Renaming Originals

Hi,
Quick Question that i can't seem to get. Is it possible to batch rename original files in Aperture (Master). I am hoping to move to Aperture from ACR and can't seem to see how to batch rename originals. In Bridge I would edit then rename and hope to do the same.
Thanks
Iain

You can rename the "name" that Aperture uses. But you cannot physically modify the original file (on disk) in any way. You can't change the name, you can't stuff metadata in there (a la photo mechanic), etc.
Not always a big deal, just because when you choose to export from Aperture (in JPEG or TIFF or PSD format) it will have all your chosen settings for metadata and file name.

Similar Messages

Renaming Aperture files

Hello, I am relativaly new to Aperture and I would like to have advice on naming my files. I have a huge collection of scanned images (20000+) that I want to import into Aperture. However, most of these files bare a generic name(For ex.:80270001.TIF). Eventually I want to change this to a naming convention I have, but I want to make sure that Aperture will still find the files and that both Aperture and the file in Finder have the same name. Is there a way to change the name in Aperture and have the name change reflect in the Finder?

Hi Yvon,
if you click on the Import icon you'll find several settings on the right hand side of the screen. Be sure to select the desired folder under "Save files in...." In order to rename the files according to a pattern which fullfills your personal requirements select "Rename files" and choose one of the standard renaming patterns or - alternatively - create your own renaming pattern (there's a "customize" entry down in the dropdown list). Also be sure to check the "Rename Originals" option box! Otherwise the names will only be changed in APerture but not in the Finder.
Depending of what you prefer you may either select "Move files" or "Copy files" in the "Save files in.." section of the Import dialogue.
One last tipp: Try the procedure with a few dummy images first before you start with your 20,000+ collection, o.k.? I know that things may be weird if you miss to set the correct options...
I hope that works for you!
Cheers, MIchael
P.S.: As I don't have the English version of Aperture running (or more precisely the English locale on my system) it may be that the lables ofthe respective settings read slightly different.
Message was edited by: d-light

Why does renaming masters take so long?

I've used Aperture since version 1, and have mostly been happy. But I've always wondered why, when doing a batch rename with "Apply to master files" checked, does it take so long?
A few minutes ago, I started the process for a mere 256 photos and I'm still sitting here waiting as it renames originals. This behavior is across all libraries and it even happens on a brand new small library.
The Finder can rename files almost instantly. iView Media Pro could do it as well (in 2005). I hope somebody can come up with a logical reason why in 2013 a simple master filename rename is the slowest part of our workflow.
For anybody saying to just rename them on import, I would rather wait until all cards from all cameras from an event are imported, arrange them by date so the renamed file sequence number is in the order that they were shot. If I rename them on import, the sequence numbers won't be chronological and that is why I don't rename on import (unless I've only shot on one camera, which is rare).
Does anybody see this changing in the future? (I've been sending regular feedback suggesting more robust renaming tools since 2007. Can I do anything else to speed this up?).
The rename process is done. Took > 5 minutes to rename 256 files. Seems like an eternity. It's been slow on every computer I've ever had, current one is Mac Pro 2 x 2.26 quad-core Xeon with 24 GB RAM, Application and startup drive is SSD, media files are on HDD.

Is there _anything_ else in your set-up that could be adding to the time it takes to write the names to disk? Disk-mirroring? Back-ups? Some kind of indexing (Launchbar, etc.)?
I rename tens of thousands of files, and while it is not instantaneous, I don't have to wait five minutes for a thousand files or more.
You might try something outside Aperture, such as the excellent NameMangler, just to see if batch renaming several hundred files is slow there. NameMangler was recently upgraded. It works astoundingly fast.
If you can't resolve this, you might be able to work around it by importing all files into a Finder folder, arranging by date, and then importing into Aperture and renaming on import. (I'm not positive this will work -- and I'm sorry, but I can't check it right now.)
HTH.
--Kirby.

