File Name Shortenings in Folders (Finder)

My question is if you can change the format of how shortened file names appear in folders.
The default is showing the beginning and ending of a file name:
"summer vacation photos" -> "summ...otos" (of course depending on how large the file icon is or how wide the column is)
I want to know if it is possible to change the settings to just show the beginning of the file name (the Windows default I guess):
"summer vacation photos" -> "summer vac..."
I just want to know because I find the Mac default to be difficult to read and to figure out what the file names are.

Use list view and expand the name column to display the entire name. Alternatively, use shorter names. As for changing how it's displayed, there's no built-in way to do it the way you want to.

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Where is Search File Names option in Mavericks finder?

Prior versions of the finder had an option to allow searching of file names only. This seems to be gone in Mavericks. Is there any way to get it back?

While the default is to search for both name matches and content matches when you start typing into the search box you will be presented with the option to limit the search to the name

Copy file name and info from finder window

I need to get the file name and file size for lots of files in lots of folders into a text file or excel file. I have found the way to copy the file path into text edit, but can't figure out how to copy all the info in a file window. Is there a way to do this?

It's easily done with Terminal.
cd (drag folder into Terminal window, press return). Then:
ls -l > ~/Desktop/list.txt
A file called "list.txt" will appear on your Desktop, containing a list of files from the folder, along with their modification dates, file sizes, and ownership/permission info.

Changing the file name of photo in Finder.

I need to change the file name of my photos. I have changed the settings so that they show on iPhoto as 001, 002 etc - but I need this information to also be set in Finder. Is this possible?
NikiKL

No - iPhoto is a photo database and it controls the files - you can not - in fact must not (if you make any changes in the structure or content of the iPhoto library you will corrupt it and lose data) -- and there is no reason to - you have full access to your files - <a href-"http://web.me.com/larryhn/iPhoto08_(version_7.x.x)_FAQ/Accessing_iPhotoPhotos.html"> click here for a discussion of the many ways to properly and safely access your photos -- and you can always export them using the title for the file name to have them outside iPhoto with any name you desire
LN

HELP! I lose original file name when changing folders or extensions

I'm confused! Didn't used to be a problem, but now, when I 'save as' and change either the original file location or the file extension (eg PSD to JPG) the file name changes to ".jpg" Any ideas would help!!! thanks.

Default format isn't the problem. I don't think i explained very good, let me elaborate:
Say I have a file named "abcdefg".
I open it, and edit it, add layers etc.
When I choose "save as" the orgianal name of the file appears ("abcdefg") as the "file name", all good here.
This is where the problem occurs: if I
A) change the folder the file will be saved in
B) change the format/extension
the file name "abcdefg" is wiped out and the file is automatically renamed ".JPG" or ".PSD" whichever format the orgianl files was (if i'm saving in a different folder) or ".JPG" ".PSD" according to the new format/extension.
This is a problem because i'm working with long complex file names that I'd prefer to not have to manually enter everytime I save. To make things more frustrating, it wasn't doing this before. Any info helps, and thanks for the quick response.

Consolidating itunes media library-how to shorten file names or how to find the file that is creating the problem?

Hi I've switched to Mac for six months now, so is still new to mac and I am using my old 1TB windows PC side by side for my music collection. Now I have seen the posts already in apple community about consolidating itunes music library but could not get the proper way of doing it. My system and itunes is also saying 'file name is too long' and it stops but the questin is how do I know which file is creating the problem and how do I shorten it?
If anybody can answer I'll be obliged to him/her, because its my 6/7 years of music collection stuck in an old pc. Thanks in advance.
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By 'it stops' I meant the consolidation process in itunes stops.

Set Folder Name From File Name Inclosed.

Hello scripters,
There has been quite a few topics about setting file names from parent folders. I believe it's possible but not sure how to reverse this process. That is to say set the folder name from a file in the folder. This is what I'm imagining.
I've got a folder. In the folder are 100 folders with the names "untitled folder xxx" In side I've got files that are all named and numbered.
For example,
untitled folder/B-day 001~050.jpg
untitled folder 50/At The Park 001~020.jpg
I would like a script to change the name of the parent folder of the files that it houses.
So untitled folder becomes
B-Day
untitled folder 50 becomes
At The Park
etc…
I think getting the name of the first file (minus the index number) would be easiest.
Any help or futher questions are greatly appreciated.
Maximilian

