GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 341347
Emblems and notes don't stay with files in an archive
Last modified: 2020-11-11 19:12:51 UTC
That bug has been opened on https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+bug/43490 "Use case: Jacob creates a folder containing a number of text documents and images. This folder is is work-in-progress for a architectural project. He chooses to use emblems and file notes that are available from Nautilus. Jacob doesn't know what "meta-data" is - all he knows is that he is able to annotate his documents, indicating special features and highlighting how they should be used. He wants backup his work, as well as send it to Karol so that she can add her annotation to the documents. Jacob uses the "Create archive " feature in Nautlius to create a folder.tar.gz file. He sends it Karol via email, and also copies the tarball to a CD. Jacob is surprised to learn however that when Karol receives the file, and extracts the archive to his computer, that none of his emblems or notes are visible - the files have none of the annotations he has worked on. Jacob asks a techie, Leo, to look at why this didn't work. Leo very quickly finds out that the archive in fact only records the file contents, not the "meta-data" that Nautilus uses to record emblems and notes. Jacob feels a little deflated now that the emblems and notes are not as useful."
I found this while researching the same issue. It's apparently over 2 years old yet says unconfirmed? Meta-data added to files in Nautilus, i.e. emblems and notes, definitely do NOT survive being compressed into an archive and restored. This seriously limits the value of these features. At the very least it seems there should be a notice when archiving through file-roller files which have meta-data attached -- perhaps a warning that these things will be lost. Ultimately of course, actually saving the meta-data in the archive would be best solution. I'm not sure how this would be done other than a hidden file, such as with OSX, but I'm not skilled enough to say for sure.
bugzilla.gnome.org is being replaced by gitlab.gnome.org. We are closing all old bug reports and feature requests in GNOME Bugzilla which have not seen updates for a long time. If you still use file-roller and if you still see this bug / want this feature in a currently supported version of GNOME (currently that would be 3.38), then please feel free to report it at https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/file-roller/-/issues/ Thank you for creating this report and we are sorry it could not be implemented (volunteer workforce and time is limited).