Originals disappeared after renaming project

Hello!
After the import from a SD-card into a new project in Aperture I have
a) firstly deleted the photos (****!), then ...
b) created some new projects and finally ...
c) moved the initial photos from the new project into the other projects.
The result of all this is that all photos are still in Aperture (even in full-screen-modus) but the originals are not here anymore! Every time I try to edit/delete/export/send the photos Aperture refuses to do it and shows me in the error-message that the originals couldn't be found. Not even Spotlight/TimeMachine find them!
I could also repeat the whole process: I made new photos, imported them into a new project ... they were still there, even after restarting Aperture ... as soon as I rename the project Aperture said that the originals disappeared!
Do you have an explination for that?
And perhaps even a method to restore all the lost photos?
Desperately,
Vlad
P.S. iMac 3.06 GHz, MacOS X 10.5.5, 4 GB Ram, Aperture 2.1.2.

Honestly I cannot even remotely begin to figure out exactly what you did or did not do. My best guess here is that you imported the photos as referenced masters (leave images where they are option) and got rid of the masters at some point. If this is the case you are most likely SOL as the only recourse is to use a recovery program that takes forever to run and is the most successful the less volatile the file system/disk that it is recovering.
If you have a vault or other backup obviously they are still there. If not now is the time to fix your work-flow in a couple of ways.
RB
Ps. If this is not the case it is something inane but I will trust you when you say that they are gone. 99.9999% probability that Aperture didn't get rid of them if they are gone - you did. Gotta love all the folks espousing "only use referenced files no matter what".
Message was edited by: rwboyer

Performing a mass rename on originals to get rid of backslashes in file names. Worked for most files but failed for some with OSSStatus -43. Can't find any info on error -43. Any ideas?

I'm moving all my managed files to be referenced so I can access from both Aperture and lightroom. Needed to do a rename on 16,000 files to get rid of backslashes in the file names. Most of the time it worked but for 1093 files it gave OSSStatus -43. I've tried googling the error and got nothing. Any ideas where to begin looking?
Thanks
Jim

How are you renaming the files? In the "File > Relocate original file" dialog panel? Are you using a custom name format?
Have you checked in Aperture, if the originals, that are giving you the error message, are still inside the Aperture library?

What has gone wrong? whilst moving originals to external hard drive it has renamed my files to my latest import name

what has gone wrong? whilst moving originals (to make them referanced files) to external hard drive, drobo 5s, it has renamed my files to my latest import name. what do I do?

The drop-down settings in the Relocate Originals dialog remain unchanged from one use to the next (they are sticky). My guess is that you left the "Name Format" dropdown in the last (unwanted) position -- one you had set when you relocated Originals and wanted them renamed using the file naming convention you use when importing.
The best you can do is to rename the mis-named files. You cannot undo the renaming that has been done.
This is a design flaw (imho it falls short of a bug). You should let Apple's Aperture team know that the behavior your got was different from what you expected, and was not reversible. Use "Aperture➞Provide Aperture Feedback".

I renamed songs in playlist but the original files aren't renamed. How can I sort out the originals?

I could really use some help. I'm trying to record an audio book of my second novel. I had about 300 audio tracks from recording the book in iTunes. I put them all in a playlist. Then I went through and delected the tracks that were no good from the Playlist and renamed the others so they were properly sorted by page number.
Unfortunately, I did not realize that 1) renaming tracks in a Playlist does not rename the actual original tracks, and 2) when I click "Show in Windows Explorer" not only is it the original file names, but they are mixed in with all the other tracks that I had deleted from the playlist.
Is there any way for me to isolate the tracks that are in the Playlist? I need to pull all those tracks out so I can import them into a music editing software program. I'm worried that all my time was wasted renaming the songs and now I can't figure out any way to group those tracks to import into another program.
Any advice would be much appreciated!
Thank you.
- David David Katzman

When you look at your iPhone, are you looking in the Music app or in the iTunes app? Be sure you are looking in the Music app, and look in the Songs category. If your songs are not here, you may want to try syncing your information again through iTunes. To do this, uncheck "Sync Music" and then click apply or sync in the bottom right corner of iTunes, and then recheck "Sync Music" and then click apply or sync again.
I hope this helps!

