Found a solution for batch file name change in Lightroom Classic for Mac

[Dechilito]

Until now I have been unable to batch change file names  in Lightroom Classic for the Mac. But today. I found a way. I needed to export 100 files with some changes to the same folder as the originals and I had to add a unique name (filename-2), which I needed to delete after deleting the originals. So I went to the folder in the finder where the files were and selected all of them. Then I clicked at the circle with three dots (Perform taskas with selected items) and clicked on the Rename tag. I was presented with a regular find and replace dialog and the rest was easy. Hope this helps other people with this. Be well.

{Moved from Lightroom Cloud to Lightroom Classic Forum by Moderator} 

[Rob_Cullen]

Why are you "unable"? Do you see error messages? Does nothing happen?

It should not require that complicated work-around!

1) In GRID View, select all the photo thumbnails to rename [Cmd+A, Ctrl+A]

2) Press F2  , or MENU > Library > Rename Photos...

3) Choose a suitable Preset

4) Press [OK]

If there is not a suitable Preset- Define your own by editing in the 'Filename Template Editor'.

If you are exporting derivative files from the originals then you can also simply use a Rename Preset in the export dialog.

[Conrad_C]

It's nothing new, it sounds like the standard Rename command in the macOS Finder. Even before Apple added that useful command, it has long been possible to do it using any number of Mac batch renaming applications, and more recently, in Adobe Bridge too.

Because the Finder Rename command renames out in the file system, this technique has the same flaw as all of the other solutions above: If the files are currently cataloged in Lightroom Classic, renaming them outside of Lightroom Classic breaks all of their last known path links that the catalog uses to track those images, and it will think they are missing. Because Lightroom Classic doesn't notice file system changes made outside the catalog

This might not be a problem for you, if the exported images are not cataloged, and don't need to be. No link, no problem. 

But, for example, if you had selected the export option Add to Catalog, now all your catalog links to the exports would be broken by the external batch rename.

The solution everyone is looking for is a way for Lightroom Classic to have batch file rename that supports Find and Replace, like Adobe Bridge does, and being built-in, it could also update all catalog file links. Right now, that can be done only using a plug-in.

[KostFan2]

@Conrad_C 
I created a "Clear All Fields" Metadata preset. However, when I apply it nothing happens.
Apply Process: The Metadata Panel/Replace metadata/Clear All fields
I created an Append metadata preset and that runs fine.
Thought I would check about this with you.  Thank you

[Conrad_C]

It’s unclear how your question is related to the subject of this thread. Were you trying to use the metadata presets to do a bulk rename of filenames?

Also, I don’t think Replace/Append is a command name in Lightroom Classic, but they're used for metadata presets in Adobe Bridge and Photoshop. In Lightroom Classic, you control replace/append by whether or not you selected a checkbox for a metadata item. Are you doing this in Lightroom Classic or Adobe Bridge/Photoshop?

[KostFan2]

Conrad:  Sorry, misread.  I may have to start a new post

[Dechilito]

I'm sorry that I wasn't clear in what my problem was. Of course I knew about batch renaming within Lightroom but this method does not solve my problem. It’s OK for all the phots I've taken with my digital cameras. I use this preset (filename-[sequence #(01)] and that's it. 

My problem surfaces when I digitize my extensive collection of analog files  The negatives are saved as strips of six negatives each, up to seven strips per roll (whenever I loaded a few more frames). The negatives generally came with frame numbers from 1 to 44. To save money I bought film in bulk which not always came with frame numbers. As I cut the film and loaded it into cassettes the resulting roll would not always start with the number 1. Many times it started anywhere between the numbers 1 and 44. So if a roll had 36 pictures the first frame number could be, for example, number 42. That means that the first 3 frames would be 42, 43, 44. Then it would star again with number 1 until it reached the end, which in this example would be 33.

To keep the original order of the roll I used this system : filename-image # 01[sequence # 01]. This would give something like this example 19720826-15[23], which was fine whenever there was only one roll (or less) for the subject, If there were more than one roll the first one would be 19720826A-11[33], the second roll would be 19720826B-11[23] and so on. If needed, this makes it easy to locate the precise frame if and when it’s needed. 

So, using the same examples as above, I could (and did more than once, so sue me) forget to put the A to the name of the first roll and not realize until all three rolls were numbered (rolls B and C correctly). To add the A to the first roll would require doing it one by one. And there is no way to do it in Lightroom Classic. There is even a work-around plug-in (findreplace.Irplugin) that allows this but only in the Lightroom catalog, the original files are unchanged, which does not work at all for me.

Using the Finder find/replace allows adding the letter A by finding -[ and replacing it with A-[. Of course I have to synchronize the folder again, not that terrible a task. 

I hope this clarifies the problem and I’m deeply sorry for not being more clear in my original post. Also sorry for the length of this post. 

Finally my most sincere thanks to all the took the time to answer. 

Be well all.