Export multiple photos with unique names using Excel CSV file

[HilliFrid]

Hi, I'm a teacher and I have to photograph about 200 students each year.  Each photo has to have a unique name, which is the student's ID number.

I have the ID numbers ready in MS Excel and I'm just wondering; is it possible to run the Excel file (probably as CSV file) to name the photos when exporting them?  The plan is that the first photo will get the first name from the Excel file, second photo will get the second name and so on.

Is this possible? If so, please advise how it's done 🙂

If not, is it possible to implement this feature in nearby future 🙂

Best wishes to you all

[DS256]

You will likely need to load the students id into a metadata field before exporting. You can potentially use the plugin LR/Transporter for this.

[johnrellis]

To build on DS256's reply, here's an outline of the necessary steps:

1. In LR, go to the folder or collection holding the photos and do View > Sort > File Name.

2. Use LR/Transporter plugin to export a .csv file containing the file names of the photos.

3. Open the .csv file in Excel, and in the column next to the column of file names, paste the column of IDs. Now there are two columns, File Name and ID.

4. Use the LR/Transporter plugin to import the modified .csv, mapping the ID column to the Title metadata field. This will set each photo's Title to its corresponding ID.

5. In the Export window, select the Rename To option and make a filename template that uses the Title token.  Export the photos with that template.