A FastStone Viewer Oddity

[xpatUSA]

I'm using V 5.5 on a Windows 7 PC.

Today, I took a couple of screen captures (shift-PrtScn), pasted them into FastStone Viewer (FSV) and saved them to the HD. Then I uploaded them into a post over on DPR. In DPR, when you mouse over the posted image, It shows some EXIF data in a pop-up.

Imagine my surprise when I noticed that the EXIF was for an Apple i6 cellphone complete with lens and exposure data! Like, I've never used a i6 - ever. Pasting screen captures into other editors on my computer did not do that.

Here's what happens:

When you open FSV into a folder that has images, one of the existing images appears in a small review window at bottom left, thereby pre-selecting it, as it were. Now you can click in there and paste any image from the clipboard and edit it or just view it. If you want to save it, you go ctrl-S and up pops the dialog WHICH INITIALLY SHOWS THE FILE-NAME OF THE IMAGE THAT YOU JUST PASTED OVER. I had gotten used to that and was already making sure to change the filename and file type before clicking 'save'.

What I didn't know is that, even though you change the filename, the EXIF data from the previous image is embedded into your saved file with no option not to !!

So, beware if you don't like transferring unwanted EXIF data to a completely un-related file!

My fix, at least on my desktop, is to delete the EXIF data from the image that always comes up first in FSV. A poor fix: what if open in another folder than the desktop? What if I change the sort order of the catalog so that another image comes up first?

A lot of words but I hope it helps someone here.

[Shadowman]

Ted,

Good to know, thanks for the info.

[DickyOZ]

Hi Ted, I use Faststone too but whenever I want screen snapshots I use <Alt><PrintSCRn> which copies only the active window not the whole desktop you get with <Shift><PrintScrn>. I then paste it into the Microsoft Paint utility and select 'Save As' select .peg in the dropdown. That way you wont get EXIF data stored in the file. You can then view and edit it in Faststone if you wish.
Dicky.

[xpatUSA]

Hi Ted, I use Faststone too but whenever I want screen snapshots I use <Alt><PrintSCRn> which copies only the active window not the whole desktop you get with <Shift><PrintScrn>.

Thanks, Richard. A good tip which I must remember. Saves cropping. The effect mentioned in the OP doesn't go away though, as you probably know.

I then paste it into the Microsoft Paint utility and select 'Save As' select .peg in the dropdown. That way you wont get EXIF data stored in the file.

Also, if you suspect that your image while in FastStone has the wrong EXIF, there is an option in Tools which strips meta-data, including EXIF, from selected images. That saves a step or two.