Custom file name not picking up Metadata

[joanne.eastope]

Lightroom Version Number

14.5.1

Operating System

1. Windows 11

Hi, I am renaming my sales images using the following critera:
Reference-{Country/Region >>}-{city >>}-{date YY >>}{date MM >>}{Minute >>}{second>>}
This give each image a unique number:
Websales-UK-Matlock-25093609

I have the format saved as preset and press F2 to rename as many images I need in one go - super!

However, Most of the time the Country & City data does not appear.

I have marked the image location using map - so the meta data is there - I even check and re-enter the metadata manually. Sometime it works then - not always.

Any advice on where I am going wrong?

 

[Jim Wilde]

A very quick test using your renaming template worked correctly if the City and Country/Region were confirmed in the Metadata Location fields, but didn't work if those two fields were only suggestions, not confirmed.

When you add an image to the map in the Map module, the GPS coordinates are set and the various location fields are populated, but initially they are only "suggestions", i.e. they appear in the Metadata panel in italics. So from my quick test it seems as though the rename template ignores "suggested" fields, but accepts the "confirmed" fields. Entering the data manually should make the fields "confirmed", so the rename template should then work.

Converting the location data from "suggested" to "confirmed" is easy enough for a few images, but can become a pain for larger sets of images. I think @John R Ellis has a plug-in that includes the option to convert "suggested" to "confirmed".

 

[Gnits]

Suggestion.

There are (only ) a few metadata fields that are both updateable and sortable.

As I live outside the US, one that I use regularly is “State”. So .. when I want to present images in a custom sequence I populate this field to achieve the sort sequence I wish.
An example might be to sort a club competition entries into say Membership Number or entries for a national competition into declining sequence by score.

There are lots of plugins that allow fields to be updated from other fields. Use these to place the desired text into (in this case State).

The big advantage is that you are NOT changing the filename.

Then lots of options / advantages such as
1. Sort your images by State and then you can do a slideshow with your images in the desired sequence.
2. Export the images, using the State field or one of the Seq fields to rename the images with filenames now creating the desired sequence.

One limitation of this is there is no obvious field to store integer or decimal numbers… so I have to place the leading zeros in situ to ensure the correct sequence.

You still have the issue of confirmed metadata fields.

 

[John R Ellis]

When Adobe first introduced address suggestions, they botched the implementation, with many LR features (including file renaming) treating the suggested values as blank:
https://community.adobe.com/t5/ligh...andling-of-suggested-addresses/idi-p/12664176

Adobe has acknowledged the bug but never prioritized a fix, consistent with their publicly announced intention of focusing LR Classic development efforts on Develop and image quality.

As Jim mentioned, you can use the free Commit Locations command of the Any Tag plugin to turn the address suggestions into real ("committed") location fields.

 

[Gnits]

Adobe need a cold case team to revisit the low lying fruit in the Library, Slideshow and Print modules.

Right now I am using less and less of the Dev module as I have optimised capture of images to require less advanced editing and need help with the admin pre and post the editing.

 

[joanne.eastope]

A very quick test using your renaming template worked correctly if the City and Country/Region were confirmed in the Metadata Location fields, but didn't work if those two fields were only suggestions, not confirmed.

When you add an image to the map in the Map module, the GPS coordinates are set and the various location fields are populated, but initially they are only "suggestions", i.e. they appear in the Metadata panel in italics. So from my quick test it seems as though the rename template ignores "suggested" fields, but accepts the "confirmed" fields. Entering the data manually should make the fields "confirmed", so the rename template should then work.

Converting the location data from "suggested" to "confirmed" is easy enough for a few images, but can become a pain for larger sets of images. I think @John R Ellis has a plug-in that includes the option to convert "suggested" to "confirmed".

Fabulous - thank you very much!