rename clip to match (new) file name

Report · Jun 18, 2017

Hi everyone

to introduce myself and the setup: Dario from Munich, I am on MacOS Sierra 10.12 and Premiere Pro CC 2017.1.1

my issue: renaming clips in Premiere according to the renamed source files.

so far:

- I have found a way to do it in FCP, which does not help me in Premiere.

- But it is good to know that what I am looking for is technically possible. The how-to for FCP is that simple:

Select one or more clips in the FCP Browser.
Choose Modify > Rename > Clip to Match File. Each selected clip is renamed to match its corresponding media file.

- However in Premiere I only found a way to rename media vice-versa - so renaming source files according to the clip names.

Project > Project Manager
Checkbox: Rename Media Files to match clip names...

- Also I found one single discussion where someone mentioned a somewhat complex way using Bridge and CSV charts - pretty manual and somewhat "dangerous"

So unfortunately I am still struggling a little to keep a huge project structured. Thousands of clips, hence a pretty complex naming structure we have not had in place after the first days of shoot for the first few edits. However now working on the full year recap project it's a pain to mix all those clip names with and without proper naming structure and so on.

Thank you for your help - much appreciated!

best

Dario

Report · Aug 24, 2017

I have the same problem last year and I try Batch Rename Files Tool. You can easily found hier BatchRenameFiles.org that allows you to quickly rename all the files in a specified director. It helped me a lot.

Report · Aug 24, 2017

If you Replace the clips in the bins, they should come in with the new file names.

Report · Apr 14, 2019

I have this exact same question, and I see that the replies to this post did not answer your question. I'm sure you found a workaround by now, but it's worth exploring best practices for this sort of situation. I'm currently dealing with a huge project I took over from another editor, and the footage is a huge disorganized mess with a lot of conflicting file names.

Currently the only way I've found to rename source files according to the clip names is to do so manually, and then relink the files manually in Premiere. It's laborious to say the least. Premiere does have a feature that will rename the source files according to the clip names while a project is being transferred to a new location. I'd just do this, but I don't have an extra 4TB of space to do so.

Report · Nov 12, 2020

This feature is LONG overdue! Come on Adobe!

Report · Nov 12, 2020

gotta say I work with extremely complex projects and this is not an issue for me. I make sure that the folder for each source is clearly named and then drag the folder into the project. That said, the option in fcp7 to match file name to clip name or clip name to file name was handy, but it's not make or break. I've been working with computer editing from early avid days and I've learned you can certainly request features but sometimes it's gonna be easier to adjust your workflow to the way it is instead of waiting for the change. and this is also not the forum for feature requests. Although thankfully some adobe employees do participate occasionally you need to do some searching here to find out how to do a feature request. I've never bothered as I'm too busy editing... (forgive the snark... it's been a long week and it's not over).

Report · Sep 16, 2021

I agree! Need this.

Report · Sep 16, 2021

Please post that here where the Adobe engineers read all threads:
https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911233-premiere-pro

Report · Feb 11, 2023

I've taken to media managing my clips to rename, then modify names in finder, relink and replace on the original timeline. It creates more media but we have several editors working on the same projects and this way I can rename files to meet network specs without breaking links for everyone else.

Report · Feb 24, 2024

Just here to bump this up. Seeing as a bunch of folks migrated to Premiere Pro from FCP 7 - where this function was a huge help. Would be great to have this rename feature.

Report · Apr 25, 2025

It's a bit long winded, but copy and pasting a timeline into after effects, and then back into a clean premiere project might be a workaround.