Renaming stills with automator

Hello all
I'm stumped here ...
I have been trying to use the automator to rename a few very large image files. I'm trying to rename them in alpha numeric for importing into FCE. every time I rename the stills the automator wants to rearrange the order of the stills..
Is there some trick of the automator trade I may be over looking ?
James

Here's the Leopard forum.
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=235
You want the Automator section in here. Nothing to do with Final Cut.

Similar Messages

Renaming files with Automator & Apple Spript

Hi there!
I need the help of an expert in Automator & Apple Spript....
I've got to rename 500 files with the following names:
001-001 firstfilename.jpg
104-095a otherfilename.jpg
Any idea on how to get rid of the second number (that is 3 or 4 characters long, but always followed by a space) so to have something like:
001 firstfilename.jpg
104 otherfilename.jpg
Thanks in advance & Ciao!
Sergio
Black MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.7)

The following script should work.
IMPORTANT:
1) The files whose names you want to change must all be in the same folder. That folder must be open, and it must be the front finder window.
(Also, no other files should be in that folder)
2) Make a back-up of the files before you do this (just in case there is a problem. I hope the files are not too large)
3) This should work if the file names are consistent. I have presumed that there is always a hyphen and a space ( ) and that you wish to keep the characters before the hyphen and after the space.
4) Copy the script below into the script editor. When you have prepared 1 & 2 above then run the script. Good luck
--Start of Script
tell application "Finder"
set myFiles to every file of the front window
repeat with Cfile in myFiles
set WholeName to the name of Cfile
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "-"
set WNlist to every text item of WholeName
set WNpart1 to first item of WNlist
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to " "
set WNlist2 to every text item of WholeName
set WNpart2 to last item of WNlist2
set NewName to WNpart1 & " " & WNpart2
set name of Cfile to NewName
end repeat
end tell
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
--End of Script
MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.7) iMac G4 (10.3.9)

Multi batch renaming with automator

Hi, everybody!
Hope I can find help in this section. Else, please forgive me if I posted in the wrong place...
I find myself in this situation.
I have many pdf's I need to transform into JPG's, but of course I need the name to be "meaningful". Each pdf contains 30 to 100 "sheets", that is to say it will produce from 30 to 100 jpgs
No problem with Automator and pdf-to-jpg.
Original pdf name: meaningless (something like "Scan_01")
JPG needed format: PREF_XXXXXX_EYY_S#
prefix is (by now) fixed: MAD
XXXXXX : a 6-digit progressive number BUT it has to increase each 4 jpg's
EYY: a progressive number that could be even set by hand, as it indicates the "Envelope" from which pdf's were scanned
S# : a number ranging from 1 to 4
Just to be clear (I hope), here is an example of how a correct output should look like:
MAD_123456_E01_S1
MAD_123456_E01_S2
MAD_123456_E01_S3
MAD_123456_E01_S4
MAD_123457_E01_S1
MAD_123457_E01_S2
MAD_123457_E01_S3
MAD_123457_E01_S4
MAD_123458_E01_S1
and so on.
Of course the point is not to prepend "MAD_" or whatever, and the "EYY" thing can go anywhere in the name (even after "MAD_"): I really don't know how to set a counter to switch from xxxxx1 to xxxxx2 each time S# reaches "S4" and, meanwhile, to reset "S#" to "S1".
Any advice on how to do that?

