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March 22, 2008
Digital Photography Tip: Renaming Hundreds of Files
If you have a digital camera you most likely have a bunch of folders containing files with names like “DSC01442.JPG” or some similar naming structure. The ideal practice would be to rename each file with a descriptive title. If you took 300 photos on your vacation that can be a huge job. renaming the whole bunch would take forever so must of us just rename the folder and let the files keep the cryptic name. Luckly there are some utilities that allow you to rename large batches of files quickly.
The utility that I like is called “A Better Finder Rename.” It is available for both Mac and PCs and it lets you do complex renaming quickly and easily. The program costs $24.95 so I looked at some free alternatives but I couldn’t really find anything as good as A Better Finder Rename. Name Mangler (Mac only) is worth a look, but it is limited in what it can do. One extra feature that I couldn’t find anywhere else was its ability to rename files with names from a separate list. I have needed that ability once or twice and it is really handy. Check out their website to learn more about it.
There is one other situations that I use “A Better Finder Rename” that is worth mentioning. With my timelapse photography setup I endup with thousands of images. It is nice to be able to change the names of a large batch of jpgs with a few clicks.
I know I am not the only person looking for ways to rename large batches of photos, so if you have a solution that works for you, please share it in the comments.
Posted by Adrian at March 22, 2008 12:39 PM
Comments
In Adobe Bridge (CS2/CS3), under the Tools drop down menu, is the "Batch Rename" command (Ctrl+Shift+R). You can rename in the same folder, or move/copy to another folder. You can preserve the original filename in XMP Metadata, modify/set platform/OS compatibilities, and view a preview of the old and new filenames side-by-side. Overall, it has proven to be rather useful.
Posted by: Paul at April 20, 2008 9:05 PM