Guidance Needed for a photo file numbering, management problem

[Milehighguy]

Before leaving on an extended trip I deleted all files off of my memory cards and reformatted them for my trusty little Fuji X10. The cards had been formatted for my Nikon DSLR. Now after taking several hundred RAW photos as I download the files into my Adobe Elements 15 Organizer, I find that hundreds of the file numbers already exist within the organizer. Therefore the new picture files will not download into the organizer for further processing. The only obvious fix would be to go into each file and rename it ... tedious and perhaps maybe fraught with some unseen further issues.

I've tried to find some reference to this issue within past threads but I have not been successful. Would some of the more experienced members please point me to either answers within this forum or provide the benefit of their experience in fixing, managing and avoiding my self-inflicted problem?

[ST1]

Roger do you have the facility in Elements 15 to rename the images when importing them. I use Adobe Lightroom and I rename the files on import (a menu choice of renaming template) by preceding the camera file name with the shooting date. Which overcomes the potential of duplicated file names.


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[Polar01]

In case you did not know, at least with the Nikon it's numbering system of files is 0 to 9,999 then resets to 0 again. Now if you are downloading the files into one folder this will cause problems. If you set up your filing system with a folder for a year, then in that folder the months, so you download them into the correct month and it should create a folder for the day that the images were shot.
Myself I hated the Elements Organizer as it and my brain did not play well together, this is also a reason I dislike Lightroom also, however we will not go there.

Cheers: Al

[rpcrowe]

This is only one of the many reasons that I don't use PSE. Actually, it is just the organizer that I don't like. However, when I used PSExx (don't remember the number). when I tried to by-pass the organizer, the program when bonkers and crashed. After this happening on several occasions, I gave up on PSE and purchased creative suite CS6 which I still have. However, I use CC 2017 on my computer and on my wife's computer. The CS6 is on our laptop computers.

I am with Alan, I don't use Lightroom. I open my files in Camera RAW using Bridge and give them a name in addition to the number that the camera assigns them. My opened RAW images will have a name like this: 20170928 Calendar Photos 9099... Which is the date shot, the specific name assigned, and the number which the camera assigns the file.

They are saved as RAW files and then if I select one to work on, I do the editing (except for cropping, final sizing and output sharpening) and save that image as a master image PSD file. My RAW files are all saved by date first and identified by the specific names assigned and the number that the camera assigns them.

It is very easy to find the files even after an extended duration. I can go back to the image years later and open the master file to produce a new image by simply cropping, resizing and applying output sharpening (if needed). However, I still have the RAW file saved. This is handy to re-edit photos if a new technique or a new editing program capability is added.

[NorthernFocus]

I'm not familiar with the Elements organizer feature. I used Elements for many years but never the Organizer. But this is an ages old problem with various solutions. There are various ways to rename the files. If Elements won't do it during import then you can first copy the files to your computer, rename them(with windows or other file manager), then import them to Elements. There are many naming conventions. The most common are location/shoot name+sequential number or date+sequential number. Or a combination of those two, shoot name+date+sequential number.

Lightroom accommodates repeating file names as long as they don't reside in the same folder. So simply importing to folders named by date avoids this problem.

[loosecanon]

You could download a trial of lightroom from Adobe. import you filed into it, renameing them as required - i use a subject name and original file number. Then if required inmprt intpPSE. or you might even like lightroom.

[JohnRostron]

I use Bulk File Rename for Windows, that does just that. I have not tried it on a memoy card, but I don't see why it would not work. You can rename using straight replacements (say replace IMG00 with IMG01) or with regular expressions. It also allows you to add your own numbering, so you can delete the last three characters and add a three-digit serial number at the end. The interface is a bit clunky, but it works well.

John

[Milehighguy]

Peter ... Thanks for the response to my question and problem. Much appreciated ...

[Milehighguy]

Al ... thanks for the information and help ... much appreciated

[Milehighguy]

Richard ... Thanks for the help and response ... much appreciated ...

[Milehighguy]

Dan ... thanks for the response and help ... much appreciated

[Milehighguy]

Loosecanon ... thanks for the response and help ... much appreciated

[Milehighguy]

John ... Thanks for the response and help ... much appreciated ...

[Saorsa]

You can actually just use the windows file manager to rename files. For example, if you want to remember which camera come up with a 3 character designator for it.

select (highlight) files from that camera (perhaps at time of transfer) right click on one of them and select rename from the menu. Then change DSC to whatever designator you want.

for Example, NK57 for my Coolpix 5700, NK75 for my D750, NK71 for my D7100, etc.

It is very easy to do this in file manager and it works on any windows system back to 3.1. MS-DOS used a different renaming due to lack of mouse support. Once learned, you are freed from the different methodologies of all the photo applications.