If I understand you correctly, you have a bunch of files that have been converted to jpg, and just want to rename them starting with a specified sequence. The folowing Run AppleScript added to your workflow should be close - it extracts the name pieces from a dialog so that they can be manipulated and reassembled. There isn't any error checking, it just assumes the format of the name is the same as the default answer:
property divider : "_" -- the character dividing the name pieces
on run {input, parameters}
     set output to {}
     set theAnswer to text returned of (display dialog "Enter starting sheet name:" default answer "MAD_123456_E01_S1")
     # break the name apart at divider - format is assumed to be the same as the default answer
     set {tempTID, AppleScript's text item delimiters} to {AppleScript's text item delimiters, divider}
     set {prefix, survey, envelope, page} to text items of theAnswer
     set AppleScript's text item delimiters to tempTID
     # extract numbers
     set envelope to text -2 thru -1 of envelope
     set page to (text -1 of page) - 1
     repeat with anItem in the input
          set page to page + 1
          if page > 4 then
               set page to 1
               set survey to survey + 1
          end if
          set theEnvelope to "E" & text -2 thru -1 of ("00" & envelope) -- leading zero
          set thePage to "S" & page
          tell application "Finder"
               set name of anItem to prefix & divider & survey & divider & theEnvelope & divider & thePage & ".jpg"
               set end of output to anItem as alias
          end tell
     end repeat
     return output
end run
Edit: I am a he, by the way.

Right-Click Services with Automator

So I still have my Macbook Pro that I haven't upgraded but I did update my iMac to Mavericks, so far everything is working well except that I used to have a Batch Rename Service that I used quite often but now when I right click with my mouse the Batch Rename services I created with Automator doesn't show up. I tried recreating it but still nothing. I went back to my Mountain Lion laptop and it works just fine. Any ideas?

I too was having this problem. I did the following, and it seamed to get it going:
moved the service out of the services folder (~/Library/Services/) to an easy place to get to (Desktop).
In Automator, open an new document, and selcted iCould.
drag the service from the desktop to iCloud
opened it, from iCould
file -> convert to...
select service and give it a different name than the orignal.
save and exit.
service should now be available.
In my case, the service only runs on my mac hdd. I have not yet found how to get service to run on a connected drive as it did in Mountain Lion. I want to run the service on my netowrk drive from my Synology NAS box.
Hope this helps a little

Automator: Impossible to rename file using automator under Mac OS X Lion

Hi,
Before upgrade my iMac to MAC OS X Lion 10.7.2, I had service created with automator under snow leopard in order to rename my pictures file names by blocks instead of one by one. Since I'm using Lion, this one doesn't work anymore. I have completely recreate the service under Lion and the results is the same.
You can find below my workflow that is easy. The problem is the message error in the history of automator application. The message is "impossible to rename file "file name" because this one should create conflict with existing file". I already test a lot of times with different name where I'm sure that this one doesn't exist on my Mac but all the time without success (verify also with search function under mac)
If somebody can help me, it would be very interesting because I already tried to find answer on internet without success too.
Thanks in advance for your help.

the whole automator and in particular the record action was substantially rewritten in snow leopard. and the record action is slow, unreliable and you can't trouble-shoot it. it's a wonder it works at all. the only advice i can give is to use it as little as possible. if at all possible avoid it altogether. if you do need to use it try using keyboard strokes instead of the mouse movement. for example. use command+c and command+v for copying and pasting and use tabbing to choose the correct box on the page.

Rename Files with Data From PDF

I have a sound effects library that I ripped from CDs and they are all named non meaningfully. ie. Track 1, Track 2 etc. The library comes with a PDF which lists all the track names and file descriptions for each sound. I would like to rename all the tracks to the track name according to the PDF and add comments to the files using the descriptions from the PDF. Any suggestions on how to do this with automator or any other program? I have never used automator...

Were these originally from commercial sound effects CDs, or homemade ones? If commercial, can you re-burn them to CDs, or maybe use a CD-RW? Then see if iTunes can pull the track names off of the internet?
I have been absolutely astounded at what iTunes has been able to find for track names.

Capitalized finder item with automator

I've quite a lot of items on the finder that I want to quickly capitalize the name of it,
how can I do that with automator?

