File Name Shift in Photo

When importing photos from desktop or files into Photo, the file names do not get added to the image as a "title" so all sortation options are lost. Talked to Apple and they have no work-around. Does anyone have a solution as I have over 24k images with names and dates

Mac mini, macOS 14.3

Posted on Aug 8, 2024 8:23 PM

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Posted on Aug 9, 2024 8:47 AM

It is a change in the recents versions of Photos that the file name is no longer used as a default title, when sorting the photos by title. Photos 4 on macOS 10.14 Mojave has been the last version, that could use the filename as a default title when sorting.


I am using PowerPhotos as a second browser window for my Photos Library, when I want to see my photos sorted by the filename. It offers a nice column view with metadata, and I can easily see the albums sorted by the filename by clicking the filename column: http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/powerphotos

The free trial version will suffice to use the column view for the albums - for example:


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Aug 9, 2024 8:47 AM in response to Lawrence Giordano

It is a change in the recents versions of Photos that the file name is no longer used as a default title, when sorting the photos by title. Photos 4 on macOS 10.14 Mojave has been the last version, that could use the filename as a default title when sorting.


I am using PowerPhotos as a second browser window for my Photos Library, when I want to see my photos sorted by the filename. It offers a nice column view with metadata, and I can easily see the albums sorted by the filename by clicking the filename column: http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/powerphotos

The free trial version will suffice to use the column view for the albums - for example:


Aug 9, 2024 7:52 AM in response to Lawrence Giordano

I can't quite tell if you actually want a solution. As Matti Haveri has said, you can use scripts to copy the filename to the Title field.


Instead of scripts, I use a 3rd party app, Photos Workbench ($30), to set my titles. It offers a variety of options, including using the file name:


Or you can make more complex titles


When I scan images, I often add the title, keywords, and caption to the IPTC metadata with the app GraphicConverter  ($40) before importing to Photos.


Aug 9, 2024 6:37 AM in response to Lawrence Giordano

Lawrence Giordano wrote:

What happens is that I imported 25,000 digital images that already had titles on them as final names

When imported into photo, the file names that I had dropped to the second line of the med and the top line says insert a title

How did you add that title before importing?


Photos can import either IPTC or XMP tag. Currently apps like GraphicConverted insert it to both and keep them in sync. exiftool reports them like this:


exiftool -a -G1 -s 2001-0101-1200-00.jpg 
[IPTC]          ObjectName                      : Title
[XMP-dc]        Title                           : Title


And Photos imports either of those as:


Aug 9, 2024 6:18 AM in response to Matti Haveri

What happens is that I imported 25,000 digital images that already had titles on them as final names


When imported into photo, the file names that I had dropped to the second line of the med and the top line says insert a title


So that when you look at each image, each image has no title, and my titles had names dates and other info which we used for sortation


I’ve contacted Apple and asked if we could do a sortation by title or by file name and have heard nothing and I’m looking what other people do for a workaround

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File Name Shift in Photo

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