Although renaming files may seem mundane in a digital photography workflow, it’s crucial to keep your digital assets organized. Using Lightroom’s renaming function, you can rename files in a variety of ways. Lightroom supports a number of renaming options.
If you’re used to renaming your photos using Adobe Bridge or another software, you can continue to do that before importing them into Lightroom. However, once those photos are in a catalog you’ll want to use Lightroom.
After the photos have been imported, the filename becomes an important piece of data that links your Lightroom work to your photographs. Renaming imported photos outside of Lightroom breaks that link and requires an in-depth manual process to reconnect them to the catalog.
Lightroom can be used to rename the files without breaking that link. Here are some options:
Lightroom’s File Renaming panel on the Import screen when you Copy, Copy as DNG, or Move a photo.
In the Library module, you can rename individual files using the File Name field of the Metadata panel.
You can rename a batch of photos using the Library > Rename Photos menu in the Library module.
When you want to rename the exported copies, use the File Naming panel of the Export dialog.
In Lightroom, changing the name of a single photo is a very straightforward process. When you are ready to rename your photo, select the photo first, then expand the Metadata panel, set it to Default view, click in the File Name field, and make necessary changes.
When it comes to batch renaming, single image renaming is fine, but batch renaming is where the real power lies. In most cases, a filename provides some information about the photo, maybe a little bit about its creator, and a unique identification number.
The Filename Template Editor in Lightroom lets you create custom filename templates using those pieces of data.
Your custom filename templates and Filename Template Editor are accessible anywhere you batch rename photos. It provides great flexibility for a variety of workflows.
Here’s a quick guide to selecting a folder full of imported photos, creating a filename template that contains custom text and a sequence number, and then applying that template to the selected images.
From Grid view, select all the photos you want to rename.
Go to Library > Rename Photos to launch the Rename dialog, then click the File Renaming drop-down menu and choose Edit to open the Filename Template Editor.
Note that there are several pre-installed filename templates in the drop-down menu, and the active template will appear in the editor to start. A filename template is comprised of various tokens, where each token represents some bit of data, such as elements of the capture date/time, the original filename, various bits of EXIF and IPTC metadata, and even custom text placeholders.
In the Filename Template Editor, click into the edit field and delete any existing tokens you see there, then click the Insert button next to Custom Text at the bottom of the editor to add that token. You can also type directly into the edit field to hard code any bit of text you want to include in your template; for example, you can type an underscore to add an underscore after the Custom Text token. This will separate the custom text from the sequence number we’ll add next.
Click the Sequence # drop-down menu, choose a sequence number token based on the total number of digits you want to include in your template, and click its Insert button to add another token.
Save this as a new template by clicking the Preset drop-down menu and choosing Save Current Settings as New Preset, then give it a name that helps you identify what the template does. Click Done to exit the editor and return to the Rename dialog with your new template selected.
Enter the Custom Text you want to use as well as the Start Number for the sequence. You’ll see what the final names will look like next to Example at the bottom left of the Rename dialog. Click OK to apply the template to the selected photos.
In conclusion, Lightroom provides a range of flexible file-renaming options that help photographers keep their digital assets organized. Whether it’s renaming individual files, batch renaming, or creating custom filename templates, Lightroom gives users the power to efficiently manage their photo library without breaking the link between the catalog and the photographs. Stay organized and streamline your workflow with Lightroom’s file-renaming capabilities.