I figured out a way to use variables in the Rename Finder Items.
In my case I want to rename the files to a sequential name. I can't link the variable to the "New Name" box in the Automater GUI.
But it helps to know that that the Automator is just creating an XML file and you can edit this directly.
To do this, create the Automator workflow and save it. Give the variable some distinct name like "myVariable".
In Finder, right click the Automator file and select Show Package Contents. Within this folder go to Contents and find the document.wflow file. This is the XML file, so open it with TextEdit or something.
Search the file for your variable name. The first instance of it should be in a section that starts with <key>variables</key>. All the variables will be listed here. Each variable has several lines to define it. The first will be the UUID. The UUID will have a line that is something like: <string>BD464B7A-ACDE-4A63-B595-FAF1DA6DE26E</string>. The BD464B7A-ACDE-4A63-B595-FAF1DA6DE26E is how Automator refers to your variable. Search the file for this UUID string and you will see. Whenever Automator wants to insert the variable, it will enter $(BD464B7A-ACDE-4A63-B595-FAF1DA6DE26E).
Copy this string, with the $() surrounding it. Close the wflow file. Now you can go back to Automator itself and paste it wherever you want your variable to appear, even if you can't normally insert the variable into that field.

Issue with folder action created with automator

Hello all,
I'm having an issue with folder actions that i created with automator and it's driving me crazy. Apple says they can't help with things created by the user so this is my only shot at figuring this out.
Running a Mini 2.3G quad i7, 8GB ram on OSX Mavericks 10.9.2
My goal is to set up an action to add text to the filename of a file placed into a particular folder. So I open automator and choose folder action. Then I choose the folder I want the action applied to at the top. Then I go to Files and Folders in the library and choose rename finder items and drag it over to the workflow. I select add text, then add the text I want added to the file name and choose before name because I want the added text to preceede the original filename text. I save it then go to the folder I applied it to and right clikc go to services then folder actions and verify that the service is attached to that particular folder and it is.
Should work right? No. When I place a file in that folder the action runs and adds the text like I want it to... but then it starts to add it over and over again in an infinite loop. It also adds a file with the extension .ds_store to the folder that also has the name added over and over.
I've tried deleteing all the folder actions and even deleteing all the folder actions themselves saved by the automator in the workflow file in the user library.
I'm stumped... no idea what to do. A while ago I had used the automator to batch rename files and it worked perfectly. I tried the same steps i listed above to set this action up on a machine in an Apple retail store and it worked... so I know I have the set up right.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Justin

Hi JK257
This is why it happens:
The folder action is looking for new items in the folder. You drop in a file called "File1". So it renames it "sometext File1". Then it sees this new file called "sometext File1" and thinks "Hey, this is a new file - I'll call it 'sometext sometext File1' because I have to rename every new file." Then it sees this new file called "sometext sometext File1" and thinks...
You get the picture.
(the .ds_store is a normally hidden database file which is getting revealed by the same process.)
The solution is to move the files out of the renamer folder into a receiving folder after they have been renamed:
Hope this helps,
H

Help with Automator

Hello all I am new to the apply community Im playing with automator in mountain lion I have figured out how to do some basic tasks but now I have run into a snag which I can't seem to find an awser for... I remember in the dos days for microsoft you could create batch files to rename a whole directory but there where certain things you could do like   *.* to make it list everything etc... I want to rename files in my DLNA server DIRECTORY
so if my file name is
Criminal Minds 2.04 Psychodrama.avi
Criminal Minds 2.05 Aftermath.avi
I want automator to change it to
S02E04 - Psychodrama.avi
S02E05 - Aftermath.avi
I can get automator to delete the Criminal Minds etc. but I can't figure out how to get it to remember the numbers etc and change it to the new file
if anyone can help and maybe send me somewhere where I can get all the info on automator or maybe a script file would be a better soloution to begin with this but I don't know how to script either
thanks
Mike Dennison

