Batch rename with individual names?

[debras42709822]

I have (repeatedly) 180 individual PDFs named with student names. I need to replace the student name with the student username. I downloaded Creative Cloud and Bridge hoping that I could do this, but have been unsuccessful. Can I do this with Bridge?

Thanks,  Deb

[kglad]

if win, How to Batch Rename Multiple Files in Windows

if mac, How to Batch Rename Multiple Files in OS X Yosemite

[moved from Adobe Creative Cloud to Bridge General Discussion]

[Stephen Marsh]

You may find the following blogposts useful, particularly the list of 3rd party PDF renaming apps:

Prepression: Splitting PDF Files to Variable File Names

Or perhaps Acrobat Pro scripting:

Prepression: Splitting PDF File Names from a .CSV Source

Good luck!

[Stephen Marsh]

It may not be possible in Bridge, however that is currently unknown as the forum has no idea of what the student name is and what their username is.

For example:

Darth Vader.pdf (student name)

Sith-Lord.pdf (student username)

But how would you inform Bridge of where the username should come from? Is it in the PDF as metadata? As text content? ???

Please provide more detailed information so that the forum can help you.

[debras42709822]

Thanks Stephen.  Here's what I have. 180 individual PDFs, each named for the student whose record they contain. Each PDF has 2 pages. Unfortunately it does not contain the username. The number in the filename is generated by the exam company and is not a constant, so I can't really use it.

Smith_jim_4937234.pdf

Jones_Susan_0832345.pdf

Patel_Paul_49734565.pdf

In a spreadsheet (whatever format you like - excel, csv, txt) I can have whatever fields I need- last name, first name, username, ID#, etc. The usernames are alphanumeric:

smithj2

jonessusan

ppatel54

etc. Is that any help?

[Stephen Marsh]

This is not a task for Bridge’s Batch Rename tool.

There are likely OS based scripting/programming methods to do what you wish. For a more user friendly approach, I would look into third party file rename tools or the PDF programs or scripting options listed in the links in my blogposts mentioned in post #3.

Try a web search using the search term:

rename files from spreadsheet

Which returns a result such as this one for MS Windows and MS Excel:

https://benholland.me/tutorials/2011/11/11/rename-multiple-files-using-excel-in-windows.html

or a utility such as:

https://www.advancedrenamer.com/user_guide/csvimport

I would be surprised if there were not equivalent approaches on the Mac OS.

[debras42709822]

Thanks Stephen.

D

Debra L. Schindler, PhD

Director, Program Evaluation

Assistant Professor, Pediatrics

[Personal information removed by moderator.]

[Stephen Marsh · Accepted solution]

When I said:

This is not a task for Bridge’s Batch Rename tool.

It is of course possible, but is it practical, particularly so for 180 student names? The following presumes an ongoing need to do this which would make the task of the setup worthwhile. I don’t even know if there is a limit to the number of items one can string together in the Batch Rename GUI…

P.S. One would still need to take care if two or more students had exactly the same spelling for their names.

[debras42709822]

Thank you.

Deb

[Stephen Marsh]

Thank you Deb, good luck and please let the forum know which method you used to rename all 180 PDF files.

[debras42709822]

I'm afraid I didn't use any of the suggested methods. The owner of software into which I was loading the PDFs that had to be renamed made an adjustment to the file upload process. That adjustment allowed me to upload the PDFs without renaming them. Since I have to do this multiple times over the course of every academic year (the individual PDFs get attached to individual student records) it was more efficient to change the process than to rename all those files every time I needed to upload them. Thanks for the help anyway- I learned a lot that I may be able to use in other situations.  Deb