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ugh.
just when i thought i'd had it figured out...
ok, so i devise a plan. perhaps unweildy, but had promise.
i just downloaded a bunch of pics of my camera from sept through yesterday.
i figured my way through a process i figured would work to change the name from dscn##### to something like family_###_date. though ideally it would be family_date(as yyyymmdd)_### (a number that indicates the order taken).
so here's what i have:
an automator script that renames the dcsn#####.jpg files as family_###.
i've made sure to have them ordred in 'modified' order with oldest at the top. i make sure to grab the first with all selected and drag them to the "get specified finder items" in automator. they never seem to move over in order. so, since th dscn numbers are typically in numeric order for when they are shot, i click the "name" bar in automator's "get specified finder items" to mke sure that they are in order from oldest to newest.
then i run the script and of course automator completely ignores the order i've chosen.
then i have an 'add date' automator script, though with this script, i can only seem to add the date to the end, not slip it between the "family" and the "_###".
the problem here is this...
when using other programs, most specifically xee, the files want to display in name order only. so if i rename a batch of files with more than one modified date, as above, the files display out of date order.
also, just for my own obsessiveness, it would be nice if the numbers were in order.
i know wanting a mac to do something like windows is asking the wrong question... but really, it's finder. they are files, whatever thier kind. finder has a rename function. it should be as basic as working doors on a car or the ability to choose the temperature an oven cooks at to have a multiple file rename built seemlessly into an os's default file manager.
so, can anyone else figure out either why automator doesn't care at all what order i choose (really, why even have the option to sort the files in the tool at all if it doesn't affect the order of the task on the files chosen)?
or, is there a better file renaming tool to use for this task besides finder and automator?
just when i thought i'd had it figured out...
ok, so i devise a plan. perhaps unweildy, but had promise.
i just downloaded a bunch of pics of my camera from sept through yesterday.
i figured my way through a process i figured would work to change the name from dscn##### to something like family_###_date. though ideally it would be family_date(as yyyymmdd)_### (a number that indicates the order taken).
so here's what i have:
an automator script that renames the dcsn#####.jpg files as family_###.
i've made sure to have them ordred in 'modified' order with oldest at the top. i make sure to grab the first with all selected and drag them to the "get specified finder items" in automator. they never seem to move over in order. so, since th dscn numbers are typically in numeric order for when they are shot, i click the "name" bar in automator's "get specified finder items" to mke sure that they are in order from oldest to newest.
then i run the script and of course automator completely ignores the order i've chosen.
then i have an 'add date' automator script, though with this script, i can only seem to add the date to the end, not slip it between the "family" and the "_###".
the problem here is this...
when using other programs, most specifically xee, the files want to display in name order only. so if i rename a batch of files with more than one modified date, as above, the files display out of date order.
also, just for my own obsessiveness, it would be nice if the numbers were in order.
i know wanting a mac to do something like windows is asking the wrong question... but really, it's finder. they are files, whatever thier kind. finder has a rename function. it should be as basic as working doors on a car or the ability to choose the temperature an oven cooks at to have a multiple file rename built seemlessly into an os's default file manager.
so, can anyone else figure out either why automator doesn't care at all what order i choose (really, why even have the option to sort the files in the tool at all if it doesn't affect the order of the task on the files chosen)?
or, is there a better file renaming tool to use for this task besides finder and automator?