Working backwards...
Assuming all the files have the same name structure (e.g. end in the format "xxx~xxx.jpg" you can get the base name using:
<pre class=command>set baseName to characters 1 through -13 of filename as text</pre>
This cuts off the last 12 characters of the file name.
Once you have a folder, you can get the names of files in the folder via the Finder. for sanity's sake I'd ask the Finder for the first item, just in case there's more than one file:
<pre class=command>set filname to name of first item of (files of folder theFolder)</pre>
And if all the folders are in one top folder, you can iterate through them like:
<pre class=command>repeat with eachFolder in (every folder of folder topFolder)</pre>
So now, string it all together:
<pre class=command>tell application "Finder" -- we'll use the Finder to do the legwork
set topFolder to (choose folder with prompt "Choose the top level folder" ) -- get the top folder
repeat with eachFolder in (every folder of folder topFolder)
set fileName to name of first file of (files of folder topFolder)
set baseName to characters 1 through -13 of fileName as text
set name of folder eachFolder to baseName
end repeat
end tell</pre>
Note there's no error checking - the script will fail if there are no files in any particular folder, but it should get you going.

Bridge File Names Missing

Bridge (CS5) is missing many of the file names to many folders. Oddly, it's only some of them. And there appears to be no rhyme or reason as to why some would have names, while others don't. Secondly, for those file folders without names, there's no way to rename the file folders. When I right click to rename the folder, there's no option for rename. I can create a new folder but can't name it. Thirdly, the folders that do have names are encased in a black tag, which I don't like.
I've tried the usal rememdies, i.e., turning my computer (I use Windows 7) down and changing from my custom bridge worksace to essentials to filmstrip. Nothing helps.
Any ideas on how this can be resolved? Thanks in advance for any light you can shed.
Suzanne

Purge Cache, see if that will help.
You will find the option under Tools.
There is a seperate forum just for the Bridge:
http://forums.adobe.com/community/bridge

Partial indexing of file names

There are a great many files (actually file names) that Spotlight cannot find. (Easy Find can find them.) If I open these files and then close them, Spotlight indexes them and can subsequently find them.
Is there a way to re-index my HD?

I have been trying to pinpoint problems on my G5 (dual processor with 2 GB RAM) that began when Software Update installed OS X 10.4.3. The problem has had the following symptoms:
a. When I click on a file in the finder of any type in order to select it, Finder will BEACHBALL for several minutes but will ultimately return so that I can select the file and perform the desired actions. Examples include all movies, music files, NoteTaker files, and applications such as Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio Pro, and, often, iMovie HD. It has also happened on Word files.
I ran Activity Monitor all day yesterday and noticed that Finder (or sometimes the Application that is using a file import routine that I believe to be related to Finder, such as iPhoto or iMovie), will NOT RESPOND (appear in Red) for several minutes, mds will always be at about 99-100%, and, suddenly the Not Responding application will find its soul and start responding. Frustrating!
b. The same thing happens every time I try to import into iPhoto or iTunes.
c. I noted that Spotlight NEVER returns results.
d. I ultimately re-installed the OS X with the option to restore my network and user settings. Nothing changed.
Yesterday I reinstalled again with the option that wipes the drive clean. Nothing changed. In both cases I updated to 10.4.3 via Software Update.
e. I tried to force Spotlight index updating via the GUI method, but, when I click the ADD button and select a file to ADD via Privacy tab, nothing happens. The file is not added to the list. So I just ran the Terminal method, described by Dr. Smoke, below.
I received the following message each time I ran this command: "Error, no index found for volume".
It appears to me that there is common problem underlying these symptoms in that FInder and Spotlight seem to thrash whenever they have to perform a search or import function. I am totally at a loss on this. I have a brand new PB 15 and a PB 17 both running 10.4.3 as well as four other iMac G4's, and known of them have this problem. HELP!
Hi, J.
Two approaches to reindexing your startup disk:
1. The GUI way: see "Spotlight: How to re-index files and
folders."
2. The Terminal way:2.1. In terminal,
type the following command exactly as
written:
sudo mdutil -E /
then press Return.
2.2. Type your Admin password when prompted, then
press Return.
2.3. You'll receive a confirmation message that the
index will be rebuilt automatically. Indexing will
begin shortly thereafter.I prefer the
Terminal approach over the GUI (Privacy) approach as
there are some anomalies assocaited with using
Privacy. You can run into anomalies in Tiger if you
combine Privacy with mdutil. For details,
see my "Stop Spotlight Indexing" FAQ.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
Note: The information provided in the link(s) above
is freely available. However, because I own The X
Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these
links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following
disclosure statement with this post:
I may receive some form of compensation, financial or
otherwise, from my recommendation or link.
G5 2 x 2 and PB 15 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

How do I permanently change a file name?

