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Changing file names
locoboy - 8/5/08 at 07:27 AM

When i transfer pictures from my camera to my pc it gives them a sequencial file name as most do.

When i right click on the file once its in a folder in my PC and select rename i get this come up

"If you change a file name extension, the file may become unusable.
Do you want to change it?"

If i select yes then sure enough it becomes unusable and my picture dissapears.

Any ideas on getting round this as having non sensical file names is doing my head in!

02GF74 - 8/5/08 at 07:39 AM

files from my camera are transnferred without changing the name; and like yours, he camera allocates a meaningless sequential name.

the only way I know of chaging the names of a bunch of files is to write a batch file to use the rename comand. (there may be other ways but I know not of them)

madmandegge - 8/5/08 at 07:53 AM

You need to leave the .jpeg or .jpg or whatever at the end of the name, without that the computer doesn't know what to do with the file!

madmandegge - 8/5/08 at 07:55 AM

And if you can't see anything at the end of the name, you may need to change an option in windows.

Open My Computer, then click "Tools" > "Folder Options" > "View"

From here untick the "Hide extensions for known file types" box, this should show you the bits at the end of the name. Then leave the .jpg in

001Ben - 8/5/08 at 08:00 AM

Just open the picture and do a save as and resave it under a different name, then delete the original.

dhutch - 8/5/08 at 08:27 AM

quote:
Originally posted by madmandegge
You need to leave the .jpeg or .jpg or whatever at the end of the name, without that the computer doesn't know what to do with the file!

Ditto.
- You need the file extension left as is.

Presumably you have is set to show file extensions (as i do) because i beleave when you have them hidden you can just rename it without worrying about it.

Also, interesting and not very well known fact, is that windows has (crude) batch file renaming feature within it.
- Sort the files in order, select all to be renamed, right click on the top one 'rename' then rename that "myphoto.jpg" or whatever, and it will rename them all "myphoto.jpg" with a backeted suffixed number.
- Ie you get "myphoto.jpg" "myphoto (1).jpg" "myphoto.jpg (2)" ... "myphoto(10).jpg" ... "myphoto.jpg (99)" etc. Which works great for crude work in windows.
- You can then if you want manaually rename the first one "myphoto (00).jpg" and change 1 to 01, 2 to 02, etc for the first ten, and upto 100 photos will work well anywhere.

(otherwise you tend to get a number sequence of 1, 10, 11, 12, 13... 19, 2, 20, 21, 22, etc.)


Daniel

David Jenkins - 8/5/08 at 08:37 AM

You're all going to confuse him to death!

Start with your file - DCP0001.jpg for example.

Right-click on it and select 'rename' from the menu.

Change the name BEFORE THE DOT only, e.g. MyFavouriteCar.jpg

Job done - it's as simple as that.

dhutch - 8/5/08 at 09:17 AM

Yes, as Dave said.
- Please ignore the latter half of my post!!

madmandegge - 8/5/08 at 09:51 AM

quote:
Originally posted by David Jenkins
You're all going to confuse him to death!


I thought mine wasn't that bad

[Edited on 8/5/08 by madmandegge]

02GF74 - 8/5/08 at 10:20 AM

quote:
Originally posted by locoboy

"If you change a file name extension, the file may become unusable.
Do you want to change it?"



^^^ this was the clue I missed.

you are changing the file extension if windows throws up that message and not just the filen name.

so do as David Jenkins says.

carry on.

onzarob - 8/5/08 at 10:55 AM

If you cant see the jpg extension, don't worry. I think what your doing is using a . (dot) in you name. a . (dot) is a special character so use - instead

britishtrident - 8/5/08 at 12:04 PM

Tip use Google Picasa to handle your pictures much better and simpler than the software that comes with most cameras.

David Jenkins - 8/5/08 at 12:13 PM

quote:
Originally posted by onzarob
If you cant see the jpg extension, don't worry. I think what your doing is using a . (dot) in you name. a . (dot) is a special character so use - instead


Now you're going to confuse him even more!

He has 1 check to make before starting:

When you look at the file straight off the camera, does it end in '.jpg' , e.g. DCP0001.jgp? If it does then the computer is showing file extensions. If it only shows DCP0001 then file extensions are hiddon.

If you can see the extension then you have to change only the bit before the full-stop. If you can't see the extension then you can just change the name as shown.

If the 'changing the file extension' warning comes up then click on cancel and do it right next time!

britishtrident - 8/5/08 at 01:02 PM

MS tried to dumbdown windows by hiding extension and instead just caused more pit falls and confusion.

Linux just gets on with it.

[Edited on 8/5/08 by britishtrident]

onzarob - 8/5/08 at 02:52 PM

quote:
Originally posted by David Jenkins
quote:
Originally posted by onzarob
If you cant see the jpg extension, don't worry. I think what your doing is using a . (dot) in you name. a . (dot) is a special character so use - instead


Now you're going to confuse him even more!

He has 1 check to make before starting:

When you look at the file straight off the camera, does it end in '.jpg' , e.g. DCP0001.jgp? If it does then the computer is showing file extensions. If it only shows DCP0001 then file extensions are hiddon.

If you can see the extension then you have to change only the bit before the full-stop. If you can't see the extension then you can just change the name as shown.

If the 'changing the file extension' warning comes up then click on cancel and do it right next time!


No I'm not.... just don't use . in your file names its a reserved charater

David Jenkins - 8/5/08 at 03:14 PM

quote:
Originally posted by onzarob
No I'm not.... just don't use . in your file names its a reserved charater


Incorrect - the . character is allowed.

To check, I've just created a file called New.Text.Document.txt - when I click on it it still opens in Notepad.

You can refer to Microsnot's own reference pages if you don't believe me.

onzarob - 8/5/08 at 03:30 PM

I'm aware that Microsoft XP etc will allow . in the name but you start doing it and in practice it all goes wrong.

you try attaching a fileto an email with a name like file.long.doc to someone and watch it all fall apart.

Best practice is leave the .(period) out

[Edited on 8-5-2008 by onzarob]

MikeRJ - 12/5/08 at 09:50 PM

quote:
Originally posted by onzarob
I'm aware that Microsoft XP etc will allow . in the name but you start doing it and in practice it all goes wrong.

you try attaching a fileto an email with a name like file.long.doc to someone and watch it all fall apart.

Best practice is leave the .(period) out



That's purely down to shoddily written applications though, not a limitation of windows (same with spaces in file names). I have thousands of files with multiple periods in their names...