The editing state represents the metadata at a particular point in time. It represents a snapshot of the current values. The editing state is preserved when a file is saved. These settings control various means of automatically setting the editing state.
You can elect to update the editing state whenever the main window's file selection changes. When set and the file selection changes, each selected file's editing state will become a copy of the current state.
You can update the editing state on selected files before running an action. The option will cause the automatic setting of the editing state prior to running an action in the UI (ie. not via the Batch Processor).
You can optionally copy the Initial state to the editing state immediately before a file is saved. You can do this never, the first time a file is saved or every time it is saved. This setting allows you to create a recoverable set of initial values when a file is saved.