Photo Renaming Automator Actions v2
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Taking that mass of illegibly-named files out of your camera and giving them more meaningful names can be a time-consuming chore. These two Automator actions allow you to automatically rename entire batches of images. In addition to entering custom text, they can automatically include EXIF or IPTC data from the images themselves. For those who like to keep the original file names, the actions can also store the original name in the file’s Spotlight Comments field. |
These actions require Mac OS X 10.4 or later and are designed to work within Automator. (If you’re not familiar with Automator, here’s a quick overview and tutorial.)
Version 2 features a re-written Rename From EXIF action that no longer requires Photoshop. Instead, it uses OS X’s built in EXIF reader to find the EXIF data stored in your images. This is much faster than version 1. However, there are times when the built-in OS X EXIF reader can’t find the metadata in question. For these instances, the action will open the images in Photoshop CS2 and try to read the metadata there. Version 2 also now includes the option of having field labels in the final name. This can make it much easier to identify exactly which metadata is which.
To install, simply unzip the actions and place them in your Home > Library > Automator folder. (If a folder doesn’t exist at this location, create one.) Then restart Automator while holding down the Option key. Rename From EXIF installs as a Finder action, Rename from IPTC installs as a Photoshop action (it requires Photoshop CS2 to work).
Both actions include the option to store the original file name in the file’s Spotlight Comments field. If you want to restore the renamed files to the original names, use the included Restore Original Name action.
A simple workflow will look like this:
This will rename all of the selected items with the ISO followed by the original name. If you’d rather have the EXIF data after the original name, change EXIF info Before base name to After. You can also enter new text into the Base Name field if you’d rather have some other custom text.
As with all Automator workflows, you can save this workflow as an application, Folder action or Finder plug-in, providing you with several interfaces for renaming your files.
Other photo-related Automator Actions
AppleScript for Digital Photographers
Taking Action with Photoshop Actions
Adobe Illustrator Automator Action
For more on Automator, check out:
Automator.US
automatorworld.com
Comments
15 Comments on Photo Renaming Automator Actions v2
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Piranha Daily News » Photo Renaming Automator Actions v2 on
Wed, 22nd Nov 2006 1:59 pm
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Abhay Ghatpande on
Thu, 7th Dec 2006 10:05 pm
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Seven on
Fri, 12th Jan 2007 1:35 am
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ce reimers on
Thu, 18th Jan 2007 8:49 pm
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Joseph Cyr on
Tue, 23rd Jan 2007 6:10 pm
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Guillaume on
Thu, 15th Mar 2007 8:34 pm
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Jay on
Sat, 17th Mar 2007 12:36 pm
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Mortimer on
Sun, 2nd Sep 2007 4:33 pm
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FP on
Tue, 22nd Apr 2008 4:32 pm
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sMurph on
Mon, 8th Dec 2008 4:31 pm
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shutterstation on
Tue, 3rd Feb 2009 4:26 am
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shutterstation on
Tue, 3rd Feb 2009 4:27 am
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Jak uporz?dkowa? zdj?cia wg "EXIF" on
Wed, 9th Jun 2010 5:06 am
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Guntis on
Tue, 31st Aug 2010 2:30 pm
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Guntis on
Tue, 31st Aug 2010 5:33 pm
[...] Read More… [...]
I registered my email address to download the actions, but clicking on the “register and download” button just returned a blank page. Request please rectify the problem, and email me the actions if possible. (Now that you have conveniently managed to get the address!)
Abhay
I find a little problem in the “Photo Renaming Automator Action V2″.
I am a D2Xs user, if I use this action to extract a raw file with an EXIF date “2007-01-01″, the return will become “2007-01-0″, the last digit is missing. Is it my operational fault, or is it a bug?
yes, i am having the same issue…please send the automator actions b/c a blank screen is all that appears…thank you for your quickest response to rectify the issue
We used the “Rename by EXIF” on a G5 PowerPC and it worked fine. When we tried to run it on an Intel Mac iMac it seems to have problems with some files. Nikon images from D100s or D2Xs seem to not find the EXIF date and returns with the date of 12-31-1903 and the time of 00″00’00. So, all the files end up with the same date and time as the name. Any idea why the action does not seem to work on the Intel iMac?
Thanks for any help.
Got the same problem of ¬´not downloading¬ª. Only a blank page. Could I get it emailed, cause it really looks like what I need…
Thanks!
I’m having the same problem as Seven described above. I am changing file names on JPEG images from a Canon 10D that have otherwise not had any manipulations done on them. I’m renaming based on EXIF date, and I’m missing the last digit (ex: name_2007-01-2.JPG… for Jan. 25, 2007). Would be a great action that I would love to have, but can’t use it like this. Also, is there anyway to NOT include a base name (i.e. rename files with the EXIF date and sequence number only)? Right now I have to add an extra Finder action to take out the base name that is added, which works but adds an extra step that will take a lot of time if I apply this to thousands of images at once.
Thanks Ben. Keep up the great work!!!
Hi, it looks cool. I did a similar automator action that can work with EXIF, but can also work on mp3 ID3, and many other file metadata.
It has an interface a bit more complex as it takes a pattern to create the path.
http://6v8.gamboni.org/Move-Rename-files-according-to.html
Emailed him and he said he’d fix it. That was a few weeks ago and the link doesn’t work.
How about a direct link for everyone?
I’m new to the Mac world…just purchased an iMac with intel core 2 duo, blah, blah, blah. I have a ton of photos from a Casio 10.1 megapixel camera and found this to be absolutely the fastest and most efficient way of renaming all of my photo files. Thank you for your hard work in putting this script together. Kudos!
It seems the problem of the “blank page” was never rectified. Pity as these actions look pretty cool.
Actually I just tried it again and it works if you subscribe!!! Why give us an option then?
[...] co prawda temat odgrzewam, ale mo?e si? przyda? potomnym: Photo Renaming Automator Actions v2 : Complete Digital Photography (jak zmieni? nazw? pliku wed?ug danych exif) Komputer: MB Black, PC Odtwarzacz: iPad [...]
Please could you improve Rename From EXIF.action by including leading zero for seconds. Currently I get file name 20050301_00303.jpg – as you can see there is one digit missing from seconds. Is it photographed at 00:30:03 or 00:30:30? Otherwise I managed to get acceptable result. I could share actual system service file (Rename Photo to EXIF Date) which shows up in Finder’s contextual menu, if only this last digit would appear in the file name.
Actually there is very good software for photo renaming to EXIF date called ExifRenamer (freeware). You can even create your own renaming template. And another software shootShifter is for changing EXIF date and time – for those cases when you forgot to set correct time in camera or your friend gave you photos from the same event with absolutely wrong camera time, so your photos and his/her photos don’t align on the timeline. This application can correct Exif info so you can rename files correctly with ExifRenamer later on.
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