Where are photo file names?

Chris Lyons wrote:

On a related topic, I tried deleting the newly created filename-as-title and tried the script again. Does not work. Its almost as if once a title is created and then deleted the script "sees" a title and won't overwrite it. Do you have any ideas as to a different script that would erase a previously created title ?

That is exactly what happens. The details are in this post but the bottom line is you need to modify the ifnot (exists (title)) then line of the script as follows:

ifnot (exists (title)) ortitle = "" then

This should fix that problem.

I searched the Photos help, but it only describes the file formats it can export, but not the file formats it can import. with all he supported RAW formats the list of filename extensions will be pretty long, if yu look at the list of supported cameras:

OS X Yosemite: Supported digital camera RAW formats - Apple Support

Inverseroom,

I've been having problems getting a script to work to batch change the titles (see batch title change in photo version 1 ). I saw your comment, above, about selecting the "All Photos" album instead of the Photos tab. I tried it and it worked with the batch change script!

Thanks for the observation,

Jay

Bah, nothing is ever easy. That works fine if you run the script from the script editor, but If I try to wrap it up as part of an automator action in the way that léonie has shown in Script: Batch Changing the Titles to the Filename w/Extension then the use scripting additions clause won't compile, but tell me... end tell seems to work. 😕

tt2

turingtest2 wrote:

Bah, nothing is ever easy. That works fine if you run the script from the script editor, but If I try to wrap it up as part of an automator action in the way that léonie has shown in Photos for Mac: Batch Changing the Titles to the Filename then the use scripting additions clause won't compile, but tell me... end tell seems to work. 😕

Like I said, I really don't understand what's going on with this. Part of my problem is I haven't kept up with the newer additions to the AppleScript language like use statements, so for instance I thought that unless an app had its own scripting library term that could conflict with a StandardAdditions one (like "offset" in the StandardAdditions String Commands suite), there was no need to explicitly declare which terminology to use.

But the current Apple Control Statements Reference doc says this:

If a script uses

use scripting additions

, AppleScript may optimize scripting addition commands, sending them to the current application instead of the current target (

it

) when it does not change the meaning to do so. For example, random number does not need to be sent to another application to work correctly, and will always be sent to the current application when imported with

use

. Without a

use scripting additions

command, AppleScript must use a less efficient dispatching scheme, so explicitly declaring them is recommended.

... so that may not still be true, but since Photos has no "offset" command of its own, maybe it is just a bug in Photos' Applescript implementation that is causing these weird "silent" errors that do not halt the script ... or something. 😕

I did find something that might (partially, maybe, dubiously) explain why the script won't compile wrapped in an Automator action at http://macosxautomation.com/mavericks/usestatement/01.html. If I understand it correctly, it says that if a script contains one or more use statements, then the script must include one for scripting additions. I realize you were doing that, but perhaps it might compile if you added a use application "Photos" statement to force it to use both?

Old Toad wrote:

turingtest2:

I modified the script from your last post (which doesn't show up for me here - was it pulled for some reason?) to add several other extensions:

set exclude to ".jpeg.jpg.mov.png.tif.tiff.psd.nef.dng.cr2" -- Extensions to exclude from the image titles

set include to ".cr2" -- Extensions to include in the image titles

I've tested it with psd, nef, dng and cr2 files successfully. It didn't work with the .cr2 files unless I added it to the first line.

V1.3 should be here: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Where are photo file names?

Do you mean you needed to add .cr2 into the exclusion list before it would be force added by the inclusion list? That shouldn't be necessary but I just tried a little test and ran into the issue R C-R has mentioned about sometimes needing to close and reopen Photos to get current data from the database.

tt2

Your script does nothing because you set the title to the name of the selected image ("im" in the script repeat loop) & then tested for it not existing in the "if not (exists (title)) then" step. Because of that, it will always exist (even if the name is the empty text string "") & the name won't be changed.

You might try léonie's Batch Changes in Photos for Mac: Change the titles to a Given String Automator service -- it looks like it does what you want without the need for any modifications.

I had a huge iPhoto library where all image titles were set by naming the files before import. None of these titles were migrated to Photos.

I solved the problem with a different approach. I dug into the database files of iPhoto and Photos. They have a relation called RKVersion which stores all information about images, including name, file name and UUID. In iPhoto, all versions have a name attribute, but after the Photos migration, only a few of my images had them. According to an Apple support article, https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204478 , only user-defined titles are migrated. That information seems to be correct, since the very few titles that were migrated for me, were ones I had set in iPhoto instead of by naming the files. I tried to find any sort of "user-defined title" attribute in the iPhoto database, but without any luck. Maybe someone else can find it and if so, that attribute probably just needs to be set to True for all images before the iPhoto library is migrated and then all image titles will be migrated - including those that are equal to the file name.