I have been ripping my DVD collection and importing the files into iTunes so they are available to watch using my AppleTV. For a movie I really don't care what the file name is as long as it is recognizable, but for a TV series I like to have files for the individual episodes and be able to recognize which is which. To give you an example, I have been ripping the DVD for the TV series Parks and Recreation. Once a file for each episode is created the file names I see in Finder follow the pattern PARKS_S2_D1_T# (where # is the track number for each episode), but when I import them into iTunes every episode file is named PARKS_AND_RECREATION. Because of this I have to import them one at a time into iTunes, right-click on the file, choose Get Info and rename the file so that I can tell which episode it represents. It is not the end of the world, but what should take me a couple of seconds now takes a couple of minutes. What is worse, if I delete them from iTunes and add the files back, they revert to the original name (PARKS_AND_RECREATION). I have also tried to change the name in Finder first, but that does not do anything either.
Evidently there is a name/file attribute/something that follows a file around that cannot be changed using Finder or iTunes. I love my iMac, but these are the types of things that annoy me because I cannot see everything that is going on. Any help would be much appreciated.

Not sure what is happening for you. It sounds like you are doing it right. Editing the info in the Get Info boxes in iTunes should save a tag directly to the video file, at least it does for me. Make sure you are saving your videos as .mp4 or .m4v, .m4v used to be recommended as it worked better with iTunes in the early days although both work fine for me. I'm not certain but files such as .mov may not fully support video tags. In the Get Info window in iTunes you should have the episode name entered under the Name field in the Info tab. The Video tab is were the Show name, Season and Episode number are entered, all other fields are optional. In the Options tab you should also have Media Kind as TV Show. Clicking OK should write all this entered data directly to a tag embedded in the video file. I have some older files that iTunes adds as home video, but all other tag info is still there. If I re-add these to iTunes they apear as Home Videos in the Movies section.
IDentify is a video tagging app that has the ability automatically fetch data from the net if it can recognize the file by it's name. It will write this and the data you enter to the tag on the video file much the same way iTunes should. If iTunes is not writing the tags to the video files give iDentify a try.
Another app you should have is Video Monkey which is great for fast video conversions but I also use it for tagging videos. This app also uses the naming convention to find the info on the shows on the net. Files tagged with both these apps go directly into the proper place in iTunes unlike some of my older tv shows going into Home Videos. Using these apps will ensure the metadata is written directly to the video files as iTunes should be doing as well.

Getting File Name in Automator workflow - combine PDF

I am using Automator to combine 2 PDF files.
I would like to inherit one of the file names in the new PDF and append a standard text to the front of the file name.
I am not sure how to do this. I can combine the PDFs the way I would like, but I am not sure how to plick the file name.
my workflow is as follows.
Folder Action targets folder where 1st PDF is added(I want this FILE NAME).
Ger Specified finder item selects 2nd PDF to be combined.
Sort Finder Items makes sure the new PDF pages are ordered properly.
Combine PDF Pages combines the pages.
Move Finder Items saves the files where i want it.
Name single item is whre i thought to add my standard text plus the variable of FILE NAME.
Open File in mail to set up my email.
Anyone can help with this?
thanks,
Aaron

Here is an automator workflow that does something similar so I believe you can adapt to your needs. This workflow is setup as a service workflow. It will combine PDFs in the order in which they are selected/clicked via the Shift key. The default name of the combined output file will be the name of the first file clicked. Automator can be activated by CTRL clicking any of the selected PDFs.
1. Service receives PDF files in Finder
2. Automator Action: Run AppleScript
on run {input, parameters}
          display dialog "Files will be combined in the order selected via the Shift key" as text
          return input
end run
3.. Automator Action: Trim input items
keep the first one
you will need to download and install this autotmator action from here:
http://www.menace-enterprises.com/Files/Automator/Actions/Trim%20Input%20Items.d mg
4. Automator Action: Run AppleScript
(* Note & Definitions
This Applescript extracts the basename of the first selected file without its .pdf extension
"path_basename_ext" is full path and name, e.g. User/desktop/file.pdf
"NmExt" is filename with extension, e.g. file.pdf
"baseName" is the base filename without extension, e.g. file
"Ext" is the file's extension, e.g. pdf
on run {input, parameters}
          set path_basename_ext to input
          tell (info for path_basename_ext) to set {NmExt, Ext} to {name, name extension}
          set baseName to text 1 thru ((get offset of "." & Ext in NmExt) - 1) of NmExt
baseName
          return baseName
end run
5. Automator Action: Set Value of Variable
define baseName as the variable
6. Automator Action: Get selected finder items
Options: check ignore input
7. Automator Action: Combine PDF pages
choose Combine by appending
8. Automator Action: Move Finder Items
choose To: Desktop
Options: check show this action when workflow runs
9. Name Single Items
choose Basename only to: baseName
Options: check show this action when workflow runs
10. Open Finder Items

The comma in a file name

When importing images and changing the file name, or just changing the file name in metadata i find that if I try to use the comma key, lightroom will just replace it with a dash (-), so February 22, 2007 becomes February 22- 2007. This happening to anyone else? I'm using the 30 day trail that i downloaded off the website.

