An automated metadata discovery, assignment, and submission system is
disclosed. The system includes a photosharing service coupled to a
network through a server, where the server stores metadata fields. The
system also includes at least one client computer capable of
communicating with the server over the network, where the client computer
stores a plurality digital files and an automation application. When
executed, the automation application establishes communication with the
photosharing service and downloads the metadata fields. The content of a
first file is then automatically analyzed and one or metadata values are
assigned to the downloaded metadata fields based on the analysis. In
addition, the automation application automatically discovers any
pre-existing metadata values associated with the file and uses the
metadata values to populate corresponding downloaded metadata fields.
Both the pre-existing and automatically assigned metadata values are then
displayed to the user for viewing and editing. The metadata values
assigned to the file are recoded for use with a next image, and the file
and the metadata values are uploaded to the photosharing service for
storage.