Anyhow, I wrote a Python script that goes through the databases of the old and new libraries and tries to find matching UUIDs. Where it does, it copies over the image title from the old to the new. Unfortunately, many UUIDs are changed in the migration, so for me it only found matches for 37 % of the images. Therefore, I added a function to the script that sets all remaining titles in the new library based on file names. All file extensions are excluded and titles are only created if current titles are empty. The script also lets you run only one of the two functions if you want. The script took just a couple of seconds to add titles to 15 000 of my images.

The script makes a backup of both databases before running. I have tested it but not thoroughly, so proceed with caution. Feel free to expand it or improve it. And please respond if you find a way to mark titles as user-defined in the iPhoto database, since that would be the real solution instead of this workaround.

----------

PhotosTitleSetter

Migrates image titles from an iPhoto library to a Photos library. Can set titles based on file names if no old titles are found.

Instructions:

Make sure to quit both iPhoto and Photos

Download the PhotosTitleSetter.py script from: https://github.com/Rajje/PhotosTitleSetter

Open a new Terminal window

Type "python " including the space at the end

Drag the script to the Terminal window and then press the return or enter key

The script will run and display further instructions

ALWAYS have several backups of any important files. Make especially sure to back up both photo libraries before running this script. The author of this script takes no responsibility for any damage on any files or for any of the actions of this script.

had a huge iPhoto library where all image titles were set by naming the files before import. None of these titles were migrated to Photos.

You could have saved your self a lot of work by using the Applescript/Automator workflow created by léonie and posted in the Photos for Mac User Tips. It is called Photos for Mac: Batch Changing the Titles to the Filename. It gets the file name of each photo selected and enters it into the Title field below the thumbnail.

Old Toad wrote:

You could have saved your self a lot of work by using the Applescript/Automator workflow created by léonie and posted in the Photos for Mac User Tips. It is called Photos for Mac: Batch Changing the Titles to the Filename. It gets the file name of each photo selected and enters it into the Title field below the thumbnail.

Except that léonie's & any other similar methods based on Applescript are often slow or unreliable for large scale changes & rely on what appears to be a somewhat buggy Applescript implementation in this first version of Photos.

e2photo wrote:

All of my Aperture images have Version Names in the Photo Info Box which are identical to the filename.

By default the filename will be substituted for the "Version Name" (which, as léonie said is equivalent to the title) in Aperture, just as in iPhoto. But it isn't actually a title, just something both apps do that obscures the very real difference between the title of a photo & the name of the file it is stored in.

R-C-R... I am absolutely sure you are correct, BUT why force me to use 'Titles' when the filename is sufficient for my purpose. Why not give me the option to display the information most useful to me?

Consider the broader question: Why would you not want to take advantage of the benefits of global metadata standards that are already in wide use & will only become increasingly more important in the future to make possible new ways of using & managing all the info in your photo files?

Filenames are not stored in photo files like titles & all the other IPTC/XMP/Exif metadata. They don't even tell you or the operating system where a file is stored -- for that, the full pathname is required. Together with the restrictions on filenames & pathname lengths in different file systems & operating systems, there is no guarantee they will be preserved or even usable if the file is moved, copied, or uploaded to anything not using the OS or file system of the original storage device.

IOW, they are neither very portable nor future-proof. Sooner or later, any organizational method based on them will fail to support new features built into new applications, at least some of which you probably will not be happy about being unable to use.

But, considering all of that, if you still want Photos to obscure the difference between filenames & titles, let Apple know about it, using the form at https://www.apple.com/feedback/photos.html. Chances are not that great that they will add that but it can't hurt to request it.

Hello Léonie,

I'm trying to use the script you wrote here Script: Batch Changing the Titles to the Filename w/Extension

But I get an error message...

I'm using a French MacOS. Maybe is there something to change in the script due to localization?

Thanks

I just want to manage and view my own photos on my own computer.

Ok - that is what iPhoto does - actually quiet well

I can't sort,

You can sort - you just have extremely limited sort options

I can't organize my images

Sure you can - you have an automatic organization with Moments and you can organize with as much detail as you want using Keywords, albums and folders

I can't find help on anything

Photos has a decent Help section - have you used it? What is missing form it that you need?

but how to share my images

Click on the Share icon - the rectangle with an up arrow in it - lots of share options there - if wha you want is not there check in the system references under extensions and enable the ones you want

point me to the menu item with the same name

No idea what you want there

Can I get iPhoto back?