If you have gone with A Better Finder Renamer, then that's cool.
I have rewritten and more thoroughly tested my Python script in Automator. If you use it as an Automator application on your Desktop, it will allow drag and drop folders or single files. It will now detect the folder and walk down through any sub-folders to ferret out your .avi files and (if they match the original filenaming format) rename the files in their present location, to your originally specified output format.
Note: The script will rename your original files to the specified new naming convention.
The last thing the script does is write a text logfile of processed files to your desktop. You can double-click this logfile and the OS X Console application will open and display it for you.
Open Automator.
Choose Application
Select Library > Run shell script
Drag this item to your right into the larger workflow window and release.
Choose Python from the selection list of script tools.
Choose Pass input: as arguments.
Remove all content from this window.
Copy the entire Python source from below, and paste into the open Automator window.
Click File > Save...
Select your Desktop as the save destination
Name the Automator application moviefix (arbitrary)
The automator application on your desktop is now enabled for drag and drop folders and files.
#!/usr/bin/env python
This program will convert files from one format to another.
From: Criminal Minds 2.01 The Fisher King (Part 2).avi
To:   S02E01 - The Fisher King (Part 2).avi
Author: VikingOSX, Apple Support Community, 10/2013.
import sys
import os
import re
import time
#test = "Criminal Minds 2.01 The Fisher King (Part 2).avi"
LOGFILE = 'file-list.log'
DESKTOP = "~/Desktop"
# You can add to this list as comma-separated, single-quoted values.
valid_extension = ( '.avi' )
rename_list = []
def log_files(filelist):
    Write processed files to logfile with time stamp.
    cwdlog = os.path.join(os.path.expanduser(DESKTOP), LOGFILE)
    with open(cwdlog, 'a+') as log:
        # if new logfile, place header text in it
        if os.stat(log.name).st_size == 0:
            log.write("Processed Files\n")
            log.flush()
        for item in filelist:
            log.write(logstamp(item))
def logstamp(thefile):
    yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss full path to filename.
    stamp = time.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %X ') + thefile + '\n'
    return stamp
def rename_file(path, thefile):
    Renames files in their current directory location.
    m = re.match(u'(\D*)(\d)\.(\d{2})(\s+\D*\S*)', thefile)
    if m:
        #show = m.group(1)
        season = m.group(2)
        episode = m.group(3)
        title = m.group(4).lstrip()
        newfile = "S" + season.zfill(2) + "E" + episode + " - " + title
        rename_list.append(thefile)
        os.rename(thefile, os.path.join(path, newfile))
    return
def main():
    for f in sys.argv[1:]:
        # recursively process folders or n-tuple dropped files
        if os.path.isdir(f):
            for root, dirs, files in os.walk(os.path.abspath(f)):
                for each in files:
                    if each.endswith(valid_extension):
                        rename_file(root, os.path.join(root, each))
        else:
            frp = os.path.realpath(f)
            rename_file(frp)
    if len(rename_list):
        log_files(rename_list)
sys.exit(main())

Application made with Automator doesn't work

An extremely simple app made with Automator fails with Lion athough it works fine in Snow Leopard.
I just use the action "New folder" to create a folder with some fixed name in "Desktop"
When I test it in Automator is does what it should.
When I save it as an Application and double click it, it does nothing.
Should be easily reproducible.

I believe that I have solved this.
The problem did not go away by itself. After rebooting Automator apps either worked, or they did not work.
This was true for all automator-made apps, not just the one described above. Nothing do to with Desktop
or creating a folder there. Sometimes there was no problem after three successive reboots, then it came
back again. All automator-made apps were blocked on my account, but not on a second user account.
The origin of the problem is, apparently, that I used two Automator-made apps as a startup item on login.
This has always worked fine under Snow Leopard, but it seems that lion cannot handle that. I suspect some
kind of timing problem. The apps do seem to start a lot faster in lion, and perhaps they somehow get
into each others way and then block anything else.
Now I have combined the two apps into a single one, and the problem has not come back.
In that sense I consider it solved, but I would still like to know what is really going on.

Help with Automator workflow!

