Automator/Applescript to Rename files when dropped in folder based on parent folder name

Normally it is a bad idea to do things with items that are in the attached folder (earlier OS versions will retrigger folder actions when an item is renamed, for example), and you don't need to use a Get Selected Finder Items action since the dropped items are already passed to your workflow (also note that the input items will be a list).

It looks like you are trying to use multiple passes to add on the folder names, but you will have less of a headache if you build the base name and just deal with the number suffix. If I understood your naming scheme correctly, the following script should do the trick - it isn't very fast, but should be OK for a few items at a time.

onrun {input, parameters} -- rename input Finder items (aliases) to name of containing folders

setdividerto"_"-- the divider character between name pieces

setoutputto {} -- the result to pass on to the next action

setcounterto"01"-- start suffix at one

repeatwithanItemintheinput-- step through each item in the input

setanItemtocontentsofanItem-- dereference

tellapplication"Finder"toifclassofitemanItemisdocument filethen-- don't mess with folders or applications

set {itemParent, itemExtension} to {container, name extension} ofanItem

ifitemExtensionisnot""thensetitemExtensionto"." & itemExtension

setgrandParentNametonameofcontainerofitemParent

setparentNametonameofitemParent

setnewNametograndParentName & divider & parentName & divider & counter

setdocumentNamestomygetExistingNames(itemParent)

repeatwhilenewNameisindocumentNames-- increment counter suffix as needed

set counter to text -2 thru -1 of ("0" & (counter + 1))

setnewNametograndParentName & divider & parentName & divider & counter

endrepeat

setnameofanItemto (newName & itemExtension)

setendofoutputtoanItem-- alias still refers to the same file even after renaming

endif

endrepeat

returntheoutput

endrun

togetExistingNames(someFolder) -- get base document names (no extensions) from a folder

setnameListto {}

tellapplication"Finder"torepeatwithaFilein (getdocument filesofsomeFolder)

set {fileName, fileExtension} to {name, name extension} ofaFile

iffileExtensionisnot""thensetfileExtensionto"." & fileExtension

setfileNametotext1thru -((countfileExtension) + 1) offileName-- just the name part

setendofnameListtofileName

endrepeat

returnnameList

endgetExistingNames

You are amazing! Thank you! I am actually using this to keep my personal digital filing cabinet of PDF's in order.

I have another script that takes scanned PDF's from an inbox, OCR's them with Finereader, appends _OCR to the filename and moves them to an OCT_Complete folder. From there, I will review them one by one and drop them into their final folders where they can be renamed. You gave me the final piece to my puzzle. Thanks!

2 questions.

1) If I have GrandParent_Parent_01.pdf, GrandParent_Parent_02.pdf, it renames them all and begins with the next number, in this case being 03. Thoughts on checking for existing matching filenames and skipping?

2) Would I be better off to fire my scripts in this situation based on a time schedule, like once every night, rather than as a folder action?

1) I wrote the script for a folder action, so only new items dropped into a folder would be getting passed to it. If you are doing something like getting the entire contents of a folder that may already have renamed items in it, then you can wrap the renaming part in a test statement to check if items are already renamed, for example:

--

setparentNametonameofitemParent

setnewNametograndParentName & divider & parentName & divider-- base name minus suffix number

if (nameofanItem) does notstart withnewNamethen-- only rename if not already formatted

setnewNametonewName & counter

setdocumentNamestomygetExistingNames(itemParent)

repeatwhilenewNameisindocumentNames-- increment counter suffix as needed

set counter to text -2 thru -1 of ("0" & (counter + 1))

setnewNametograndParentName & divider & parentName & divider & counter

endrepeat

setnameofanItemto (newName & itemExtension)

endif

setendofoutputtoanItem-- alias still refers to the same file even after renaming

--

2) Since the script isn't the speediest thing around, if you wind up dropping a large number of files at one time it may take a while, so in that case the folder action route might work better. With the above modification, it will also work by selecting files or getting the folder contents, so whatever works for your workflow.

hello. Great post. I am working on a small automator-app applscript based that takes in 'droppped on' files...then prompts you to enter the new 'base name' if you will.

I have a version working great, but am having difficulty with making the suffix counter work properly. For instance, if you had 10 files the count should be "001 ... 010" not just "01… 10". The container method as mentioned in this thread it now working in the automator "repeat with f in input" stucture. Any help would be appreciated.

current code:

on run {input, parameters}

set theName to the text returned of (display dialog "Enter Base File Name" default answer "")

set counter to "01"

tell application "Finder"

repeat with f in input

set theExtension to "." & name extension of f

set the name of f to (theName & "_" & counter & theExtension)

set counter to (counter + 1)

end repeat

display dialog "Done!" buttons {"OK"} default button 1 with icon 1

end tell

end run

to have a three digit index, change this line

set counter to text -2 thru -1 of ("0" & (counter + 1))

to this:

set counter to text -3 thru -1 of ("00" & (counter + 1))

or if you want something generic

set counter to text -digits thru -1 of ("00000000000000" & (counter + 1))

all this line is doing is prefixing the index with a string of zeros, then trimming off the leading zeros to make a string of the correct length.

that works perfect for 3 digits. the "-digits" errors on on run.

What about it being dynamic? basically, always having prefixed "0".. see when you send 999 files you would get "0001 ... 0999"

yeah.. 999 is a lot, but it just tried it with a gopro sequence.

well that's what the 'digits' variable is for. e.g.:

set digits to 5

set counter to 3

set counter to text -digits thru -1 of ("00000000000000" & (counter + 1))

--result "00004"

so to make a dynamic version, get the number of files you're trying to convert and use the following (of course, you only need to set digits once, not every time in the loop like this, but for brevity...):

-- get the string length needed based on the string length of the number of files

set digits to (length of (numberOfFiles as text))

set counter to text -digits thru -1 of ("00000000000000" & (counter + 1))

ah! thank you for the tip. I coded out a count to get the amount of files and got everything working perfeclty. thanks you!

final code:

set theName to the text returned of (display dialog "Enter Base File Name" default answer "")

set counter to "1"

set numberOfFiles to "0"

tell application "Finder"

repeat with f in input

set numberOfFiles to numberOfFiles + 1

end repeat

set digits to ((length of (numberOfFiles as text)) + 1)

repeat with f in input

set itemExtension to name extension of f

if itemExtension is not "" then set itemExtension to "." & itemExtension

set counter to text -digits thru -1 of ("00000000000000" & (counter))

set the name of f to (theName & "_" & counter & itemExtension)

set counter to text -digits thru -1 of ("00000000000000" & (counter + 1))

end repeat

display dialog "Done!" buttons {"OK"} default button 1 with icon 1

Just because I noiced it, you don't need to add up the files that way. you can replace this:

set numberOfFiles to "0"

tell application "Finder"

repeat with f in input

set numberOfFiles to numberOfFiles + 1

end repeat

with this:

set numberOfFiles to count of input

tell application "Finder"

nice. thank you. I will clean it up.. Nice to know that for the future now..

hi!

can you please post your final script? the one listed above is not working - where are "f" and "input" defined, the script seems to choke over these.

thanks!

The script statements are being placed into an Automator Run AppleScript action, where the action's input parameter contains the items from the previous action. The variable f is the loop variable (the current item) for the repeat statement.