# Announcing the Universal Metadata Tool Beta (by @megachile) **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Tags:** third-party-tools\ **Created:** [July 7, 2024, 5:53pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/announcing-the-universal-metadata-tool-beta-by-megachile/53182 "2024-07-07T17:53:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Megachile](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/megachile/32/2946_2.png) [@Megachile](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/Megachile)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2025, 3:56am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/announcing-the-universal-metadata-tool-beta-by-megachile/53182/184 "2025-03-20T03:56:54Z")
You need to open the extension configuration page and make the actions before you can use them: ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/b/b/bb7e16e8d4139e997c65e1968db4c8492340dcf7.png) ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/b/1/b10c0a50fe2913db5c7bfbdb573c1e40ad4ce4f7.png) ---
**Author:** ![Mercedes-Fletcher](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/mercedes-fletcher/32/24784_2.png) [@Mercedes-Fletcher](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/Mercedes-Fletcher)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2025, 4:58am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/announcing-the-universal-metadata-tool-beta-by-megachile/53182/185 "2025-03-20T04:58:43Z")
Thank you for clarifying!! I figured I skipped a step from somewhere but couldn’t figure out where! ---
**Author:** ![cs16-levi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@cs16-levi](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/cs16-levi)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2025, 7:17pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/announcing-the-universal-metadata-tool-beta-by-megachile/53182/186 "2025-03-20T19:17:01Z")
It says I will have to pay after forty days to be able to use it? ---
**Author:** ![Megachile](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/megachile/32/2946_2.png) [@Megachile](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/Megachile)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2025, 8:39pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/announcing-the-universal-metadata-tool-beta-by-megachile/53182/187 "2025-03-20T20:39:39Z")
No idea where you would be seeing that but no there’s no money involved here, I did this all for free :) ---
**Author:** ![cs16-levi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@cs16-levi](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/cs16-levi)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2025, 9:03pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/announcing-the-universal-metadata-tool-beta-by-megachile/53182/188 "2025-03-20T21:03:41Z")
I went to downloads and clicked on the thing which downloaded from the link you provided in your post. ---
**Author:** ![Megachile](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/megachile/32/2946_2.png) [@Megachile](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/Megachile)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 3:12am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/announcing-the-universal-metadata-tool-beta-by-megachile/53182/189 "2025-03-21T03:12:35Z")
can you share a screenshot of what you’re seeing? ---
**Author:** ![hedaja](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/hedaja/32/20128_2.png) [@hedaja](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/hedaja)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 6:58am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/announcing-the-universal-metadata-tool-beta-by-megachile/53182/190 "2025-03-21T06:58:12Z")
General idea regrading workflow. Do you think it would be possible to add a shift click functionality to select a range of images? For example: I’m doing life stages for lepidoptera at the moment. The majority are adult, so I usually start with those. The one or two Larve or other things that need more attention I just ignore until I accumulate some. So I refresh the page and have those non-adult observations at the front. I usually do this 2 or 3 times until I feel like I have enough to go through them. Until then I have to deselect those first observations every time I use ‘select all’. Shift klicking the first and last image of the ones I don’t want to have, would therefore help speed things up. This could also be useful in general. But it’s a minor convenience improvement =) ---
**Author:** ![chris971](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/chris971/32/3439_2.png) [@chris971](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/chris971)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 1:28pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/announcing-the-universal-metadata-tool-beta-by-megachile/53182/191 "2025-03-21T13:28:58Z")
A friend just told me about your plugin today. This is GREAT and HUGE! Thanks. I’m configuring and testing, and adding obs. to my project becomes a lot easier! My first and slight remark would be the ability to modify the layout of the buttons on the screen. For instance, being able to tweak the width taken by the buttons, or a vertical layout. ---
**Author:** ![cs16-levi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@cs16-levi](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/cs16-levi)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 3:12pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/announcing-the-universal-metadata-tool-beta-by-megachile/53182/192 "2025-03-21T15:12:12Z")
I will as soon as I can. My one other question would be if it is possible to make a button or option that added an id to observations that I click reviewed on? EDT: Looking at this comment: [https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/announcing-the-universal-metadata-tool-beta/53182/183?u=cs16-levi](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/announcing-the-universal-metadata-tool-beta/53182/183) you can select observations to select an action for which should solve the problem I’m experiencing. Can you select up to the observations on one page? For example if I created three pages of observations of animal tracks could I select them all at once and add the annotation tracks? ---
