Renaming plain files (photos)

[SeñorWill]

I use Filebot for renaming movies/TV shows and it's super easy and it works great. I love it. I thought I would be able to use it to rename other files - and I know I can - I just can't seem to figure out how.

What I want to do is pretty simple (I think):

I have family photos that have come from all kinds of different places/people/devices/etc. over decades that I want to try to group via file name (as opposed to folders).

What I I'd like to be able to do is drag 50-100 photos at a time to Original Files, select the preset, and have FileBot rename the files in place to their existing name prefaced with a number that will count up. For example:

"John - at christmas.jpg" > "10-1_John - at christmas.jpg"
"Christmas - 2004 - Boulder.jpg" > "10-2_Chirstmas - 2004 - Boulder.jpg"

I couldn't figure this out and ChatGPT was only capable of teasing me with code that looked like would work but didn't. Anyway, if I could get some help with the format of that expression, I would be very grateful.

[rednoah]

So pretty much copy & paste from the first example of the Plain File Mode manual then?

e.g.

Format: Select all

10-{ i }_{ fn }

** I don't know where the initial 10- bit is coming from so it's hard coded here.

[SeñorWill]

I think the short answer is: I don't know. lol I wish I could say I was joking, but I went back and looked at the first example in the manual. It appears that it's roughly talking about the same thing, but I really can't make sense of it at all. I could take what you sent me and customize it for use though. Thank you.

I have one more question. If you'd rather me do it in a new post, please let me know.

Is there a way to have FileBot sort photos into sub-folders based on date (month/year)? For example, creating a folder called 6/2023 and then moving all photos with a date taken/modified between 6/1/2023 and 6/31/2023 into that folder?

I thought I had actually seen that somewhere as an example, but haven't been able to find it.

Thanks again for your help!

[rednoah]

e.g.

Format: Select all

X:/Photos by Month/{ d.format(/yyyy-MM/) }/10-{ i }_{ fn }

This will create folders named 2024-10. You can change the date/time pattern. You notably cannot have a folder named 2024/10 because 2024/10 means "folder named 10 inside folder named 2024".

[SeñorWill]

I messed around with this for a bit and couldn't get it (or even close). Is there a way to make it:

1) Use the file creation or date taken (photos) to determine the correct folder creation/placement? For example: processing three files that were taken on different months would create 2020-2, 2013-3, 2011-1, and put the files in their respective folders?

2) Is there a way to create the directories in the folder that the file exists? For example, if it it exists within C:\photos with a file creation date of Oct 2020, it would get processed into C:\photos\2020-10.

Thank you again for your help!

[rednoah]

Yes, the format above does exactly what you are asking for:

Format: Select all

C:/photos/{ d.format(/yyyy-MM/) }/{ fn }

Please post screenshots so that we can see what you can see if you continue to have trouble.