Renamed Service Request List Items revert back to originals after an upgrade.

For two upgrades now (From RTM to SP1 and from SP1 to R2), lists that were changed from their defaults in the service request form have reverted to their defaults after the upgrade. Has anyone seen this behavior with their upgrade? I used the
unsealed MP that stores the new list items and changed ones, to revert the lists back but I would like to know how to avoid this for the next upgrade.

Misha, 'what could break' is entirely dependent on what else is in that management pack, but displaynames are relatively innocuous. As long as you export (don't DELETE it, just export it) then re-import that same MP, it
should be safe, but I'm not familiar with what exists in that MP.
Stefan, "IsDefault" doesn't seem to make a difference. I have IsDefault=true for all of my ENU language packs (and that's the only language pack I have). But after an upgrade, my custom displaynames are still wiped out. It was likely the re-import
that reapplied your displayname changes.
One of these days I'd like to confirm this behavior :)

Any way to import a copy of a photo with the same name without renaming?

I organize all my photos in my picture folder on my desktop, and I sometimes copy and paste the same photo into different folders so that I can use them for different purposes without having to hunt them down. I've never had to rename them as long as I've put them into a new folder, but when I imported my picture files into Lightroom 3, it only took the first copy of any picture and left out the other copies in subsequent folders. Is there any way to fool Lightroom into importing them without having to go back and rename all of them?
Thanks so much for any help!

Thanks for the tip . . . I found the checkbox and it worked just fine!
The reason I store multiple copies of the same photo is because I edit photos for my daughter's online business. I always keep an original folder that does not get touched, then make copies of the photos I am going to edit for her in a seperate folder so that I know exactly which ones I'm working with (I don't edit ALL the photos). Once I make my edits, I store the edits in her business file (since she does not need any of the others) and delete the copies; therefore leaving my originals untouched. I was trying to pull some "edits in progress" into LR to throw a preset on them, and it wouldn't allow me to because it had already downloaded the original in a previous folder. Maybe not the best way to organize photos, but it seems to have worked so far. Especially with the volume of photos I deal with for my daughter's business as well as my personal stuff. Another reason I make copies of the same photo is when I'm downloading photos to Facebook. They are not always contained in the same folder, so I make a copy of the photos I want for FB then just edit and download that folder. When I'm done, I delete it after moving the edits. But there may come a time I'll want to pull that folder into LR just to work on those selected photos. Hence the need for duplicates.
I just got LR3 yesterday, and my instructional book should arrive today. I plan on reading it and hopefully it will provide a better way to organize my folders if you say this is not a good idea. I have no idea what "virtual" folders are, but definitely plan on looking in to it. Thanks so much for your advice!

Is there a way to rename multiple files in finder at the same time?

for example, I have a group of pictures that I want to all start with the word "start" and be listed as "start1, start2, etc" Is this possible to do as a group versus having to individaully renaming every picture?

There are some third-party renamers, or you can use an Automator Workflow.
Start Automator and create a new Workflow.
Drag in a Get Selected Finder Items Action.
Drag in a Rename Finder Items Action. It will ask if you want to copy the items so that you don't alter the originals. Since you want to actually rename the originals, don't add that action.
Set the parameters for the Rename. If you want to be able to reuse that workflow for different things, click the Options button and set it to show the action when the workflow runs. From your example, choose Make Sequential. Start with a new name and number it after the name.
Save it so you can recall it when needed.
Select your files and Run the workflow.
You could also create it as a Service so that you can select files, then ctrl-click to select the workflow from the contextual menu. If you want that, set the Service to receive Files and Fodlers in the Finder.
Skip step 1 (or delete it if you are converting it to a Service), but do the rest above. Save it with a short name so you can easily find it. It will appear in the Services submenu of the contextual menu.