I work in graphics at a newspaper. I schedule items for publication with iCal. I want to set up an action that will move documents from one folder to another when the event they are associated with in iCal is passed.
For example. I have a calender called legals. I schedule the legals to run on a certain date, repeat them as required and then attach the document to the event so it is right there handy when I get ready to publish them. I have a folder called "legals" where all of these files are kept. I find this a wonderful system. What I want for Automator to do is to move the files to a folder called "old legals" when the event has passed in iCal. I am not very familiar with Automator but have been trying to do this for a while and can't figure it out. Any help in this would be greatly appreciated.
~Chris

If you can identify which files need to be moved on what days, you can still do it. Somehow, you have to name them, or organize them so that the computer can identify which ones need to move.
There is no "mind-reader" action to figure out which files you're thinking about.
Once you've established a method by which you can identify the particular files, instead of 1) and 2), use Find Finder Items, search in the legals folder, and set the criteria by which you can find the appropriate items.
Make a different workflow for each particular set of items.

Help with Automator - create workflow to move files to dated folders

If anyone could help me, I'd greatly appreciate it.
I have no idea how to use Automator, but I think it'd be perfect for this job.
I want to take a folder of files (images) and move them to separate folders which are named for the dates that the files were created on. So, for instance, I have a folder of ten images. Five were created on November 1st and the other five were created on November 2nd. I want to create two folders on the desktop with the dates in the name (like 20071101 & 20071102) and take the five images from 11/1 and move them to the 20071101 folder and the five images from 11/2 and move them to the 20071102 folder (sorry for the run-on sentence).
Is this possible with Automator? Is this an easy thing to do?
Thanks,
Antonio

I'm trying to do something very similar. I need to open an image sequence in QuickTime and export them to a mov file. Easy enough, but I would also like to create a new Finder folder and name it with today's date and save the mov file to that new folder.
What frustrates me is that it doesn't appear you can name Finder folders in any way other than using the Rename Folder action. I was hoping to use today's date that I had copied to the clipboard. Also, I have no experience using AppleScript, so hoping to avoid anything advanced there.

Unlocking files with Automator

I have an external drive containing folders and files which were loaded from CD's. All the files are locked. Is there a way I could use automator to unlock all the files in a particular folder?

A few different ways.
You could select all of them in the Finder and unlock (or lock) them in the Inspector, a variation of the Info window. Usually you would choose "Get Info" from the Finder's File menu. However, if you hold down the Option key, the "Get Info" changes to "Show Inspector". It's actually the same thing except you don't get a separate window for each file, but instead a single panel. (The panel will stay in view above everything else in the Finder, and will show info about whatever is currently selected.) Within that, in the General area near the top (below the Spotlight comments), there is a checkbox for locking the files. Just uncheck that to unlock.
Another option is to use AppleScript, perhaps inside a "Run AppleScript" action in an Automator workflow. You'd probably have one of the Finder's actions first, such as "Get Selected Finder Items" for anything you currently have selected in the Finder, or perhaps "Get Specified Finder Items". You'd then add Automator's "Run AppleScript" with the following:
<pre style='border:2px inset #99f;overflow:auto;width:500px;padding:.5em;color:#000;background:#ccf';>on run {input, parameters}
tell application "Finder"
repeat with theItem in input
set locked of theItem to false as boolean
end repeat
end tell
-- pass the items to the next action
return input
end run</pre>
(The line beginning with "--" is just a comment, so it's ignored and you don't really need it.)
On the other hand the above code is directly from the Automator action I made to unlock files and folders, which isn't much different than the other action I made to lock them. If you'd like to install the actions, you can download them from the Mac OS X Downloads page here:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/automator/lockandunlockfilesandfolders.htm l
Besides being a Universal build, I've included example workflows for locking (or unlocking) items in the Finder. They are meant to be saved as Finder plug-ins so you can right-click on an item (or group of items) and choose to lock/unlock from the Automator submenu in the Finder's contextual menu.
The Finder's contextual menu is also available with Control-click, or with the action button (a gear on it) in the toolbar of Finder windows. If I remember correctly, I've included instructions with the download on how to install the actions and how to save Finder plug-ins, if you aren't familiar with that already. Simply put, you install actions with Automator by choosing in the File menu "Import Actions...".
(There's also a bonus workflow I named " Edit Menu..." for easily accessing the workflows in the Automator submenu. It opens a Finder window with the location of the Finder plug-ins so you can rename them or open them for editing. Though, Spotlight can be just as good for locating them. )
So, there you go. Three different ways. Hopefully one of those will be appropriate.

