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Fixing a renaming mistake.

Apr 11, 2012 1:32 PM

I just reconverted a large wedding to dng files, not remembering that I had done that last week. So now all the files are named Jamie & Ben-001-2, Jamie & Ben-002-2....& so on...I would like to rename them back to get rid of the -2 numbers. Can not find a way to do it in LR. I can do it in Bridge, but this gives me the little "?" in the corner, so I have to point LR to the file. And it does not want to find all of the nearby files, even though the "find nearby missing photos" button is checked. There was a ton of work done to these images, so I do not want to loose all of the Development History. I can just leave the numbers as they are if I have to. I just would like to correct my dumb mistake.

1492 Views 22 Replies Latest reply: b_gossweiler, Apr 12, 2012 4:23 PM

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1. dj_paige,

Apr 11, 2012 1:41 PM in reply to photo printer

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This is kind of unclear.

Can not find a way to do it in LR. I can do it in Bridge, but this gives me the little "?" in the corner, so I have to point LR to the file.
Saying "I can do it in Bridge" is not the same as "I changed the file names in Bridge".

Did you or did you not make this change in Bridge?

If you didn't, then I would say just leave the number as they are. Forget this entire idea of renaming them, it will only cause you trouble.

If you changed the file names in Bridge, you have what we call a "mess" in technical terms, and I think you are going to have to re-link them one by one in Lightroom, or find an automated way to change the file names back so they have -2 on the end.

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2. web-weaver,

Apr 11, 2012 1:45 PM in reply to photo printer

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In Lr select all the incorrectly named images.
Go >Library >Rename Photo. Click on the small triangle besides "Custom Settings" and select Edit.
In the Template Editor select <Original File name> as your re-naming option. See screen shot:

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3. photo printer,

Apr 11, 2012 1:49 PM in reply to dj_paige

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No, the file names changed to the -2 numbers when I by mistake reconverted all of the images to dng a second time. This created new files, and replaced the old ones. I can correct the numbers using Bridge. But then I need to redirect LR to find the renamed file. And that seems to be a one at a time thing. Seeing as there are almost 700 files, this ain't gonna happen. Yes, it is a mess. So I will probably just leave them as is unless someone has an easy fix.

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4. photo printer,

Apr 11, 2012 1:58 PM in reply to web-weaver

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I am in LR4, so the rename box is a little different. I use Rename all the time. I tried every setting and combo I could find in Library>Rename Photo before I posted this. None of them would do what I needed.

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5. web-weaver,

Apr 11, 2012 2:45 PM in reply to photo printer

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I'm in Lr4, too. And reverting a mis-named file to the "original file name" works perfectly.
So, try harder!

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6. photo printer,

Apr 11, 2012 3:07 PM in reply to web-weaver

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Yes, I can get it to rename Jamie & Ben-001-2 to Jamie & Ben. Then I could add a sequence number. That would work except that there are 666 images, numbered from 001 to 672. So a few have been deleted after the original naming. I have to keep the 3 digit number as they are, since the customer already has proof slideshows.

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7. web-weaver,

Apr 11, 2012 3:12 PM in reply to photo printer

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Why, does "Jamie & Ben-001" not work?

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8. photo printer,

Apr 11, 2012 3:40 PM in reply to web-weaver

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You mean like this?

That only works for one. If I rename more than one, I get Jamie & Ben-001, Jamie & Ben-001-2, Jamie & Ben-001-3...& so on.

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9. Geoff the kiwi,

Apr 11, 2012 3:47 PM in reply to photo printer

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Can you post a screen shot of the metadata of one of these files like this:

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10. web-weaver,

Apr 11, 2012 3:48 PM in reply to photo printer

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Click the small triangle all the way to the right where it says "Custom Name" in your screen shot. Then select <Edit> and you'll get to the Template Editor. There you select <Original File Name>.

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11. photo printer,

Apr 11, 2012 3:51 PM in reply to Geoff the kiwi

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12. photo printer,

Apr 11, 2012 3:58 PM in reply to web-weaver

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Then i get this.

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13. web-weaver,

Apr 11, 2012 4:00 PM in reply to photo printer

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Yes, OK. Now select <Original File Name> as the only one in the main field. Just highlight {Custom Text} and delete it. Click <Done> and <OK>.

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14. Geoff the kiwi,

Apr 11, 2012 4:06 PM in reply to photo printer

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I think you are stuck here. With deleted files the numbering will not match as you say.
There may be ways to do this but I would just learn the lesson for now and not worry about it!!

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15. web-weaver,

Apr 11, 2012 4:08 PM in reply to web-weaver

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What I meant was: Delete "{Custom Text}" so that only "{Original filename}" remains in the main field. Then <Done> and <OK>.

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16. photo printer,

Apr 11, 2012 4:11 PM in reply to web-weaver

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I copied a few to another folder, so I am not making the original problem worse. No change. Jamie & Ben-660-2 and -661-2 are still Jamie & Ben-660-2 and 661-2

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17. Geoff the kiwi,

Apr 11, 2012 4:13 PM in reply to web-weaver

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But the original name is the CR2 name......
web-weaver wrote:

What I meant was: Delete "{Custom Text}" so that only "{Original filename}" remains in the main field. Then <Done> and <OK>.

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18. photo printer,

Apr 11, 2012 4:14 PM in reply to web-weaver

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I think Geoff tk is right. I am just going to leave as is. Thanks, w-w. If you post anything else tonight, I will try it in the morning.

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19. web-weaver,

Apr 11, 2012 4:18 PM in reply to photo printer

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Try it not with your copies. If they are copies then the "-2" is expected and Lr might consider this as the "original name" since this is the name that the copy was given when it was created.
Try it with the originally mis-named files; not with copies of the mis-named files.
It works perfectly here. I re-named a few files, then re-named back to <Original filename> with the procedure described. Works like a charm.

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20. web-weaver,

Apr 11, 2012 4:24 PM in reply to web-weaver

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Or, if you want to try it on copies, re-name the copies "by mistake" and see if you can't get them back to the name as it was before.

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21. photo printer,

Apr 12, 2012 6:38 AM in reply to web-weaver

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Geoff & w-w. I figured out how to do it! I noticed on the File Template Editor, there is a "Title" option. So, I used a plug-in I have called Search Replace Transfer. Here is a link to it.

http://www.photographers-toolbox.com/products/jbeardsworth/findreplace /index.phphttp://

So, this is what I did.....

For some reason, if I just entered -2 step 3, when I went to F2, the file name would show up as Jamie & Ben Wed-017.dng.dng. That is why I included the .dng in step 3.

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22. b_gossweiler,

Apr 12, 2012 4:23 PM in reply to photo printer

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That's a great, creative way of solving your problem (and a nice piece of documentation ). Thanks for posting your solution.

For some reason, if I just entered -2 step 3, when I went to F2, the file name would show up as Jamie & Ben Wed-017.dng.dng. That is why I included the .dng in step 3.
I suspect if you would have used "Copy the filename to the title field without extension" in step 2, this would not have been necessary.

Beat

Message was edited by: b_gossweiler

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