How do I get iPhoto to not copy photos into its own folder, read originals?

I was wondering how you could get iPhoto 6 to 'read' photos from it's original file.
I normally keep my photos in their own folder, separate from the iPhoto file. Now I kind of want to have them all organized nicely in the iPhoto file so I don't have duplicates floating around. I wiped the iPhoto Library (they were duplicates) and as I import them, they copy right back into an 'iPhoto Library' file. I want them to stay in my own folder 'My Photos'.
Is this possible? =S

Simply go to iPhoto Menu -> Preferences -> Advanced and uncheck 'Copy Files to the iPhoto Library on Import'.
Now iPhoto will not copy the files, but rather simply reference them on your HD. To do this it will create an alias in the Originals Folder that points to your file. It will still create a thumbnail and, if you modify the pics, a Modified version within the iPhoto Library Folder.
*However, you need to be aware of a number of potential pitfalls using this system.*
1. Import and deleting pics are more complex procedures
2. You cannot move or rename the files on your system or iPhoto will lose track of them on systems prior to 10.5 and iPhoto 08. Even with the later versions issues can still arise if you move the referenced files to new volumes or between volumes.
3. Most importantly, migrating to a new disk or computer can be much more complex.
Always allowing for personal preference, *I've yet to see a good reason to run iPhoto in referenced mode unless you're using two photo organisers.*
If disk space is an issue, you can run an entire iPhoto Library from an external disk:
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library as an entity from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.
4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.
If you're concerned about accessing the files, there are many, many ways to access your files in iPhoto:
For 10.5 users: You can use any Open / Attach / Browse dialogue. On the left there's a Media heading, your pics can be accessed there. Apple-Click for selecting multiple pics.
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
To upload to a site that does not have an iPhoto Export Plug-in the recommended way is to Select the Pic in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export and export the pic to the desktop, then upload from there. After the upload you can trash the pic on the desktop. It's only a copy and your original is safe in iPhoto.
This is also true for emailing with Web-based services. If you're using Gmail you can use iPhoto2GMail
If you use Apple's Mail, Entourage, AOL or Eudora you can email from within iPhoto.
If you use a Cocoa-based Browser such as Safari, you can drag the pics from the iPhoto Window to the Attach window in the browser.
Or, if you want to access the files with iPhoto not running, then create a Media Browser using Automator (takes about 10 seconds) or use THIS
Other options include:
1. *Drag and Drop*: Drag a photo from the iPhoto Window to the desktop, there iPhoto will make a full-sized copy of the pic.
2. *File -> Export*: Select the files in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export. The dialogue will give you various options, including altering the format, naming the files and changing the size. Again, producing a copy.
3. *Show File*: Right- (or Control-) Click on a pic and in the resulting dialogue choose 'Show File'. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected.
Your choice, obviously, but best to be aware of all the ramifications. By all means post back if you require more info.
Regards
TD

I Want To Duplicate The Songs In a Playlist Then Edit Them (But Keep The Originals Intact)

I've done this before I can't remember how ...
I've made a special playlist. Now I want to share that and rename the album name and the artwork for this special event -- but I want to keep the originals with original infor.
I thought there might be some sort of "duplicate" command but I'm not seeing it.
Wht I figure I do is take the playlist, highlight all the songs, go to advanced, Creat AAC Version and then on the AAC copies do the command i and edit information for multiple songs. That way I keep the originals as is and have a playlist with "Happy Birthday" as the album name and a picture of a birthday cake as the album artwork.
Is there an easier way?
Thanks

Thanks Limnos.
I know I'm close but I'm still missing something. At least you agree there is a "duplicate" function out there.
Now ... what am I doing wrong?
When I highlight tracks then hit Command R nothing happens. When I hit Command D I hear a faint electronic bong sound and nothing else. When I right click I get:
And when I click on the Advanced tab I see:
Any advice?
Thanks

After import into iPhoto, originals disappear and only thumbnails remain

After importing photos into iPhoto, working on them and then closing iPhoto, when reopening iPhoto only the thumbnails remain and can't find the originals anywhere on the computer via a Spotlight. Ran Disk Utility and no problems found on HD. Have rebuilt the iPhoto Library. This has happened on multiple occasions.

