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jvarghese
Participant
April 15, 2026

P: File renaming sequence applied incorrectly

  • April 15, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 24 views

At some point over the past few months, Lightroom updated the Filename options on export and completely broke how sequential filenaming worked. I’ve noticed each of the following behavior changes.

In 2025 and Prior:

  • When exporting a sufficient number of photos at once, Lr would automatically add leading zeros. (EXAMPLE: If exporting at least 10 photos, the first photos would sequence as 01, 02, 03, etc., if exporting at least 100, the first photos would sequence as 001, 002, 003, etc.)
  • When executing multiple exports at different times, Lr would recall the previously used filename AND remember what the last used sequence number was (EXAMPLE: After exporting 15 photos with the Custom Name - Sequence defined as “PhotoName” with a starting number of “1,” if another export was later begun, the options would be preloaded with “PhotoName” still in the Custom Name field and the starting number would update to “16.”

Now, when using Lightroom, both of these behaviors are completely broken.

  • No matter how many photos are exported, the first exported filenames in a sequence will not have leading zeros, creating significant issues with ordinal file management. (EXAMPLE: The first 11 suffixes of an export batch, no matter the size of the batch, will be -1, -2, -3, -4, -5, -6, -7, -8, -9, -10, -11. As a result, sorting files by name, which is forced in some softwares, results in an order of -1, -10, -11, -2, -3, -4, etc.)
  • The option fields in the Export panel are reset at every export. Whenever a new export is started, Lr does recall which type of filenaming scheme was used, but the fields are reset to “Untitled” for Custom Name and “1” for starting number, regardless of what was previously used. (Not only does this add the extra step of re-inputting the custom name, and any typos will destroy consistency, but it also requires the user to go back and manually recall / find what the next sequence number would be)
File Name Options Pane in the Lightroom Export Panel

I can’t find any reason for why these behaviors would be intentionally changed, so I am certain this must be a bug. Sequential Filenaming used to be such a breeze in Lightroom that I never even thought of it because it worked so well, and now the whole workflow is completely ruined!

1 reply

Rikk Flohr_Photography
Community Manager
April 16, 2026

Greetings, can you please confirm the problem still occurs in the 9.3 release (yesterday). 

 

Thank you!

Rikk Flohr: Adobe Photography Org
jvarghese
jvargheseAuthor
Participant
April 17, 2026

Hi Rikk,

Yes, I can confirm the issue persists in the 9.3 release. The behaviors are all the same as I listed out, with one exception. In 9.3, The “Custom Name” field when using “Custom Name - Sequence” filenaming once again remembers the most recent name used. For multiple exports, the name is no longer reset between each batch to “Untitled.” The numbering, however, is still reset to a “Start Number” of “1” for each batch, and leading zeroes are still never used, regardless of the number of photos selected in the batch.

 

Thanks!