diff --git a/src/common/exif.cc b/src/common/exif.cc
index 5e4e20e9b911..59a9f85406d5 100644
--- a/src/common/exif.cc
+++ b/src/common/exif.cc
@@ -2370,6 +2370,23 @@ static bool _exif_decode_exif_data(dt_image_t *img, Exiv2::ExifData &exifData)
       }
     };
 
+    // read user defined exif tags from metadata editor
+    dt_pthread_mutex_lock(&darktable.metadata_threadsafe);
+    for(GList *iter = dt_metadata_get_list(); iter; iter = iter->next)
+    {
+      dt_metadata_t *metadata = (dt_metadata_t *)iter->data;
+      gchar *tagname_lower = g_ascii_strdown(metadata->tagname, -1);
+      gboolean is_exif = (g_strstr_len(tagname_lower, -1, "exif") != NULL);
+      g_free(tagname_lower);
+
+      if(is_exif && FIND_EXIF_TAG(metadata->tagname))
+      {
+        std::string str = pos->print(&exifData);
+        dt_metadata_set_import(img->id, metadata->tagname, str.c_str());
+      }
+    }
+    dt_pthread_mutex_unlock(&darktable.metadata_threadsafe);
+
     img->exif_inited = TRUE;
     return true;
   }
diff --git a/src/gui/metadata_tags.c b/src/gui/metadata_tags.c
index 10061902efc8..36a8f4d49cc8 100644
--- a/src/gui/metadata_tags.c
+++ b/src/gui/metadata_tags.c
@@ -86,7 +86,6 @@ static void _tree_selection_change(GtkTreeSelection *selection, gpointer user_da
 }
 
 GtkWidget *dt_metadata_tags_dialog(GtkWidget *parent,
-                                   const gboolean user_editable_only,
                                    gpointer metadata_activated_callback,
                                    gpointer user_data)
 {
@@ -127,34 +126,10 @@ GtkWidget *dt_metadata_tags_dialog(GtkWidget *parent,
   if(!taglist)
     taglist = (GList *) dt_exif_get_exiv2_taglist();
 
-  // list of user-editable tagnames for the metadata editor
-  const char *allowed_tag_names[] =
-    {
-      "Xmp.dc.",
-      "Xmp.acdsee.",
-      "Xmp.iptc.",
-      "Xmp.dwc.",
-      "Iptc."
-    };
-
   for(GList *tag = taglist; tag; tag = g_list_next(tag))
   {
     const char *tagname = tag->data;
 
-    if(user_editable_only)
-    {
-      // for the metadata editor we only want to expose user-editable fields
-      gboolean allowed = FALSE;
-      for(int i = 0; (i < sizeof(allowed_tag_names) / sizeof(allowed_tag_names[0])) && !allowed; i++)
-      {
-        if(g_strstr_len(tagname, -1, allowed_tag_names[i]) == tagname)
-          allowed = TRUE;
-      }
-
-      if(!allowed)
-        continue;
-    }
-
     char *type = g_strstr_len(tagname, -1, ",");
     if(type)
     {
diff --git a/src/gui/metadata_tags.h b/src/gui/metadata_tags.h
index 5cce9e1d21d8..3c3d719cd8fc 100644
--- a/src/gui/metadata_tags.h
+++ b/src/gui/metadata_tags.h
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 */
 
 gchar *dt_metadata_tags_get_selected();
-GtkWidget *dt_metadata_tags_dialog(GtkWidget *parent, const gboolean user_editable_only, gpointer metadata_activated_callback, gpointer user_data);
+GtkWidget *dt_metadata_tags_dialog(GtkWidget *parent, gpointer metadata_activated_callback, gpointer user_data);
 
 // clang-format off
 // modelines: These editor modelines have been set for all relevant files by tools/update_modelines.py
diff --git a/src/libs/export_metadata.c b/src/libs/export_metadata.c
index a8d0e80ba329..06e2d7053c70 100644
--- a/src/libs/export_metadata.c
+++ b/src/libs/export_metadata.c
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ static void _metadata_activated(GtkTreeView *tree_view,
 // dialog to add metadata tag into the formula list
 static void _add_tag_button_clicked(GtkButton *button, dt_lib_export_metadata_t *d)
 {
-  GtkWidget *dialog = dt_metadata_tags_dialog(d->dialog, FALSE, _metadata_activated, d);
+  GtkWidget *dialog = dt_metadata_tags_dialog(d->dialog, _metadata_activated, d);
 
 #ifdef GDK_WINDOWING_QUARTZ
   dt_osx_disallow_fullscreen(dialog);
diff --git a/src/libs/metadata.c b/src/libs/metadata.c
index 1788ea87c6a3..d69b642dc94e 100644
--- a/src/libs/metadata.c
+++ b/src/libs/metadata.c
@@ -745,7 +745,7 @@ static void _metadata_activated(GtkTreeView *tree_view,
 // dialog to add metadata tag into the formula list
 static void _add_tag_button_clicked(GtkButton *button, dt_lib_metadata_t *d)
 {
-  GtkWidget *dialog = dt_metadata_tags_dialog(d->dialog, TRUE, _metadata_activated, d);
+  GtkWidget *dialog = dt_metadata_tags_dialog(d->dialog, _metadata_activated, d);
 
 #ifdef GDK_WINDOWING_QUARTZ
   dt_osx_disallow_fullscreen(dialog);