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Question

File SAVE AS behavior

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
October 18, 2022
5 replies
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PSE 2021 file naming issue: Editing a series of related photos, I name the first one when I "save as". That name should appear automatically when I "SAVE AS" the next photo and append a unique word to differentiate the file.

Example: First photo is saved as "Birthday Party May12-cake". Saving the second photo should bring up that text onn the file name line/field and all I have to do is to change the word cake to, say, "balloons". That's been the behavior w/all edition of elements I have ever used.
Now, however, when I SAVE AS, the expected text flashes on the file line for a half a second, disappears and I have to retype everything. The only place I can think of to check for a behavior like this is Preferences and there's no preference that might affect the SAVE AS action. It's a small but significant annoyance. Any clues out there? Anyone have the same issues?

Problem or error

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Greg_S.

Community Expert

@MichelBParis said:

If I click on the v icon on the far right of the file name line box, I get a drop-down menu of a list of the 20 or so last names entered in that line.

Michel, I think you have latched on to what the OP is referring to. If not, it provides another workaround for his desired workflow. My guess is that the text flashing on the screen is simply a delay while the program is redrawing the text box and adding the last used name to the most recently used file names.

J

joela64476220Author

Participating Frequently

Wish that were so. Pulling down the "v" reveals the full path name (i.e. REALLY long name) plus more info on previous files. And adds confusion. I tried it as we discussed this and it's not a workaround or workable.
Here's one more piece I omitted: When I save as, the file name first shows as the orig file name (img.xxxx for example) and it's highlighted in blue. I enter the desired name as described earlier which overwrites the original file name. On subsequent save as, I only had to type the first letter of the desired name (I gave "PRJC" as the example above, so I would type P) and the whole file name of the previously saved file would pop up in a box that appeared below the file name field. I'd select it and be on my way per the above.
I suspect we have beaten this ccritter enough. I also suspect that deep in the registry there is a zero that ought to be a one and we shall have to let it lie. You've both been devoted in an effort to help

Greg_S.

Community Expert

@joela64476220, thanks for clarifying your workflow. I can't imagine that Elements would ever adopt the naming convention you suggest. Imagine that I want to edit 2 photos that I have taken at the zoo. The orginal files taken from the camera are named Img 1.jpg and Img 2.jpg. I edit Img 1 and save it as Lion.jpg. I then edit Img 2 which I want to Save As Tiger.jpg. It would make no sense to have the file name populated with Lion.jpg.

Frankly, I don't name most of my files by their subject matter. Instead, I am quite happy with saving Img 1.jpg as Image 1-edited.jpg and using keyword tagging, and more recently Smart Tags, to find my files. I understand your desired workflow and I have offered you a suggestion to achieve it, but I can think of a number of other reasons why it would not work for most Elements users. And I am reasonably confident that Save As has never worked as you suggest in any prior version. Now, I know almost nothing about Macs so my confidence does not extend to that OS. But I would still be surprised if it did.

In addition to the suggestion I have already made (to select the prior edited file in the Save As dialog and the file name will populate the text box), you could also select and copy the desired template text when you edit the first photo and paste it in the text box for all subsequent Save As names. Of course, this assumes that you don't use a copy and paste operation while editing.

MichelBParis

Legend

Hi Greg,

I was ready to post a similar answer saying that in my opinion the described workflow would have been a bug smartly used by @joela64476220 to solve his renaming batches. If so, a change in the behavior of recent versions might have been a bug fixing among others...

I also understand that, for users not using the organizer, it's useful to have similar tips and workarounds.

Just out of curiosity, I would have been happy to test that idea with older versions of Elements.

