Programmatic Renaming of Files

[Paul_DS256]

Lightroom Version Number

LrC 11.1

Operating System

1. Windows 10

I developed a file naming convention for scans which I've discovered, after the fact, creates a problem and need to batch rename them all.

The convention is X-ggg-Y-nnn.ext where X is the of image (slide,film,print etc), ggg is the group (roll) number, Y is for thumbnail or full scan, and nnn is the unique image and ext is JPG or TIF. So for example, S-009-T-008.JPG is the 8th image in group 9 of slides. What I neglected to do is use a convention so thumbnails and full scans would reside next to each other in LrC when sorted by filename.

What I would like to do is that S-009-T-008.JPG and rename it to S-009-008-T.JPG. All numbers are justified to 3 positions so I have exact character positions I can work with but also have the dashes to find for separation.

Is there any plug-in that would do this? I can't find one. Any other ideas? Rescanning is not an option at this point.

Thanks

 

[Califdan]

If you haven't done don't mind losing your edit history and collection participation (in other words are OK doing the rename outside of LrC and reimporting) there are a number of 3rd party file renaming tools. I use "Buld Rename Utility" https://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/ which is free for non commercial use (Windows only). If you take this route, and have edited the images in LrC or updated metadata be sure to "Save Metadata to files" before running the rename tool.

 

[Replytoken]

Did you want to do this inside or outside of LR Classic? And have the images already been imported?

--Ken

 

[clee01l]

What you want to do with the name is “X-ggg-nnn-Y.ext. “I seem to recall that John Beardsworth has a Lightroom plugin that is capable of swapping the “nnn” and the “Y” parts of the file name.
When “Y” is at the end of the Filename part, then the other like parts will sort together and the “F” and “T” will sort alphanumerically as you wish.

If John Beardsworth does not provide a reply here I’ll review his plugins to see which one you need to use.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[johnbeardy]

Here we go http://lightroomsolutions.com/articles/complex-file-renaming-in-lightroom-made-simpler/

Essentially you copy the filename into another field, manipulate it as you need, and then use that field to rename with LR's batch rename feature. You can test on up to 10 photos at a time. As it's all done in LR, there's no risk of losing connection to the photos.

 

[Paul_DS256]

Thanks all.

• @Califdan I'll check out Buld Rename Utility" https://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/
• @Replytoken I can do it either in or out since I didn't do anything to small thumnail JPG's.
• @clee01l . I 'll have a look at John's Website
• Speaking of @johnbeardy thanks for the link. I've never played around with Bridge so will explore it's substring replacement.

FWIW, I took the approach of thumbnails only so I could quickly scan all old slides and negatives to cull them. Much quicker than full scans in time and space. My wife has not identified some she wants printed.

 

[PhilBurton]

Here we go http://lightroomsolutions.com/articles/complex-file-renaming-in-lightroom-made-simpler/

John,

Link doesn't work.


Phil Burton

 

[bobsomrak]

Johns link works ok for me on Safari.

 

[PhilBurton]

Johns link works ok for me on Safari.

Now it works fine on Firefox on Windows 10