I believe that I have a fairly common workflow wherein I import camera image files into LRc 10.3, rate them, transfer some to PL 4.3.1 , work on them in PL, and export them back to LR. My file names are a combination of custom text and the original sequence number. I have a situation where I need to change the custom text portion of a number of file names. How do I do this without screwing up something in Lightroom or PL4?
LR’s rename handles the LR catalog, the raw file, and the .XMP file. It does not seem to touch the .TIF files unless I tell it to rename them. It also des not touch, the .dop files, or the PL database. I don’t know what the “Rename image” tool in PL does, if it should be used after a LR rename, or if it should be used at all. I don’t know if the PL database contains a catalog. If not I could manually (and painfully) update the file names inside each .dop file.
While I no longer use Lightroom and don’t know this for sure, I’m guessing that renaming a file from Lightroom in Photolab and sending it back to Lightroom is probably not a good idea and will confuse the Lightroom catalog entry.
Both LR and PL use a database for storing information about photos (files). In order to keep the file names synchronised with the database you should always use the facilities in LR and PL to do the renaming.
Now you can only do that on one of those programs. I would suggest you use PL to rename your file then in LR you will need to synchronise your folder where the renamed file resides with the database. LR is better at synchronising than PL and will notice a file has been renamed and update it’s database.
I found a way to change file names that has seemed to work twice. Not sure if it is universal or if I just haven’t seen the problem.
Sitruation: Camera is a Sony RX10M4. Image imported to Lightroom, minor editing in LR, image transfered to PhotoLab, editing in PL, image exported to LR. There are now 4 files on the directory: ., .XMD, .DOP, and _DxO.TIF. There is also a .JPG in the directory that was not imported into LR by my choice. I notice that the root file name needs to be changed.
Process: Use PL to change the raw file (per @KeithRJ)- I got ARW, .XMP, and .DOP file names changed. LR film strip shows original raw name with micro-icon in upper right. Clicking icon gives LR pop-up saying that the image could be edited suing the Smart Preview, but the original file could not be found. I clicked on “Locate” and I get a popup with the root file with only the .JPG file shown with the original root name. The LR pop-up says it is showing “Supported Files”, but there is only the one file shown. I don’t know what is meant by supported fiiles - whether .ARW aren’t supported or if the pop-up has an error. I am not able to get the desired fiile to show up, but I can enter the new name manually. The pop-up then says erroneously that the file has a different name than the one I was trying to locate nd to confirm the choice. After confirming, it makes the change. Now I have the .TIF file still under the old name (with a “_DxO” appended) and the LR entry also showoing the old name. To get PL to change the name, I first have to get PL’s PhotoLibrary to find it. I switch from External Selections to the disk folder, select the .TIF file and make the file name change in PL. The actual file name is changed and an unwanted _DxO.TIF.DOP file is created. I have to go back to LR to locate the newly named .TIF file.
Result: At this point LR and PL seem to be happy and things look OK to me. I have an extra .DOP file that I would like to get rid of, but I don’t dare. I have also developed a strong need for a drink.
Does anyone know if this is the expected process or if I have missed something?
Is the Lightroom-PhotoLab combination really unusual or is my typing dramatically sub-par?