J

joela64476220Author

Participating Frequently

A response to GReg and Michel (with thanks to their persistent efforts to help):
Michel: I am absolutely certain the feature I enjoyed wasn't a bug. I could be wrong (and often may be) but I haven't seen any upgrades unless they were done without notice. Maybe Adobe does them quietly without letting the user know upgrades are taking place. Upgrades have not been my experience and not during the period when this unwanted behavbior commenced.
Next, it's not batches that I want to rename - that can be done easily via FILES>PROCESS MULTIPLE FILES
GHREG: QUoting - "... I edit Img 1 and save it as Lion.jpg. I then edit Img 2 which I want to Save As Tiger.jpg. It would make no sense to have the file name populated with Lion.jpg..." Exactly - no sense in the case cited. But you saw my example of a long file name ahead of the one or two words I want to change. A name, a date, another name. It's a PITA to retype and Elements used to make that easy by filling irt all in for me so all I had to do was retype the last two words.
There used to be another part of the behavior that I haven't described before. That is when invoking SAVE AS, a box would appear below the file name field with the most recently edited files displayed. I could click on one of those names and it would display in the name field. It was a feature enjoyed too long to have been a bug. But I will grant this -- there could have been an update not apparent to me where a code change elsehwere in the very complex edit software could have inadvertently effected (afflicted may be better) my little corner of the PSE world. If I still kept my PSE 14 or 9, I'd reinstall and compare but every so many decades I houseclean.That DOS stuff don't work so good no more.

Greg_S.

Community Expert

Or are you saying that you are editing the named cake photo to focus on the balloons and you then want to rename (save as) the second edit with the balloons name?

J

joela64476220Author

Participating Frequently

I suspect I'm not communicating so I will be more specific after making certain we recognize it's not the content of the image (cakes vs balloons, for example) that concerns me.
This is the traditional behavior:I put a series of pics in the bin for an editing session. One is named IMG 1, then IMG 2, and so forth. I then edit the first shot and SAVE AS: "JAzz Jam Session 221018 Trumpet Jones". The shot is saved in the appropriate folder. Next I edit IMG 2 and select SAVE AS , whereupon the file name field populates as above, "Jazz Jam Session 221018 Trumpet Jones" and I merely change the file name's last part to PIano Smith , saving me the job of filling out the entire for each edited shot.
Suddenly, things changed. Now, when I SAVE AS, the name Jazz Jam Session etc just flashes in the file name field, disappears and I have to manually fill out the whole name for each image.
?

J

joela64476220Author

Participating Frequently

(I tried to edit my post above and couldn't --wanted to make clear that I am not trying to re-edit, as per one of the replies, any shot. This is about naming a series of shot edits and trying to keep the leading part of the filename the same and changing only its tail end.

Greg_S.

Community Expert

I agree with Michel. I don't think you are describing any intended behavior of any version of Elements. What I suspect you are describing is a situation where, when you are asked for a name, you are selecting the Cake photo from the File Explorer window, and its name is then used to populate the Save As file name box. You can then edit this file name to your desired one. Whether or not that is what you are describing, it will at least allow you to do what you want to do.

MichelBParis

Legend

Example: First photo is saved as "Birthday Party May12-cake". Saving the second photo should bring up that text onn the file name line/field and all I have to do is to change the word cake to, say, "balloons". That's been the behavior w/all edition of elements I have ever used.

By @joela64476220

Joel,

I have used nearly all PSE versions (Windows) and I have NEVER seen such behavior.

J

joela64476220Author

Participating Frequently

Nor have I seen this in any version of PSE or PS full.

Joel Albert

Jralbert37@gmail.com

MichelBParis

Legend

Nor have I seen this in any version of PSE or PS full.Joel AlbertJralbert37@gmail.com
By @joela64476220

So, you mean that all the Elements versions you have used have shown that behavior?

"Example: First photo is saved as "Birthday Party May12-cake". Saving the second photo should bring up that text onn the file name line/field and all I have to do is to change the word cake to, say, "balloons". That's been the behavior w/all edition of elements I have ever used."

Could you tell which PSE versions? Do you still have one of those installed in your computer?

Michel

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