Best ways to rename your digital pictures?

[TJN23]

I'm not sure if anyone else gets annoyed by this, but I'm constantly shooting digital pictures with my Canon S230 and downloading them to my PC...I then get tons of folders with tons of images name IMG2463.jpg, etc...

does anyone know of a good image program that has a fairly efficient way to rename your pics?

 

[Koing]

I click on on the pic I want to rename.

I press "F2" and rename it to what ever I want.

But mainly I will open the image in paintship pro and save it and rename it to whatever I want. Been doing this for years.

Koing

 

[nitsuj3580]

I go the single click, press F2 route myself as well

 

[TJN23]

i usually go the F2 route but i was trying it with IrfanView...works well except since all of your "IMGxxxx.jpg" files begin with I, the minute u rename it to something else it jumps to that letter of the alphabet, making you have to scroll back to the start of the "I" 's

 

[notfred]

I just open iPhoto and it shows me the pictures. They don't need names since I can just look at the photos.

 

[bunker]

Originally posted by: notfred
I just open iPhoto and it shows me the pictures. They don't need names since I can just look at the photos.

I do the same except with picasa on Windows.

 

[Nocturnal]

I HAD NO IDEA ABOUT F2. That is freaking amazing. All this time I've been right clicking on the file and going to rename LOL.

 

[thawolfman]

Originally posted by: Nocturnal
I HAD NO IDEA ABOUT F2. That is freaking amazing. All this time I've been right clicking on the file and going to rename LOL.

lmao

 

[ISAslot]

I use a program called "The Rename Program".

You can take off portions of file names, or incriment numbers, etc on selections of files.

My method:

After copying of my flash card from my camera, I create a folder for the date the pictures were taken, place the files in the folder, drag them to the rename program, and then open a saved 'action' in the rename program.

This action calls for the file name to be deleted and replaced with a auto incrimenting number of two places like: '01' and then adds a new lowercase .jpg extension. (because canon likes the .JPG)

I do this for each folder. The result is the files being xx.jpg and in the order of the time they were taken.

Then, the next goal is to name all the files what they actually are. I start in which ever folder and drag all of the files which will have the same category. Lets say for example they are of the category, 'boat trip'. Then I will drag all of the boat trip pictures into the rename window. It doesn't matter this time which folder they are in, I drag them all into the program.

Then I open the a new action I created earlier called 'boat trip' or i make a new one which calls for the program to add the text ' boat trip' after the 2 position from the left of the string of the file name.

I press convert and all the files are renamed to 'xx boat trip.jpg' where xx is the incrimented number in the first step.

I repeat for each different category of picture. And if i make a new action, which is very easy, I save it so that if i take a picture of the same category, I can just open it up and convert a bit faster.

So now to find a picture that i took, I can either remember the date. Or the category, and search for the category in the file search.

The best part is the program is free and can be found at http://download.com.com.

 

[Koing]

Originally posted by: ISAslot
I use a program called "The Rename Program".

You can take off portions of file names, or incriment numbers, etc on selections of files.

My method:

After copying of my flash card from my camera, I create a folder for the date the pictures were taken, place the files in the folder, drag them to the rename program, and then open a saved 'action' in the rename program.

This action calls for the file name to be deleted and replaced with a auto incrimenting number of two places like: '01' and then adds a new lowercase .jpg extension. (because canon likes the .JPG)

I do this for each folder. The result is the files being xx.jpg and in the order of the time they were taken.

Then, the next goal is to name all the files what they actually are. I start in which ever folder and drag all of the files which will have the same category. Lets say for example they are of the category, 'boat trip'. Then I will drag all of the boat trip pictures into the rename window. It doesn't matter this time which folder they are in, I drag them all into the program.

Then I open the a new action I created earlier called 'boat trip' or i make a new one which calls for the program to add the text ' boat trip' after the 2 position from the left of the string of the file name.

I press convert and all the files are renamed to 'xx boat trip.jpg' where xx is the incrimented number in the first step.

I repeat for each different category of picture. And if i make a new action, which is very easy, I save it so that if i take a picture of the same category, I can just open it up and convert a bit faster.

So now to find a picture that i took, I can either remember the date. Or the category, and search for the category in the file search.

The best part is the program is free and can be found at http://download.com.com.

Man thats too long.

Originally posted by: thawolfman

Originally posted by: Nocturnal
I HAD NO IDEA ABOUT F2. That is freaking amazing. All this time I've been right clicking on the file and going to rename LOL.

lmao

lol

I've been using the F2 key for years. Never bother with right click to rename my files or folders.

I upload all of my pics in to a folder that I have name *data transfer*. Once that is done I shut the camera off. Then I sort out my pics and rename the ones I like or need. Repeat. Pretty easy. Or I could just view by thumbnails in the window that it is opened in.

I also always never mess around with the original image. If I change the image to something else or crop it etc I will always make a new save. I never over write the original. HD's are big enough now a days that it doesn't matter too much.

Koing

 

[UglyCasanova]

Originally posted by: Nocturnal
I HAD NO IDEA ABOUT F2. That is freaking amazing. All this time I've been right clicking on the file and going to rename LOL.

Same here, this is great!

 

[KeyserSoze]

I think there's a power toy for XP to do this.





KeyserSoze

 

[Wuffsunie]

ISAslot's suggestion is excellent.

I use Irfanview for all my picture needs. Quick, very vast. I've only used the batch rename/conversion once, but it worked quite well. Quick, easy, fast, flexable.

-- Jack

 

[TJN23]

only problem with this Wuffsunie is some annoying renaming issues as described in one of my posts above

 

[DBL]

Well, if you've got Photoshop, File-->Browse. Select all the pictures in the folder and right-click---> Batch rename. That's the easiest way I've found.