How can I introduce text in a web page with automator?

I want to create a workflow with automator for httpS web pages in which I have to introduce the user and password. how can I do?

Try this:
set the clipboard to item 1 of (get name of (static text of group 104 of UI element 1 of scroll area 1 of group 4 of window "Account Summary" of application process "Safari"))
(10906)

HT2488 Find/Replace text in document with automator: any suggestions?

I'm looking to replace a number of unique html tags for a number of documents: is there any way to do this without going through the documents one-by-one, tag-by-tag? I would imagine I might be able to do something with automator, but I'm open to any other suggestions. I have some knowledge of html, but that's about it.

So I take it this is something you do regularly, not something that needs to get done once? if it were a oneshot operation it would be simpler to use TextWrangler.
For repeated use, the simplest approach is to run through the files and apply text item delimiters to each tag:
set indesignTags to {"idtag1", "idtag2", "idtag3"}
set htmlEquivs to {"htmltag1", "htmltag2", "htmltag3"}
set theFiles to choose file with prompt "Choose indesign files" with multiple selections allowed
repeat with aFile in theFiles
-- get file text
          set fileText to read aFile
-- swap tags
          repeat with i from 1 to count of indesignTags
-- swap lead tags
                    set fileTextBits to tid({input:fileText, delim:"<" & item i of indesignTags})
                    set fileText to tid({input:fileTextBits, delim:"<" & item i of htmlEquivs})
-- swap trailing tags
                    set fileTextBits to tid({input:fileText, delim:"</" & item i of indesignTags})
                    set fileText to tid({input:fileTextBits, delim:"</" & item i of htmlEquivs})
          end repeat
-- make new file path with html extension
          set oldFilePath to POSIX path of aFile
          set filePathBits to tid({input:oldFilePath, delim:"."})
          set last item of fileNameBits to "html"
          set newFilePath to tid({input:filePathBits, delim:"."})
-- save at new file path
          set fp to open for access newFilePath with write permission
write fileText to fp
close access fp
end repeat
on tid({input:input, delim:delim})
-- handler for text items
          set {oldTID, my text item delimiters} to {my text item delimiters, delim}
          if class of input is list then
                    set output to input as text
          else
                    set output to text items of input
          end if
          set my text item delimiters to oldTID
          return output
end tid
This will work if the indesign tags are unique and there is no complex syntax. It might fail if tags have overlapping names (e.g. "<bl>" and "<blue>") or if there's any irregular notation. If you need more sophisticated handling you'll have to use regular expressions. In that case, download and install the Satimage osax from this page, and use the following (similar) code:
set indesignTags to {"idtag1", "idtag2", "idtag3"}
set htmlEquivs to {"htmltag1", "htmltag2", "htmltag3"}
-- set up regular expressions change lists
set findList to {}
set changeList to {}
repeat with i from 1 to count of indesignTags
          set end of findList to "(</?)" & item i of indesignTags & "(?![[:alnum:]])"
          set end of changeList to "\\1" & item i of htmlEquivs
end repeat
set theFiles to choose file with prompt "Choose indesign files" with multiple selections allowed
repeat with aFile in theFiles
-- get file text
          set fileText to read aFile
-- swap tags - needs Satimage osax
          set fileText to change findList into changeList in fileText with regexp
-- make new file path with html extension - needs Satimage osax
          set oldFilePath to POSIX path of aFile
          set newFilePath to change "\\.[^.]+$" into ".html" in oldFilePath with regexp
-- save at new file path
          set fp to open for access newFilePath with write permission
write fileText to fp
close access fp
end repeat
Message was edited by: twtwtw - I made an error in the second regular expression. should be "\\.[^.]+$", not "\\..*$". fixed in text.

Renaming stills with automator

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for