Bridge 2024 losing file extensions and no preview after batch rename

[Jeferson S.]

Hello everyone,

I need some assistance, please!

After renaming a batch of files, I noticed that the file extensions were missing and I am no longer able to preview them. 

I am using Bridge version 14.0.0.012 on a Mac. I have attached some screenshots for reference. This is my first time using Bridge and I am worried that I have lost all the files that were renamed.

Your help is greatly appreciated. Thank you and have a great day!

[Jeferson S.]

To provide additional information, I am able to view the preview of photos through Bridge; however, I cannot view the preview when I access the original folder where the files are stored. As for videos, I am unable to view the preview or open the files in both Bridge and the original folder.

[gregreser · Accepted solution]

Don't worry, you haven't lost your files. Somehow the file extensions were removed in your batch rename. 

You can restore the file extensions by running batch rename again using Current Filename and New Extension.

For Current Filename, try setting it to Name. Check the preview at the bottom to make sure it's correct. If the preview does not show the name use Name + Extension 

The challenge is that you have to do a batch for each file type. 

[Jeferson S.]

@gregreser thank you very much for taking the time to share the solution! I didn't know each file type for the folder with videos, and I know there were .mov, mp4, etc., but I renamed all of them as .mov, and it seemed to work. 

If you don't mind me asking, how can I rename them again using date time - date created without messing this up again?

[gregreser]

@Jeferson S. renaming all the video files as .mov might casue a problem later, but I'm not sure. Maybe someone else can chime in if they know. If it is a problem, I might be able to help put them back to what they were.

The missing file extension is a little unpredictable. I haven't been able to make it happen today. Can you send a screenshot of your batch rename settings that casued it?

[Jeferson S.]

@gregreser, thanks for your help! I'm sharing the screenshots of the batch rename settings that caused the issue. 

To fix the issues with the photos, I renamed all of them just by adding .jpg at the end of New Filenames under the Text field and it seems to work. Thanks to you, I have all the videos back, but the filenames are completely random. I wonder if there is a way I can recover the original metadata with the proper created date.

I appreciate your help 🙂

[gregreser]

The 1904.01.01 is sometimes added when the real date is invalid or unknown.

What date would you expect for the example screenshot you shared? Is it the Created Date shown in Finder 2023.09.02?

We need to find out if the file metadata has the correct date saved in a different field so we can copy it to the right field for Batch rename.

Let's see what dates are in the XMP:

Select an MOV file

- Open File Info  (Cmd + i)

- Click on "Raw Data" (in the list of panels on the left side)
- Select all of the XMP data then copy and paste that text it into a reply here

Also, what are the dates shown in Bridge File Properties?

[Jeferson S.]

Hey @gregreser, sorry for the late reply. I missed the notification.

I was expecting to see the created date, but the screenshot I previously shared had the wrong data.

The attached screenshot exemplifies it better: the file was renamed as 1904.01.01, Bridge File Properties shows it was created on 2023.09.02, and Raw Data shows the correct date, which is 2021.09.07.

I'm unsure how to rename using the Raw Data information - I would appreciate it if you have any suggestions or workaround. I need to rename 5,000+ files. Thanks in advance!

[gregreser]

Hi @Jeferson S. it is possible to rename the files using the xmpDM:logComment value, but that field is not necessarily a date field. I would first do some analysis to see if that data is correct and to see if the creation date might be stored elsewhere, such as the device EXIF data. This data is different than the XMP metadata.

I would look at ExifTool. It's a command line tool but is is very versatile, powerful and fast. 

ExifTool

MacOS installation 

First, you could simply read all the metadata from a few sample files to see what date metadata they contain.

To read metadata from a file:

1. Launch the Terminal application from your /Applications/Utilities folder.
2. Type "exiftool" followed by a SPACE in the Terminal window.
3. Drag and drop files and folders on the Terminal window.
   (This saves you typing the full path names of the files/folders.)
4. Press RETURN to view the metadata from the files you dropped.

You could also export a list of all the files and their dates to be sure it is consistent.

I would recommend changing the 1904 date in XMP with the real date. This should be easy with ExifTool

Finally, you could rename the files with ExifTool or the Bridge batch rename using the corrected XMP Date Created.

[Jeferson S.]

@gregreser thank you very much! I truly appreciate it 🙂 

[Stephen Marsh]

The following solution works for missing file extensions where there's a mix of different file types:

https://prepression.blogspot.com/2017/09/exiftool-automatically-adding-missing.html