Import Will Lightroom deal with photos with the same name when importing new photos?

[johnjohnlin]

Lightroom Version Number

13.3

Operating System

1. macOS 14 Sonoma

I'm about to import a whole bunch of new photos and I'm pretty sure that there will be duplicate file names. Will Lightroom deal with that automatically and rename those files? Or will they just all get imported and I'll have duplicate file names in my Catalog?

 

[Johan Elzenga]

You’ll have duplicate file names if you do not rename them on import yourself. Lightroom does not rename automatically in such a situation, unless you would import them into the same folder, in which case a ‘-2’ is added to the file name automatically.

 

[iwaddo]

I rename all my images at import for this very reason.

I use a LrC rename template which is the camera file name plus '-text'. The text is a description of the shoot.

for example P8194018-RSPB St Aidans

 

[johnjohnlin]

Great, thanks!


Can I do a batch rename, where it maintains the order in which the photos were taken?

Also, just curious - when you rename, what do you typically put in the name? (I'd like to develop a template, but curious how others have done it)

 

[Replytoken]

Great, thanks!


Can I do a batch rename, where it maintains the order in which the photos were taken?

Also, just curious - when you rename, what do you typically put in the name? (I'd like to develop a template, but curious how others have done it)

Yes, you can batch rename and maintain the time/date order of the photos. Many people like the date or date and time in the name of their photos. Your photo name could include a string like: YYYYMMDD or YYYYMMDDHHMMSS to include this data in the name of the photo. People also includes lots of other metadata like camera information. I would recommend reading the web to see how some folks name their files and then paly around before you decide on a set-up.

Good luck,

--Ken

 

[clee01l]

The file system will not let you import two files with the same name into the same folder. It will append a “-1” for the second instance of the same name. Lightroom does not care about file names. You can rename if you wish. Or you can import into date named folders and avoid any duplication in the same folder.


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