I noticed this too, in XP Pro. I wondered if there is some problem with commas in Mac software and this 'fix' was being passed onto Windows users?
I have to resort to renaming files afterwards when this happens. Fortunately, I use an excellent piece of freeware software, Lupas Rename (search Google). It's not the prettiest of interfaces but does a comprehensive job with left crop, right crop, autonumber, text replace, etc. It can do an entire folder in one go.
Any chance of Adobe removing this annoyance in an update? I honestly don;t see what the problem is with a comma, at least give us an option of 'Do nothing'.
MCV

Need help with EXS24 "read velocity range from file name"

I am trying to import 127 drum samples to a single key using the option shown here. The option says "Map to key dropped on and read velocity range from file name". I can find no documentation in the manuals on how to do this. What is the syntax required in the file name to make this work? I need to do several of these imports. The capability is cleary there, but I need help on how the file name should be formatted. My thanks to anyone who can help.

Hi
Not a direct answer to your question, but if you are doing a lot of sample mapping etc, you may want to check out Redmatica's KeyMap Pro or the simpler Keymap 1:
http://www.redmatica.com
CCT

Search using partial file name?

I know this issue has been addressed before, but I haven't found a satisfactory answer.
I use the Search field in the toolbar to search for files on my external drive. That external drive contains a file named "housefly.psd." When I search for "house" using the File Name filter and with columns set to Kind, all the Photoshop files that begin with "house" appear at the top of the window, including the file I'm searching for.
But if I search for "fly," the "housefly.psd" file doesn't appear in the list at all, although files containing the word "fly" with a space before the word show up in the list (e.g. - "big fly.psd").
Users aren't always going to remember the initial characters in a file name they want to find. So how do I find the file if I only remember some of the internal characters?
Thanks,
Andy
iMac, OS 10.6.8

Andy Tubbesing wrote:
if I search for "fly," the "housefly.psd" file doesn't appear in the list at all, although files containing the word "fly" with a space before the word show up in the list (e.g. - "big fly.psd").
Yeah, isn't Spotlight great?! Give this example to all the experts who gush about Spotlight.
What you see is how Spotlight was designed to work -- at least for hoi polloi like us. The query looks for words, not strings. "Fly" is one word, "big fly" is two words, but "housefly" is one word. It contains the string "fly", but not the word "fly". Now, if you had had the foresight and forethought to name your file "HouseFly", then probably Spotlight would have found it, "Fly", unlike "fly" being, by the rules of the Apple wallahs, a word, not a string. Is that all? No, of course not, that would have been too simple. Spotlight also has hidden somewhere a private list of exceptions. So "books" in "Audiobooks" is always a word, no matter how capitalised; but in "Cookbooks" it's just a mere string, and hence not worthy of notice.
How do you get around this (without using Terminal)?
(1) One way is to construct a query, as already suggested, with the Filename and Contains. But, beware! if you're searching in Finder, and you've already entered a string in the Spotlight search field on the toolbar, the query constructed thus will be restricted to the hits of the query already in the search field. So, if you've enter "fly" in the window toolbar search field, and then construct a Filename Contains "fly" query, you'll find nothing, because any subset of the ∅ (empty set) is also empty. This restriction applies to any query thus constructed.
(2) If you are a real, hair-chested, red-blooded Mac user, you don't use namby-pamby Filename queries. You go straight for the jugular. In the pop-up menu, instead of "Filename", choose "Other...". Then scroll through the interminable list to "Raw Query" and enable it. Then type in the Raw Query search box
kMDItemFSName == *fly*
Note 1: "*fly*", not "*fly", because the Item's File System Name is "housefly.psd".
Note 2: You can use the keyword "name" in the window toolbar Spotlight search field, thus
name:housefly
However, this one doesn't take wildcards.
(3) If you happen to be just a normal person, who uses a computer to be productive and not to exercise one's fingers by typing lengthy and abstruse keywords (or as a Rorschach test to have fun divining the inscrutable minds of Apple engineers), then my suggestion is to give Spotlight the widest possible berth and use something else. I suggest Find File by John R Chang, Find Any File by Thomas Tempelmann, and EasyFind by Christian Grünenberg.

How to change original file name?

When I rename a video, it doesn't change the title in info or the name which is shown at the top of the QuickTime window. Can I change that name?

If the file is already open in Quicktime, changing it in the Finder won't take affect until it is next opened, and that's if you don't save anything from Quicktime. If you Save As from Quicktime, then you can change the file name both in the Finder and Quicktime simultaneously. Now normally it shouldn't allow you to change the name from the Finder if the file is open in Quicktime. But who knows what is going on in your machine if it just did!

File Name Shortenings in Folders (Finder)

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