No need - it is not gone - it is in your Applications folder - use it (you need version 9.6.1 - if you were not up to date see Can't Update iPhoto because it is not available in the App Store

As to an alternative - nothing else comes close in overall capability for the price - LightRoom is a much more powerful system at a much higher price - Media View is another people have posted

Most of your complaints are incorrect so Basically you need to calm down, learn Photos and ask specific questions giving details or you need to find and use a different package - and no one can do that for you - you have to do it

LN

Thank you, LN, I do appreciate it. It seems to me that we are in agreement about the features I need and don't have, but it may not seem to be so.

I just want to manage and view my own photos on my own computer.

Ok - that is what iPhoto does - actually quiet well

AL - Yes, except that iPhoto is no longer supported, and obviously has a limited lifetime. I need a photo editor for the rest of my life that is maintained. Apple has chose Photos, not iPhoto.

I can't sort,

You can sort - you just have extremely limited sort options

AL: That is exactly the problem. I have 22,000+ scanned images, all dated with the scan date, not the photo date. The actual photo date (year, month) is in the filename. I need to sort by filename. as I can't, I copied the filename into the title successfully (thanks to this discussion), but that does not solve the sort problem either.

I can't organize my images

Sure you can - you have an automatic organization with Moments and you can organize with as much detail as you want using Keywords, albums and folders

AL: I don't have any keywords at all. I have the iPhoto events (folders) that contain one year's images. I can sort the folders, but cannot sort the images inside the folders by filename, as I could in iPhoto.

I can't find help on anything

Photos has a decent Help section - have you used it? What is missing form it that you need?

AL: I looked for help on "albums", and wrote that into the search box. It returns a picture of the location of the "albums" menu item, but contains no information about albums, specifically on sorting them. I also found that if I create a smart album, which gives me more than what I want (the search parameters do not allow for boolean searches, only "one of, or all". If I delete an image from an iPhoto album, it also deletes the image in the library. Help provides no insight to this problem.

but how to share my images

Click on the Share icon - the rectangle with an up arrow in it - lots of share options there - if wha you want is not there check in the system references under extensions and enable the ones you want

AL: I don't want to share with any on-line service, I just want to edit images on my own computer. Many of the help items are about sharing on-line.

point me to the menu item with the same name

No idea what you want there

AL: see my note two items ago

Can I get iPhoto back?

No need - it is not gone - it is in your Applications folder - use it (you need version 9.6.1 - if you were not up to date see Get iPhoto 9.6.1 if you didn't update before OS X 10.10.3

AL: see my first note. Yes, I can, but it's not supported anymore, according to Apple, I just checked it: check out a MacWorld article: http://www.macworld.com/article/2375212/apple-retires-aperture-and-iphoto-to-be- replaced-with-photos-for-os-x.html . A search for the answer to this question produced no results on the Apple website. I believe Apple also announces that on first use of Photos, maybe when it asks if iPhoto should be imported. And yes, iPhoto is up to date.

As to an alternative - nothing else comes close in overall capability for the price - LightRoom is a much more powerful system at a much higher price - Media View is another people have posted

AL: I did use LightRoom several years ago, that is a good suggestion. However, if I can fix the Apple problem, that's better.

Most of your complaints are incorrect so Basically you need to calm down, learn Photos and ask specific questions giving details or you need to find and use a different package - and no one can do that for you - you have to do it

AL: Please note that each my issues is an Apple documented feature. The problem is not "calm down", the problem is that the way that I have been photo editing for many years (by filename) is a feature that was removed from Photos. I have learned Photos, went through all the lessons, and exercised every one of them. Only after I do my homework, do I go to any form for help and trouble other people. I really do appreciate your attention and trouble in answering, but I do see that extracting a few words out of sentences can yield out of context interpretation.

If you read the documentation on Photos, it is strongly focused on sorting "the way you take pictures, by the date and time of taking the picture" (paraphrased). The stated assumption is that all images have a time and location stamp on them. That does not apply to any film images taken from the 1800's to about the 2000's. Trying to invent a time and location for each of the 22,000+ images, so that Photos can sort them is not reasonable.

Summary: I believe that the only answer with Apple software is to adopt Photos, and either wait for, or write my own code to sort the information the way I need to in Photos.

Much appreciated.

AL

@alazo

OK

basically you have two choices - use iPhoto for a while and see if Photos comes around or change to different software

Photos is better than iPhoto in many areas and not as good in others - El Captainwill resolve some of these shortcomings and over time maybe all will be - maybe not

If iPhoto work for you now then use it and see what the future holds - it neither iphoto nor Photos works for you now then pick different software

All we can do i tell you what Photos is - we can not change it

and ov course it is important for you to tell Apple what you want - https://www.apple.com/feedback/photos.html - as the more requests they get the more likely they are to include the change you need

LN