Where are photo file names?

JaneTeis wrote:

This is too complicated for me. I don't do any applescript or programming. Why can't Apple just let us show the FILENAME under each photo? I don't want to have to type some "Add a Title" to every photo.

Only Apple can say why Apple made the change but the reality is that filenames & titles are two very different things, & iPhoto (& thus Apple) never did users any favors by obscuring that difference.

léonie - very cool what you've done here for us! I can use the script you've written to change the descriptions, and I can use the script you've written to change the titles to the file names. Both work great. However, they're just shy of what I want. Let's say I go to Germany for a vacation and on day one I go to Hamburg. I would like to batch change the titles to all say either Hamburg, or even better sequential titles of 01_Hamburg, 02_Hamburg.

I've tried modifying your script just to change the title to the input text but I must be messing up the syntax. Here's one version I've tried (that does nothing at all!)

on run {input, parameters}

tell application "Photos"

activate

set imageSel to (get selection)

if imageSel is {} then

error "Please select an image."

else

repeat with im in imageSel

set title to the name of im

if not (exists (title)) then

set the name of im to the filename of im

end if

end repeat

end if

end tell

end run

Appreciate any help you can give me finding my mistake. If you want to help me kick it across the goal line and add that index number too that would be swell!

thanks!

Allison Sheridan

NosillaCast Mac Podcast at http://podfeet.com

That script could also easily be modified to put the numbers first in the title & use an underscore instead of a dash as a separator. Just change this line:

set the name to input & "-" & ntext as text

to this:

set the name to (ntext as text) & "_" & input

I prefer the dashes because they were easier to use when having to do it manually.

I've added that workflow to the Photos User Tips with a link to download the app if the visitor doesn't want to create it themselves.

When I run the Title script it queries me for what name I want and it queries for how many digits. However it sends a generic error to the screen and says, “want me to show you the workflow?”

There’s only 2 steps here - one is to get the images, two is to rename them, so I tried adding a speech thing in between the two steps to see where it was failing and it does do the speech. I tried looking at the details as the script ran and all it does is give me a red x error, with no details.

I feel like one of those people who simply write back, "it didn't work" but I can't figure out how to diagnose this. Note that the change description script DOES run properly.

?

Do you have "All Photos" selected under Albums in the sidebar instead of "Photos" at the very top? I can't get the scripts to work if "Photos" is selected, but does if the photos are selected in "All Photos."

Jay

Old Toad - downloaded from the user tip.

Jay Deitch - YOU GOT IT! I had selected Photos and it didn't run. Just selected All Photos and it DID run. Apple is driving me bonkers with their naming conventions lately.

thank you all so much! Especially léonie for writing the scripts. I think I'm going to have a gift to bring back to the thread. A friend of mine wrote a script for me that does something cool. I'm going to leave you with a tease for now because she's off on her boat in Alaska and I can't ask her permission yet to publicize it (but she'll say yes for sure!)

Happy dance,

Allison

Ok, this is getting weird. I just tried it from an album and it errors out. Tried it from Photos and it errors out. Tried it from All Photos and it worked. So Jay gets it to work in Photos but not All Photos, you get it to work in Albums but I can ONLY get it tow work in All Photos.

Or, there some other factor randomizing the results?

You'll have to re-read my post - it doesn't work for me in "Photos" either. It does work in "All Photos" under Albums but not in any other album. So the only place I can get it to work is "All Photos" and it appears you have the same experience.

-Jay

Which of the scripts are you using? File Name to Title, fFile Name to Title wo Extension, Batch Change Title With Padded Numbers or Batch Change Title With Date, Desc and Padded Numbers.

They all work in for me in albums in the sidebar. You might try launching Photos with the Command+Option keys held down and repair the library. Then try again.

I've only tried two: one to batch change the titles to a text entry and the other changes the title to the file name. Both only work in "All Photos." I just repaired the library and get the same result - the scripts still only work in the "All Photos" album.

Jay

Ah sorry Jay - my bad. At least the fail makes more sense now.

Old Toad - I am using BatchChangeTitleWithNumbers. I deleted all of the Services I'd been testing, quit Photos, and logged out and back in. Then I re-downloaded BatchChangeTitleWithNumbers and reinstalled. Because my Photos library is GIGANTIC (380GB) I hesitated to rebuild before testing. I reopened Photos and it still works in All Photos but not in an album I created. Note that my albums are inside folders.

I then bit the bullet and am now rebuilding my Photos Library. I'm currently singing the Jeopardy theme song to myself while I wait.

I loaded a test Aperture 3.6 library into Photos. All of the titles are empty. But I am not aware that Aperture ever used 'Titles'

Seems to me that one should have a choice to display file name or title, but I will have to study why a single file should have a title and a filename. Not persuaded there is much value to two things describing the file.

e2photo wrote:

Not persuaded there is much value to two things describing the file.

There are actually dozens of things describing different aspects of photo files, all defined by global standards bodies like IPTC & ISO's standard 16684-1 (Adobe's XMP).

But I am not aware that Aperture ever used 'Titles'

Aperture "Version Names" correspond to the "Titles" in iPhoto. By default the filename is displayed as the version name of the edited version. Photos will display custom version names entered in Aperture, but not the filenames.