**Author:** ![cs16-levi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@cs16-levi](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/cs16-levi)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 3:52pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/announcing-the-universal-metadata-tool-beta-by-megachile/53182/193 "2025-03-21T15:52:52Z")
![Screenshot 2025-03-21 115125](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/9/8/9894d4313a504519e90d48e2f6b5f08bc5918fd5.jpeg) I’m getting this when I double click on the downloaded file. I’m not really sure what is going on but it isn’t working. If I just press ok and ignore that message this happens: ![Screenshot 2025-03-21 115910](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/7/f/7f71f925b44e3276fbed5bef5adf5e6de9c5235c.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![cs16-levi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@cs16-levi](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/cs16-levi)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 4:04pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/announcing-the-universal-metadata-tool-beta-by-megachile/53182/194 "2025-03-21T16:04:26Z")
Also this message: For the moment I’ve removed the file from my computer. I am using (google) chrome and am doing this on a windows pc. ![Screenshot 2025-03-21 120332](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/1/d/1d3345c517d097bcc86abcbcdb39a7660e2f7f11.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![cthawley](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/cthawley/32/1445_2.png) [@cthawley](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/cthawley)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 8:09pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/announcing-the-universal-metadata-tool-beta-by-megachile/53182/195 "2025-03-21T20:09:46Z")
WinRar is an unzipping program, not the tool itself. There are many different ways to unzip archives, but that is for the end user to choose. You can google unzipping archives or that specific program (and alternatives) to learn more. ---
**Author:** ![cs16-levi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@cs16-levi](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/cs16-levi)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 8:19pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/announcing-the-universal-metadata-tool-beta-by-megachile/53182/196 "2025-03-21T20:19:55Z")
But when I download the file it seems like the file automatically has it? How can I change that? Also, how long should it take to get it working? ---
**Author:** ![mrtnlowr](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/mrtnlowr/32/6890_2.png) [@mrtnlowr](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/mrtnlowr)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 8:52pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/announcing-the-universal-metadata-tool-beta-by-megachile/53182/197 "2025-03-21T20:52:33Z")
You don’t need WinRAR, uninstall it. Windows can do the job itself. If not, try [7Zip](https://www.7-zip.org/download.html), it’s free. ---
**Author:** ![cs16-levi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@cs16-levi](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/cs16-levi)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 9:00pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/announcing-the-universal-metadata-tool-beta-by-megachile/53182/198 "2025-03-21T21:00:35Z")
How would I uninstall it? ---
**Author:** ![Mercedes-Fletcher](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/mercedes-fletcher/32/24784_2.png) [@Mercedes-Fletcher](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/Mercedes-Fletcher)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 9:01pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/announcing-the-universal-metadata-tool-beta-by-megachile/53182/199 "2025-03-21T21:01:47Z")
I set up a button that [seems to have done exactly what I wanted it to](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/265960199), yet it’s displaying an error for some reason I can’t identify. ![mothbug](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/8/7/87267bead70caa13e1d2e90458c437a4ddd6312a.png) ![config](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/2/9/2975c230e4f2a78b653f3b9c1bc4546f8ca4823d.png) ---
**Author:** ![chris971](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/chris971/32/3439_2.png) [@chris971](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/chris971)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 3:03pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/announcing-the-universal-metadata-tool-beta-by-megachile/53182/200 "2025-03-24T15:03:07Z")
Hi, In bulk mode, after selecting several observations, I often run into this problem: “Please open an observation before using this button.” The actions linked are only adding a Taxon Id, including potential disagreement. Any solution/idea? ---
**Author:** ![chris971](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/chris971/32/3439_2.png) [@chris971](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/chris971)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 9:36am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/announcing-the-universal-metadata-tool-beta-by-megachile/53182/201 "2025-03-28T09:36:37Z")
There’s an empty action in your instructions. I would remove it and save again. ---
**Author:** ![stockslager](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/stockslager/32/33106_2.png) [@stockslager](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/stockslager)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 10:17am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/announcing-the-universal-metadata-tool-beta-by-megachile/53182/202 "2025-03-28T10:17:57Z")
Sorry I haven’t kept up with following along with this. I need to catch back up. I’m somewhat interested in dumping a bunch of observations into the id flow from a [script](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/observation-field-viewer/63319) I’ve been working on. My question is… does the current version still ping everyone when a new observation field is added to a whole bunch of observations at once? ---
**Author:** ![Mercedes-Fletcher](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/mercedes-fletcher/32/24784_2.png) [@Mercedes-Fletcher](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/Mercedes-Fletcher)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2025, 6:12pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/announcing-the-universal-metadata-tool-beta-by-megachile/53182/203 "2025-03-30T18:12:34Z")
Thank you! :) [Previous page](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/announcing-the-universal-metadata-tool-beta-by-megachile/53182.md?page=9) [Next page](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/announcing-the-universal-metadata-tool-beta-by-megachile/53182.md?page=11)