Renaming Multiple Photos All at Once


Raise your hand if you like the way your camera names your photos. I can't see you, but I'm pretty sure there aren't any hands raised right now. Well, before Photoshop had the Batch Rename feature, renaming a few hundred photos could take some time. But with Batch Rename it's much easier. There's even a new feature in Photoshop CS2 that makes the process a lot more useful.

Step One

In Bridge, select the thumbnails of the images you want to rename. You can press Command-A (PC: Control-A) to Select All, or just press-and-hold the Command (PC: Control) key and click on individual images to rename only specific ones.

©MATT KLOSKOWSKI

Step Two

Once the images you want to rename are selected, choose Tools>Batch Rename or press Command-Shift-R (PC: Control-Shift-R). The Batch Rename dialog will appear with your renaming options. The Destination Folder section at the top of the dialog is an important one and has something new for CS2 users. Here, you need to choose where you want your renamed images to go. If you want them renamed in the same folder, then choose Rename in Same Folder. However, if you pick this option then all of your originals will be renamed. The next option, Move to Other Folder, renames your images and moves them to another folder. Finally, the last option, Copy to Other Folder, is my favorite (and is what's new in CS2). This one copies your images to another folder and renames them there. It leaves your original files untouched.

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You can always look at the Preview section at the bottom of the Batch Rename dialog to see what your new file name looks like. It shows you the original file name on the left, an example of the renamed file on the right, and lets you know exactly how many files will be renamed.


Many government agencies, as well as medical and forensic companies, require that the original file names be kept intact. If this affects you, then the best option here is usually Copy to Other Folder. This is mainly because it keeps your originals intact. It could prevent you from having to spend a ton of time later tracking down original file names.


Step Three

The second section, New Filenames, deals with how you want to rename your images. It looks a little tricky, but once you get the hang of it you'll have a lot of options for your file names. The most popular choice from the first pop-up menu is Text. After you choose Text, you'll see a text field appear to the right of the menu. Type in some descriptive name here to help you remember what these photos are all about. I'll use "Vegas" since that's where these photos were taken.

Step Four

That's not it, though. If we just left it like this all of our photos would be named "Vegas" and that's not good. So, click on the small plus sign (+) icon all the way to the right. This will add another line of options for you. From the new pop-up menu on the left, choose Sequence Number. Then make sure to type the number 1 in the center text field. Finally, pick Two Digits from the pop-up menu on the right.

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You can toggle through Bridge's thumbnail views by pressing Command-\ (PC: Control-\) to switch between different modes.


Make sure that you pick enough digits to cover the number of photos you have. Here, I picked Two Digits because I have less than 100 images in this folder. If you have more or you're not sure, then you may want to pick Three Digits or another appropriate number that will cover the number of images you have to rename. It'll save you a lot of time should Photoshop run into a problem because there are more images than you've allotted digits for.


Step Five

The third section in the dialog allows us to pick some options. It's best to turn on the Preserve Current Filename in XMP Metadata checkbox here. This makes sure that you always know what the original image was named in case you ever need it.

Step Six

Now, click Rename and Batch Rename will work its magic. It may take a moment or two depending on how many images you have. When it's done, you may be able to see the results right in front of you. However, if you've chosen to copy the images to another folder (which I recommend), then you'll have to navigate Bridge to that folder to see the renamed images. (If you're choosing to copy the images to another folder, you will first need to click the Browse button in the Destination Folder section, and select a destination folder, before clicking Rename and running Batch Rename.)

Turbo Boost

You can rotate your images directly in Bridge by pressing Command-[ (PC: Control-[) or Command-] (PC: Control-]).




Photoshop CS2 Speed Clinic
The Photoshop CS2 Speed Clinic: Automating Photoshop to Get Twice the Work Done in Half the Time
ISBN: 0321441656
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 113

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