobe makes visible.
For this tip, we’re going to see how to use
Cumulus to fill in the Copyright Notice field.
NOTE: Cumulus can fill in other fields too. For
information on how to map Cumulus catalog
FIGURE 2: Each catalog field has its own setting for
fields to specific metadata fields, search for metadata write-backs. If this check box isn’t set, the
“field linking” in the Cumulus Admin guide. field’s metadata will not be written back to the asset.
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LEARNING CUMULUS (POWER TIP): Add License Info (and More) to Every Photo You Distribute

Asset handling set tweak User settings check

Next, we’ll make sure the asset handling set
(AHS) we’ll be using is enabled for write-backs.
This is necessary because write-backs won’t
happen (even for fields that are enabled) if the
AHS in use isn’t enabled for write-backs.
1. Open Preferences > Asset Handling Set >
Asset Access. Choose an AHS. (Figure 3)
FIGURE 3: Here, the All Formats asset handling is
selected for configuration. When in use, metadata
write-backs will occur for write-back enabled fields.
2. Choose Silently (Without Dialogs). This option
tells Cumulus to write-back enabled metadata
fields into all supported asset formats.
The AHS in use when working with assets is a
user setting. In order for write-backs to occur
when a user is working with Cumulus, the user
must make sure the asset handling set chosen
“for asset access” is one for which metadata
write-back has been enabled.
1. Open Preferences > User Settings > Asset
Handling. (Figure 4)
FIGURE 4: To ensure their edits are written into
assets, users must choose an AHS “for asset access”
that has been enabled for metadata write-backs.
2. Select an AHS “for asset access” that has
been enabled for metadata write-backs.
NOTE: The previous two steps must be done
for each user account. If you want metadata
to be written back for all users, enable write-
Metadata write-back checklist
A few things are required in order for meta-
data write-backs to occur.
Field properties As shown in figure 2, fields
you want written into assets must be
enabled for metadata write-backs.
Asset handling set At least one asset han-
dling set must be enabled for write-backs, as
shown in figure 3.
User settings A user’s “for asset access”
asset handling set must be one that’s been
enabled for write-backs. (Check this setting
via Preferences > User Settings > Asset Han-
dling.)
File format Not all file formats support
metadata write-backs. Cumulus can write-
back metadata into Photoshop PSD/PSB,
TIFF, EPS, PNG and JPG image formats.
Asset actions If you want files downloaded
via asset actions to include metadata, add
the Pixel Image Converter to the action and
enable its “Store IPTC/XMP” option.

backs for all asset handling sets, or at least the

Standard set, which is used by default.

The Cumulus fields on the left were all enabled for write-
backs. The metadata, including rating, appear inside the
Photoshop “File Info” window.
Write-back ready
To see write-backs in action:
1. Open the asset record for an image asset in
one of the supported formats listed in the
sidebar. (The “Images” record view set
includes the Copyright Notice field.)
2. Edit some metadata and save the asset record.
3. Open the asset in Photoshop and select File >
File Info, as shown in the image to the left.
By embedding metadata into your images, you
know those images go out with the important
information you want known about your intellec-
tual property.
This Power Tip is intended to work in Cumulus 7.0 or later.

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Canto, the Canto logo and Cumulus are registered trademarks of Canto. Other company and product names might be trademarks of their respective owners. Some product
claims and features are not included in all versions of the software and/or might require additional Cumulus Add-ons or Plug-ins.
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