Renaming photos
Rename a selection from a pattern, with a preview and a way back to the original names.
Rename a selection
- Select the photos, then click Rename… in the bar at the bottom.
- Type a pattern, or click the tokens above the box to insert them. For example
{date}_{location}_{seq}gives names like20240615_Lisbon_001.RAF. - Check the preview: every photo’s current name and new name.
- Click Rename … photos.
The file extension is kept as it is. Numbers from {seq} follow the library’s current sort order, so sort by capture time first for numbering in shooting order.
Tokens
| Token | Becomes |
|---|---|
{date} | Capture date, as 20240615 |
{time} | Capture time, as 184313 |
{make} | Camera maker, as FUJIFILM |
{lens} | First word of the lens name, as XF23mmF2 |
{location} | Town or city from the photo's place name; GeoTagged if it has GPS but no place name yet; NoLocation without GPS |
{keyword} | The photo's first keyword; untagged if it has none |
{orig} | The current filename, without its extension |
{seq} | A running number in the current sort order, as 001 |
Hover a token in the dialog to see this description there too.
Clashing names
If two photos would get the same name, the clashing rows turn red, a warning appears, and the rename can’t go ahead until the names are unique. Adding {seq} always fixes it.
Getting the original names back
Renaming changes the files on disk, so ExifXplorer keeps each photo’s first name inside its metadata (as PreservedFileName, the standard field for this), however many times you rename it later. A photo’s XMP sidecar, if it has one, is renamed with it.
Right after a rename, the toast’s Undo (or ⌘ Z) puts the previous names back.