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rename series of files using excel list?

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
September 13, 2022
5 replies
4977 views

HI!
I have a series of file.jpg,

I have to rename using a series of names present in an excel column, is it possible?

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Lumigraphics

Ok, this is a VERY basic routine to read in a tab-delimited list of files with old name <tab> new name format and rename files in the current folder.

You would need to run it from ESTK or VS Code, or write a wrapper to load it in Bridge and run it via menu. There is no error checking (for illegal filenames and such) and it will happily cause problems with duplicate filenames.

Feel free to use it in your own script. I don't have time at the moment to neaten it up.

    try{
        var renFile = new File('~/Desktop').openDlg('Select Naming Pairs File', '*.txt'); //select naming pairs file
        if(renFile != null){ //open and read in terms file
            renFile.open('r');
            var i = 0;
            var renList = [];
            var renLine = renFile.readln();
            while(renLine != ''){ //read in search terms one line at a time, place in array
                renList[i] = renLine;
                renLine = renFile.readln();
                i = i + 1;
                }
            renFile.close();
            }
        var renParam = [];
        var renFolder = app.document.presentationPath; //current folder
        for(var j = 0; j < renList.length; j++){
            renParam = renList[j].split('\t'); //split old and new names
            if(renParam[0] != '' && renParam[1] != ''){ //both specified
                var renTarget = new Thumbnail(renFolder + '\\' + renParam[0]); //find file
                renTarget.name = (renParam[1]); //rename
                }
            }
        }
    catch(e){ //oops
        alert(e + ' ' + e.line);
        }

Stephen Marsh

Community Expert

I have added the code from @Lumigraphics into a menu-item "Rename from Text File" under the Tools menu. Tested on Bridge 2022 on a Mac.

/*
https://community.adobe.com/t5/bridge-discussions/rename-series-of-files-using-excel-list/td-p/13196186

by Lumigraphics

Ok, this is a VERY basic routine to read in a tab-delimited list of files with old name <tab> new name format and rename files in the current folder.
You would need to run it from ESTK or VS Code, or write a wrapper to load it in Bridge and run it via menu. There is no error checking (for illegal filenames and such) and it will happily cause problems with duplicate filenames.
Feel free to use it in your own script. I don't have time at the moment to neaten it up.

////////// TAB DELIMITED TXT FILE EXAMPLE //////////

oldname1.jpg	new_name-1.jpg
oldname2.jpg	new_name-2.jpg
oldname3.jpg	new_name-3.jpg

////////////////////////////////////////////////////

*/

#target bridge;

if( BridgeTalk.appName == "bridge" ) { 
reNamer = new MenuElement("command", "Rename from Text File", "at the end of tools");
}

reNamer.onSelect = function () { 
    try {
        //select naming pairs file
        var renFile = new File('~/Desktop').openDlg('Select Naming Pairs File', '*.txt');
        //open and read in terms file
        if (renFile != null) {
            renFile.open('r');
            var i = 0;
            var renList = [];
            var renLine = renFile.readln();
            //read in search terms one line at a time, place in array
            while (renLine != '') {
                renList[i] = renLine;
                renLine = renFile.readln();
                i = i + 1;
            }
            renFile.close();
        }
        var renParam = [];
        //current folder
        var renFolder = app.document.presentationPath;
        for (var j = 0; j < renList.length; j++) {
            //split old and new names
            renParam = renList[j].split('\t');
            //both specified
            if (renParam[0] != '' && renParam[1] != '') {
                //find file
                var renTarget = new Thumbnail(renFolder + '/' + renParam[0]);
                //rename
                renTarget.name = (renParam[1]);
            }
        }
    //oops
    } catch (e) {
        alert(e + ' ' + e.line);
    }
}

Open Adobe Bridge, then open Bridge’s preferences dialog
Under Startup Scripts, click the "Reveal My Startup Scripts" button
Copy/Paste or drag-n-drop your .jsx script files into the Startup Scripts folder/directory
Quit and restart Bridge and answer "Yes" to enable the script.

