Aperture Library Bug in Renaming Master Files Generates Lots of Subfolders
I like it when files are well organized on a harddisk. And I don't quite like Aperture's library, that it's organized by import date. Of course, it should not matter as long as Aperture keeps track of the files in its database. But I like Lightrooms way of organizing files a lot. If you rename files or move folders, it is reflected on the filesystem as well. Thus one can organize it's files from the tool itself. And should one need to access the raw file library, the file structure looks exactly as in the tool. Very neat.
Now I was playing around with the Batch Change tool. I renamed files and created my own patterns. As I wanted the Master Files to reflect this name on the harddisk, I checked "Apply to Master Files". Renaming worked fine.
Then I accidentally did it again. Not with a different naming scheme but with the same. So the files were being renamed to the name they already had. And then, Aperture created subfolders with the pictures' names and put the pictures in it. Renaming them to a different scheme just changes their names, but accidentally renaming files to the same name they already have always creates a subfolder in the Aperture library.
So in the end, you'll end up with:
-> Image01.jpg (folder)
--> Image01.jpg (folder)
---> Image01.jpg (folder)
----> Image01.jpg (actual picture file after 3 renamings)
Which is super ugly. I haven't found a way moving files or "cleaning" the database so files get moved to a clean position within the library. The library just doesn't care.
Does anybody know of a trick to clean up this mess (magic consolidate and rebuild library button that moves files to it's proper place?) or is the library just off limits and shouldn't be touched? I find this kind of ugly, having so many subfolders there. It's totally unnecessary. I like iTunes' feature to manage the music library. If I rename a song in iTunes, the file itself is also renamed.
Chris
Message was edited by: Flint_6
27" iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.2), Aperture 3