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Automator; delete file name, change name to date created

Dal123

Dal123

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 23, 2008
903
0
England
:confused: I'm using Automator to rename 200 odd pictures I have taken to the date the photograph was taken.
I have tried renaming them, sorting them then reloading in other applications and trying to save.
I see no option in changing the name to a new name, it just adds to the existing name and the filename is now massive. I did not copy originals. There must be something I can do. I tried a program called file merger (something like that) but same sort of thing happened.
Any input is much appreciated. I have tried around ten fee downloads.
Darren
 
In Automator ...

Files and Folders > Rename Finder Items > Make Sequential
 

Attachments

  • Picture 1.png
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Thank you very much, I have put: get specified items, sort in ascending order date created, then rename sequential.
Looks good, however I've got a few photo's that are out of sequence from 05/2008 then goes to 06/2008 to o7/2008 then back to 05/2008 at the end. Whats going on?
 
Are they in order in your sort list?

EDIT: To clarify, are those photos being sorted correctly when you Sort Ascending?
 
I was doing it all in one workflow. I have just performed a workflow with just arranging the files. And it has not worked; they are all scattered. Why is this happening? The dates on the files are good.
Thanks for your help so far. I'm learning.
 
Are you sure it referencing the correct date?

IIRC, some cameras will not embed the proper created date as seen by the computer.
 
The dates on the photographs are same format i.e. 17/04/2008. They are a photographs of my construction business, starting at base, walls, then finally to the roof.
As you can imagine the sequence looks a bit silly at the moment; wall, roof, floor lol.
The only thing I can think of doing is renaming all the files manually as the date and time they were created then using automator to rename. Only this seems very tedious and this is what automator is for. I also have another 500 odd photo's of other constructions I need to sort out.
Regards
 
Try this action set out, it should be able to do what you want by directly accessing the EXIF data. I don't think Automator is pulling the correct date right now.
 
Thank you very much, I'm trying it now.

I have tried this and it arranged into different folders. I was out of my depth. Sorry to be such a nuisance. How exactly should I organise my workflow?

Anyone got any ideas, metamover is not doing anything at all at the moment. I cannot even get it to move into folders or anything.
It just runs and does nothing.:confused:

Data Mover did work! Thank you RJS. I reloaded and formated year first, then month, then day, then hour, then minute, then seconds.
Sorted them all out in order.
Then ran a seperate workflow to rename them as you listed earlier.
Thanks RJS.
 
Glad to hear you got it sorted out, maybe you can combine the two workflows and save it as an app. That way, when you process the rest of the projects all you have to do is run the app.

If you'd like, I can do it - just zip the two saved workflows and attach them here.
 
Cheers

Nice one thank you very much. Here are the two files.;)
I can't get it to load, the browser tells me to wait after browsing to them. Then it just stalls. With nothing loading but continues to say wait. Why cant things just work :D.
Regards
 
Are you trying to attach them as zip files? It should work that way, if it doesn't, PM me for my email.
 
There must be a bug in Automator; This workflow worked once. When I tried to use it in another I had to redo everything and spend a few hours on it.
Just tried using it today and what a surprise; it doesn't work again.
%Y/%m/%d/ works well with data mover, however it moves into loads of little folders, its crazy, then have to go through it dragging wasting more time.
Does anyone have an efficient way of organising by date created?
 
Dal123 said:
Sorry, don't understand what you mean by this?
Click to expand...

Launch the Terminal application located in your Utilities folder.

type

Code: 
cd /path/to/folder/with/pictures

(you can find the path by highlighting the folder with the pictures and "Get Info"- look at the "Where" field)

In Terminal, type

Code: 
ls -lrt

(that's "el ess minus el aar tee"- not a capital "i" )

and it will list the files by date created.
 
Use ExifRenamer

I find the easiest way to rename photographs to the date/time of the picture is with Stefan Robl's beautiful free program called ExifRenamer. You can completely customize the date/time format (date before time for natural sorting). Drag a folder full of pictures (even videos) onto its icon for batch rename. Or tell ImageCapture to apply it automatically after loading photos from camera or card.
 
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