I'm not sure how I got here, but I will try to describe what I think happened. I've gone through several versions of iPhoto and a couple of Macs but recently purchased Aperture (six months ago?). Initially I imported all of my photos into Aperture. I do not remember if I did this as managed or referenced. All of my latest imports seem to be creating a matching folder on my external drive so I would guess referenced? Not sure…
At some point in my initial import I divided things up into groups of 5,000. I have six folders like this on my external drive, and I have six projects to match in Aperture. However, when I browse these folders in Finder on my external drive, the file naming structure looks something like this…
<untitled> (1).bmp
<untitled> (1).gif
<untitled> (1).JPEG
<untitled> (1).JPG
<untitled> (1).mov
<untitled> (1).png
<untitled> (1).psd
<untitled> (1).RAW
<untitled> (1).tif
<untitled> (1).tiff
The list then iterates to 2 and 3, etc. up through 4600 or so. Of course one reason to use a referenced library is to make it easier to access the files directly with 3rd party apps, etc. but I think that these file names make that option pretty useless.
Like I said, I don't know exactly how this happened, so here are my questions…
1 - Do YOU have any idea what may have caused this file structure and naming scheme to have occurred?
2 - Do you have any idea how I could fix it?
Thanks in advance!
1. So what’s the displayed name in Aperture for the photo that matches “<untitled> (1).ext” ?
Is that how you want it too be ?
If so and all of your photo’s are in your Aperture library why not simply rebuild your library by “File > Export > Originals … “.
Do a few test runs with small batches to make sure you get the folder structure / naming options you want.
Put the old files aside into a folder and leave alone for at least a month while you make sure you have what you need in the new structure - then selectively delete when you are happy.
2. Highlight Library > Photos in Inspector Library Tab
a. “File > New > Smart Library”
b. “Any of the following that <match>”
c. Source: <Library>
d. Delete all the other rules - leave the ratings unchecked …
e. <Add Rule> File Status <Managed>
f. Rename “Untitled Smart Album” > “Managed”
e. Repeat for “Referenced” & “Missing”
---
Andrew Mumford
1. The displayed name in Aperture is “year/date” - a naming format I chose when I imported. It is, for the most part, how I intended. Unfortunately many files are out of order. I would have to inspect this more closely to see exactly how and why, but I suspect it was due to using file dates. Many have dates much newer than the capture date due to being moved multiple times, scanned from slides and/or being taken before I owned a digital camera. I like your instructions for rebuilding the library by exporting…but I think I will need to do some reorganization in Aperture first.
2. I think you lost me on that one…
One other thing, while I’m at it…
Almost all of my photos now reside in one folder on my external drive. This is also where I have my Aperture library.
The entire folder is measuring up at 92.22 GB after doing some clean-up from the “Ten Tips to a Clean Aperture Library” series. But the Aperture library itself weighs in at a mere 19.28 GB. Some of the difference may be from duplicate files, but I have a feeling there may be a lot of photos that never made it into the library. OR - it’s possible that I have some sort of strange unintentional managed/referenced hybrid library.
I would appreciate it if you had any ideas on this as well - as in:
1 - how did this happen, and
2 - How can I sort/rearrange/import/reimport/rearrange in such a way as to make sure that everything I have is in Aperture…
I’m not a pro photographer, and there are no changes I have made which can’t be reproduced as needed, so I’m thinking of starting over from scratch and maybe keeping two separate libraries - one for older photos on the external drive, one for newer photos on my MacBook Air…
Glenn,
1. When you look at the image inside Aperture, does the image that visually corresponds to “<untitled> (1).ext” still have the original file name inside of Aperture. i.e. something like “_DSC7478.NEF” / “DSC_7478.JPG” for Nikon RAW / JPG - not a canon shooter so don’t no the appropriate example for them.
2. Aperture 3.4.x - There are some smart albums in the Inspector > Library Tab at the bottom ALBUMS > Library Albums > Managed / Referenced / Missing will tell you what Aperture “thinks’ it’s doing …
3. <untitled> (1).bmp
<untitled> (1).gif
<untitled> (1).JPEG
<untitled> (1).JPG
<untitled> (1).mov
<untitled> (1).png
<untitled> (1).psd
<untitled> (1).RAW
<untitled> (1).tif
<untitled> (1).tiff
Are these all the same image & are they all “valid” images that the finder can thumbnail ?
---
Andrew Mumford
Looking at it bit closer - seems like Exporting Originals or Exporting Version with the renaming options set to “Custom Name with Index” and no text or index no actually set will produce the filename structure you indicate - that doesn’t answer how you managed to get so many different filetypes - does this begin to ring any bells ?
---
Andrew Mumford
Andrew:
1 - When I imported the photos I tried to rename everything with Date/Time format.
2 - No smart albums named ‘managed’ or ‘referenced’
3 - They are all unique, valid images. Only the JPG seems to line up with the corresponding Aperture files/folders. Not sure where the rest came from (perhaps iPhoto?)
From what you state, it sounds like I may have exported them originally from iPhoto, and then imported them into Aperture. Unfortunately, after the upgrade to Mountain Lion I merged the libraries! I may end up re-importing the whole thing if I could figure out the right way to rename all the files…
Glenn,
I came across a variant of this problem just recently where I had a sequence of untitled jpgs but not different file types. I am using Aperture 3.6 in Yosemite so the behaviour may have changed since you had the issue. The cure was the command Metadata/Batch Change and ticking 'Apply to Original Files'. This re-named my files with the version name correctly.
Pravin Mirchandani