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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > macOS > Batch rename files with automator in the order they are displayed

Batch rename files with automator in the order they are displayed
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FireWire
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Feb 15, 2015, 02:35 AM
 
Hi! I want to rename files in the Finder with Automator but sequentially based on the order by which they are displayed in the Finder in icon view. It used to do it but now four files side by side are renamed Image2.jpg Image4.jpg Image1.jpg and Image3.jpg, probably because they are renamed based on some other criteria like name or date. Is it possible to have them numbered by relative location? Thank you!
     
Spheric Harlot
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Feb 15, 2015, 05:12 AM
 
Have you tried the Finder's own batch rename? It's in the context menu.
     
turtle777
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Feb 16, 2015, 12:36 AM
 
The order in Icon View is not arbitrary, it's set to sort by either name, kind, date etc...

CTRL + J will open a window that lets you set the Sort and Arrange By options for the folder containing the items.

If you then chose the Finder "Rename x Items" command (as Spheric suggested), it will indeed honor whatever Sort and Arrange By order you have set for the containing folder.

-t
     
Spheric Harlot
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Feb 16, 2015, 06:50 PM
 
It IS arbitrary (though not by default). You can set icon view to arrange by "none" AND to sort by "none".

So you can place icons in whatever order you like.
     
FireWire  (op)
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Feb 16, 2015, 07:11 PM
 
I do place the files manually. Your method seems to work, spheric, thank you!
     
turtle777
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Feb 16, 2015, 11:50 PM
 
Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot View Post
It IS arbitrary (though not by default). You can set icon view to arrange by "none" AND to sort by "none". .
LOL, so what you're saying is that it is NOT arbitrary unless you make it arbitrary.

-t
     
Spheric Harlot
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Feb 17, 2015, 02:54 AM
 
Yes - contrary to your (implied) claim, the original poster CAN manually sort these files and rename them in that order.

QED.

If you were aware that sorting could be switched entirely to manual, then it wasn't clear from your post, and indeed I cannot explain your post in the first place.
     
P
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Feb 17, 2015, 05:40 AM
 
Originally Posted by turtle777 View Post
LOL, so what you're saying is that it is NOT arbitrary unless you make it arbitrary.

-t
Is the default to have sorting on these days? Because for the longest time, Apple's default was icon view with no sorting or arranging. Since I have been importing settings for this sort of thing since the nineties, I have no idea what the default is.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
Spheric Harlot
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Feb 17, 2015, 06:35 AM
 
It's sorted by default on the folders I just tried it with (Yosemite).
     
P
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Feb 17, 2015, 12:37 PM
 
But that's only your system default. If you have ever set sorting to be enabled since Leopard or whenever they messed up the view options last time, you overrode the OS defaults.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
Spheric Harlot
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Feb 18, 2015, 03:32 AM
 
I haven't used icon view anywhere except on the desktop in about a decade.
     
   
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