Here's a little more background on this problem. JPGs originally were imported from a CD and had camera given filenames, like 20110428-DSC_0118.jpg. After the import into iPhoto the application was closed. The next day when iPhoto was opened and any of the just imported photos doubled click on, a dialog box similar to this appeared that changed with the different file names:
I did a little research and discovered that the camera that had given filenames were identical to those by a different group of photos from a different camera that already resided in the iPhoto Library! So I imported them again from the CD except this time I used the utility, Better Finder Renamer 8, to batch change the names to something completely different, like Mary_Spring_2011_Visit_001.jpg, and so on. Those were imported into iPhoto. iPhoto was closed and opened and everything was OK. The next day iPhoto was opened and the newly imported photos when double clicked, the same exact dialog box as above opened and the only newly named photos that could be found were the thumbnails. None of the original full-res images can be found doing a Spotlight search of the entire computer. So to answer your second question the same dialog box shows up. I'm confounded as to where they are going. Plus, why would the original filename that was changed be showing up in the dialog box?? That is why Disk Utility was run to see if there was any directory damage. But no problems were found.

File Export Renaming Problem

I want to export collections of files from Lightoom.
I want to rename the newely exported files, but I want to use the same file number suffix as the original file.
I also want to embed the oringal file name in the metadata of the newly exported file.
The problem is that, when I go into the File->Export dialog i.e. the "Filename Template Editor" the orginal "file number suffix" is not showing up in what would be the newly created filename. The orginal file number suffix does not appear to be part of the metadata.
The current filename on disk does however have the file number suffix as part of the name.
However it does not seem possible to extract part of the current file name (i.e. the number suffix) on export.
If I rename the files using a number sequence then adding or removing a file will change the sequence on subsequent exports of the collection.
(Not something I want to do, since it would then be difficult to keep track of the images used originate the exported file, if I updated the collection.)
Renaming all my original files is not a viable option since there are too many of them and different exported files may be in more than one collection.
*Any suggestions as to how to get the file naming I want for the exported files, i.e. "placename-oringal file number suffix"?
(Given the file number suffix is missing from the metadata)
*Also I would like to include the existing file name in the metadata of any new file name.
Any suggestions on how to automate this?

John said:
> Unless you check "minimize metadata", it should all be there.
No I have not checked this box.
> Second, if you rename your files just before you Export (and not in the Export dialog, but actually rename them by batch
> so the LR name is changed) you'll be able to link them up to the originals much more easily.
No this will not work. My naming method is quite useful for me, but not useful for potential buyers.
When I export collections I want to simplify the names.
> Third, the rename editor is pretty flexible.
Yes I know, usually it is sufficient, but in this case it does not do what I want.
> Finally, all the metadata is there, and searching is much easier via it rather than a complex naming convention
> (not that it's so complex, but getting there may be.
Not sure I completely agree here. My naming method works quite well for organising images and for processing and so on.
Now since I have collections spanning multiple directories and so that I want to export the files with a simplified filename.
I expected to be able to do this using the file name editing template.
The BreezeBrowser renamer is much more flexible than the Lightroom filename template editor, so I may end up using that.
However it will be messy and add a few extra steps. i.e. export to a new directory using the existing filename. Then use Breezebrowser to rename the files by extracting the "file number suffix" from the original filename and making sure there is sufficient information in the new filename to create a one-to-one mapping. Then upload the new files to the website.
I stil don't see how to get the original file name into the metadate of the new filename though?l
Really I should be able to do all this in Lightroom.

