Organizer does not update changes made in file explorer

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
December 1, 2023
3 replies
256 views

Changed file names in Windows File Explorer. The organizer still shows old names.

Restarting the organizer does not help.

This topic has been closed for replies.

Greg_S.

Community Expert

@Avi33854551n5x3, how are you downloading your files from the camera to your hard drive? The Adobe Photo Downloader allows you to rename your files at the time of download (and you can also place the files into an Album at the same time).

Frankly, I don't bother renaming files. I much prefer the Organizer's tag and search tools to find my files. But it seems to me that the APD has everything you need for that purpose.

Greg_S.

Community Expert

If you are bulk renaming files in Explorer from a single folder, the files will become missing in the Organizer. When you click on such a missing file, the reconnect dialog will come up. If you then Browse to the correct folder and reconnect one of the images, the remaining files in the folder should get reconnected automatically when you scroll through the missing files. This may not happen 100% of the time, and you may have to click the Browse button a couple of times to reconnect the files in a folder. But it is usually fairly efficient.

A

Avi33854551n5x3Author

Participant

Thanks Greg.

I hope you will agree that this undocumented feature/procedure is cumbersome and unreliable.

Adobe programmers should be able to make it simple and transparent like most other organizers.

For example, with Picasa, changes made in another file manager show instantly in Picasa if it is open. Changes will appear correctly updated the next time you open Picasa if it is not running when the changes are made. No user intervention is needed.

Bulk renamer is extremely useful when you are downloading a couple hundred photos at the end of the day. The camera named them something like IMG_12345667899 or P10100228. The renamer allows you to change it to something that starts with a description (such as wedding or Game) followed by the date extracted from the EXIF data followed by the last 4 digits of the original file name. The result will look like Game_20231130_7899. Making that change manually by typing into the Name box in the Elements Organizer will take a very very long time instead of 10 seconds.

Personally, I went back to Picasa as my organizer. This OLD program (last updated in 2013) is a polished organizer where everything works smoothly and intuitively. It is free and can still be downloaded. Get it before it is gone. By the way, Picasa also has a bulk renamer built-in - as should any decent Organizer.

Greg_S.

Community Expert

That's because you should NEVER conduct file management operations outside of the Organizer. You can change file names in the Information Panel of the Organizer:

Changing the name in the Organizer will update the file name in the OS.

A

Avi33854551n5x3Author

Participant

When you need to change multiple file names, doing it in Organizer is slow and difficult.

I normally use a bulk renamer tool (like FastStone) that allows complex operations instantly.

The Organizer should be able to notice changes and update its database. Every other file/image manager I used does that (for example, Picasa, FastStone, ACDSee,...)

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