Rename on Export

DxO PhotoLab
1

Am I missing something or is there no way to rename single files on export to disk

Neil

2

Unfortunately all you can do is append a limited length text string to the end of the original file name. you can rename output files to your heart’s content outside of Photolab, but not during export. It would be nice if DXO gave us that ability.

Mark

1 Like
3

Thanks for that, I suspected as much, but given my propensity to miss the obvious I thought I better check.

Neil

4

There are some great renaming tools which work with EXIF data for Mac, in particular Frank Reiff’s A Better Finder Rename. After I export masters from PhotoLab, my next step is to name those masters for the event-date-time so they sort properly in chronological order. I.e. Klingenbach-20190716-165206.jpg.

Occasionally I add the camera model and lens on a multicam shoot for my own use, i.e. Z6-50mm18.

Better Finder Rename makes these kinds of actions possible including formatting the EXIF data just as suits the photographer. There would be a couple of years of developer time required for PhotoLab to offer this kind of powerful and comprehensive renaming.

It would be madness for DxO to try to compete against dedicated file management and EXIF utilities. A Better Finder Rename costs only $20, with a full bundle of file and folder management tools at $35. I;m sure similar tools exist for Windows, probably a little less polished but even less expensive.

The focus of PhotoLab should be RAW conversion and not file utility software, particularly as they support two OS families (Windows and Mac), with many variations of their own.

5

A couple of important points to be aware of, Neil, if you’re renaming image-files;

  • If you’re renaming the RAW file then you must be careful to also rename its accompanying sidecar/.dop file with exactly the same name (before the .dop).

  • When renaming RAW+sidecar files (as above) you should do so with PhotoLab closed - - especially if you’re doing so to multiple files at once, using Windows Explorer (or the Mac equivalent) … Otherwise (with PL running) there’s a risk of a new, “empty”, sidecar file being created by PL before the file rename has been executed at the operating-system level … and then it can get rather confusing - with the likely risk of losing your corrections.

  • Personally, I would not rename Exported jpg/tiff files without also renaming the source RAW+sidecar files too (keeping in mind the cautions above) - - 'cos, otherwise, you have lost the easy ability to recreate the exported result.

Regards, John M

1 Like
6

Thanks for that warning about the raw files.
I am still trying to get a work flow going after moving from Photoshop /Lightroom, although I still intend to use th eLightroom DAM function.
I only really rename jpegs with a meaningful name for upload to Flickr etc so they are not really that important. Any that I really care for I print.

Thanks again Neil

7

t would be madness for DxO to try to compete against dedicated file management and EXIF utilities. A Better Finder Rename costs only $20, with a full bundle of file and folder management tools at $35. I;m sure similar tools exist for Windows, probably a little less polished but even less expensive.

The focus of PhotoLab should be RAW conversion and not file utility software, particularly as they support two OS families (Windows and Mac), with many variations of their own.

I would agree with you 100% there are so many things I would rather see than a fully featured BAM system in Photolabs

Neil

2 Likes
8

Indeed, there are many renaming tools available in Windows. One free and very flexible/capable one that I use when needed is Bulk Rename Utility https://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/Main_Intro.php. Most of the time, I rely on my digital asset manager IMatch https://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/Main_Intro.php for this and many other file management tasks.

2 Likes
9

I would check any bulk rename utility very carefully - especially if you have PL open/running whilst doing the renames (See above).

The problem with many rename utilities (Windows Explorer itself being one) is that they don’t actually rename files in the order you may expect (such as in alpha/name order) - - instead they rename in the order that files actually exist on the file-storage system … and the problem with this is that the image-file and its related sidecar/.dop are not necessarily sitting side-by-side on disk-storage … such that, say, the rename of an image-file can occur “long before” (in computing terms) it gets around to renaming its related sidecar file - - by which time PL has detected the “new” (to it) image file - and it writes out a corresponding sidecar/.dop file … and things can then start to get a bit complicated.

John M

1 Like
10

Thanks for that. I guess I didn’t explain my original question very well, all I wanted was to be able to rename single files one at a time as I exported the few I take that are worth sharing to put in Flickr or Facebook.
I am quite happy with the generic file names in my archive as I don’t feel any need to change these as I can always find things with dates? keywords.
Mind you I have learnt about some useful utilities which I might be able to use in other contexts so nothing has been wasted.

Thanks to All Neil

1 Like
11

You’re right, of course, that one should avoid running a rename operation when the files being renamed are open in another program, including but not limited to PL.

1 Like
12

I think that renaming a photo file should only be done at the import level (from the card to the disk)

Renaming photos during the processing process is, in my opinion, a bad idea. It will introduce waste of time in research if necessary.

part of My workflow (in LR)
I have a specific LR catalogue for RAW and an other one depending on my purposes.
When uploading to the LR catalog, I change the file name to “YYYYYMMDD-sufixe of the photo”

. Throughout the workflow this name persists. Of course I IMMEDIATELY add the keywords to each photo.

When transforming RAWs into TIFF (or JPEG), if necessary, I simply add a significant shooting suffix.
This will allow me to find the RAW very quickly since it has, at least, the same prefix as my terminal file.