Further information:
https://helpx.adobe.com/bridge/using/adobe-bridge-workspace.html#enable_startup_scripts
https://prepression.blogspot.com/2017/11/downloading-and-installing-adobe-scripts.html

_Aaron_9278756

Known Participant

This script is brilliant! Worked like a charm once I properly formatted the 2 columns in Excel and then exported as tab-delimited text.

Also, lacking file extensions in my Excel rename column, I just used Bridge's built-in Batch Rename capability to add them:

Thank you @Stephen Marsh and @Lumigraphics !

L

LumigraphicsCorrect answer

Legend

Ok, this is a VERY basic routine to read in a tab-delimited list of files with old name <tab> new name format and rename files in the current folder.

You would need to run it from ESTK or VS Code, or write a wrapper to load it in Bridge and run it via menu. There is no error checking (for illegal filenames and such) and it will happily cause problems with duplicate filenames.

Feel free to use it in your own script. I don't have time at the moment to neaten it up.

    try{
        var renFile = new File('~/Desktop').openDlg('Select Naming Pairs File', '*.txt'); //select naming pairs file
        if(renFile != null){ //open and read in terms file
            renFile.open('r');
            var i = 0;
            var renList = [];
            var renLine = renFile.readln();
            while(renLine != ''){ //read in search terms one line at a time, place in array
                renList[i] = renLine;
                renLine = renFile.readln();
                i = i + 1;
                }
            renFile.close();
            }
        var renParam = [];
        var renFolder = app.document.presentationPath; //current folder
        for(var j = 0; j < renList.length; j++){
            renParam = renList[j].split('\t'); //split old and new names
            if(renParam[0] != '' && renParam[1] != ''){ //both specified
                var renTarget = new Thumbnail(renFolder + '\\' + renParam[0]); //find file
                renTarget.name = (renParam[1]); //rename
                }
            }
        }
    catch(e){ //oops
        alert(e + ' ' + e.line);
        }

L

Lumigraphics

Legend

Also note that the backslashes are Windows-specific, good practice is to use forward slashes in ExtendScript. You'd want to fix that.

Stephen Marsh

Community Expert

Both Mac and Windows OS have a native command line feature for this... Presuming that the originals and the new names "line up" and sort correctly, it is easy enough to set this up in a spreadsheet, whether for 3 or 3000 files. Original names on the left, new names on the right. The command would be copied and pasted into Terminal.app or CMD.exe.

Mac (Terminal.app):

mv 'doc-1.ai' 'File One.ai'
mv 'doc-2.jpg' 'File Two.jpg'
mv 'doc-3.tif' 'File Three.tif'

Win (CMD.exe):

ren "doc-1.ai" "File One.ai"
ren "doc-2.jpg" "File Two.jpg"
ren "doc-3.tif" "File Three.tif"

Notice how similar the two methods are. You need to run the command from the directory containing the files, not from the default location. Ensure that Mac single straight quotes and Win double straight quotes don't get reformatted.

Also discussed here:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/bridge-discussions/rename-multiple-files/td-p/12786213

Some Mac only methods here:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5849384

L

Lumigraphics

Legend

If you are already using Excel, you can write some simple VBA code to rename files. And there are bespoke bulk renaming utilities out there as well.

gregreser

Legend

I have been working on script that does this. I still need to test it throughly before sharing.

Here is the workflow:

- Select the files you want to rename
- Open the script and click the "Create List" button. This will generate a CSV list of the current file names
- Open the list of files in a spreadsheet
-- Enter new names in 'New File Name' column
-- Save as CSV file
- Open the script, select the CSV file as the source and click the "Rename Files" button

Does this sound like it would work for you?

There are risks in using a CSV, like misaligning the current and new filenames in the spreadsheet. Just saying, this will require extra care.

L

Lumigraphics

Legend

I have some unpublished work scripts that do parts of this, plus my Folder List Export script saves a list of file names. Shouldn't be hard to cobble it together.

L

Lumigraphics

Legend

You would need to write a script to do so.

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