ITunes is reverting filenames on playback after i rename them

Hello all, in order to clarify exactly what's happening and to reduce incorrect solutions being suggested i have to go in detail, sorry for the length.
My issue is similar to what is described here Automatically Renaming Songs and here Itunes renames files when they're played. The annoying thing is that both those threads are locked and were never resolved anyhow.
I am using iTunes 12.0.1.26 in OSX Yosemite. iTunes uses 2 files to store database info "iTunes Library.itl" and "iTunes Library.xml" both act as backups to the other should either be corrupted.
My files are not being renamed because iTunes is grabbing info from the web, or any of the its checkboxes have permitted it to change files etc. It is changing the files using the information stored in "iTunes Library.itl" or "iTunes Library.xml" once it realises there are inconsistencies against the data within either of the those files.
Now i have tried to rename all my tracks from the filename using a script on Doug's Scripts called "File Rename" you can get it here (along with hundreds of other excellent scripts in case you didnt know >> http://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=filerenamer) which grabs a file and renames it in whichever format you specify using tags within iTunes (in my case [song] - [artist].extension) from its root location. Now the script works fine and renames the files. The issue is whenever i playback a track, it defaults the filename back to its original name held in either or the aforementioned files above.
I have asked my own programmer to even try and hack iTunes and write me a custom script, which he did, and it worked.. however yet again, iTunes insists on renaming all the files back on playback or application relaunch. My programmer also noted that even after corrupting the iTunesLibrary.itl (which you must do in order to force iTunes to use info in the iTunesLibrary.xml file where his script actually affects the information) iTunes automatically rechecks its own tickboxes and begins renaming the files based on whichever sources it finds available (web, iTuneslibrary.itl etc).
There are reasons why i need to change each of my tracks filenames that i don't want to go into here, so please don't suggest otherwise. I also need to make the changes via iTunes in order to keep all the tags, ratings and comments that i have built up over the years and ensure the newly named files are linked to the correct record in the database file so i am kind of at the mercy of iTunes here.
If anyone know of a way to stop iTunes from doing this annoying rename then please let me know. It will be a dream for me to have consolidated all my songs in the format stated above and in organised from root level so that i can easily find and play them with or without the need of iTunes once i export my whole library to 1TB WD Passport drive in order to play at some professional gigs (i DJ in clubs etc.).
Many thanks in advanced for reading and any help you can offer!

The threads are locked because they are very old (date from 2009). Anything in them would have been discussed under the context of the iTunes version at the time.
The .itl is not a backup for the .xml, nor the other way around. The .xml is in a format that can be used by other applications but is only about 90% the content information of the .itl which is the primary library file.
I think despite what you say the files are being changed from the web. Something in purchased media (I am pretty sure this has only happened with purchased media) is periodically checking back with the iTunes Store and resetting the tags in the iTunes library file but not in the actual media files (metadata are stored in both). I haven't seen a truly systematic diagnosis of the issue (I use an old iTunes and have no iTunes account so I can't test anything myself). There are temporary workarounds but tags will still revert after a time. I don't think this tag reverting has anything to do with checkboxes in preferences. It does it because of the source of the file..
Something to try (post by turingtest2) - https://discussions.apple.com/message/26454072#26454072
Suggestion from ed2345 - https://discussions.apple.com/message/27295073#27295073
If the above doesn't work:
2014 discussion about edited tags for Store purchases reverting to originals - https://discussions.apple.com/message/26077896#26077896 - edited tags are still present in the media file but revert to the originals in the iTunes library file. Workaround is to refresh tags so media file tags are re-read and used in library file.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/26193185#26193185
https://discussions.apple.com/message/26335620#26335620 - user ended up rebuilding iTunes library from scratch
Send feedback to Apple about this so they know it is an issue they need to investigate:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html
Don't expect an immediate solution (and don't be too optimistic since this was already happening before iTunes 12 was released and no cure appeared in that release) but it adds one more voice to make them aware of the problem and maybe they will do something about it.

Renaming Originals

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for