re-numbering of digital downloads via zip file

smurfy

A wedding photographer in a private forum mentioned that SM re-numbers his zip file photos when his clients download them, making for much confusion for album choices, etc.

I don't generally download my own files, so hadn't noticed this is happening. Question: why does this happen, and can we prevent it so as to avoid confusion when file numbers matter, such as in album design choices?

Ann McRae

smurfy wrote: »

A wedding photographer in a private forum mentioned that SM re-numbers his zip file photos when his clients download them, making for much confusion for album choices, etc.

I don't generally download my own files, so hadn't noticed this is happening. Question: why does this happen, and can we prevent it so as to avoid confusion when file numbers matter, such as in album design choices?

Hi Smurfy

So, we do not remove the original file name - that remains a part of the filename included in the download. But because we offer a variety of different digital file sizes as products for sale, we do append more numerals to the file name, so that each different file size has a unique identifier.

At this time, there is no way to change that behaviour.

As far as album design, the event favorite tool is ideal for this - have the bride put her album choices into a favorites folder. You can then download the originals from that specific folder. The bride can have more than one favorites folder, so she can have one for the album, and one for prints, if that makes sense to your workflow.

Hope that helps.

ann

SamirD

Smugmug originals are the same name, and bit-by-bit the exact same file you upload. The only exceptions are on those files that get rotated or auto-rotated due to an orientation bit being set. I download all my images and compare them to the originals before deleting off the card. In over 100gb and 100,000+ images, not a single one has been bad.

healingarts

I'm going to scream
I downloaded one of my galleries for a corporate client and NO, smugmug did not keep the original file name. The original last four numbers on the filename were replaced with an apparently random 10 digit number.

This is crazy-making!!!!

The client referenced the 10 digit number, and now I have no way to refer back to my original dngs. I've just spent 5 hours sorting out 42 people with 3 photos each from a 500 photo shoot. I'm never using this feature again. Dropbox definitely has my business now. argh!!!!

An irritated, annoyed and angry user.
- Rob

ps this is all the more irritating because I love smugmug and have been an avid fan for about 5 years with no complaints. I know I'll get over it but right now I am so angry!!

beardedgit

healingarts wrote: »

I downloaded one of my galleries for a corporate client and NO, smugmug did not keep the original file name. The original last four numbers on the filename were replaced with an apparently random 10 digit number.

This is crazy-making!!!!

The client referenced the 10 digit number, and now I have no way to refer back to my original dngs. I've just spent 5 hours sorting out 42 people with 3 photos each from a 500 photo shoot. I'm never using this feature again. Dropbox definitely has my business now. argh!!!!

An irritated, annoyed and angry user.
- Rob

ps this is all the more irritating because I love smugmug and have been an avid fan for about 5 years with no complaints. I know I'll get over it but right now I am so angry!!

Ouch!

Even though I don't have paying clients breathing down my neck, I feel your angst... I just finished downloading 130 zipped galleries... 17.5 gig... 4066 files... and every one of them needs renaming (to get rid of each "unique identifier") before I can upload or use them elsewhere.

I hope your client is understanding of your plight.

thenickdude

You can automate the renaming of those files with a file renaming tool, which operating system do you use?

beardedgit

Lamah wrote: »

You can automate the renaming of those files with a file renaming tool, which operating system do you use?

I'm using XP SP3, preferred batch-renamer is IrfanView but willing to try another.

Two main hassles:
1. The format of the "unique identifier" isn't consistent - the added number strings contain either 9 or 10 digits;
2. I need to keep the original stems, which themselves are of variable format within each gallery.

Examples:

Original filename: vill010.jpg >>> downloaded filename: vill010-1940342328-O.jpg
Original filename: winder012.jpg >>> downloaded filename: winder012-828770222-O.jpg
Original filename: 4a08a0b84d51a11c3c22977f6267c5.jpg >>> downloaded filename: 4a08a0b84d51a11c3c22977f6267c5-575553729-O.jpg

thenickdude

No problem, download Regex Renamer:

http://regexrenamer.sourceforge.net/

In the "match" box, paste:

^(.+)-(\d+)-(S|M|L|XL|X2|X3|O)\.(jpg|gif|jpeg|bmp|tif|tiff|png)$

In the "replace" box, paste:

$1.$4

Tick the "/i" box (this makes the filename check case-insensitive). You should now be able to pick your folder and see a preview of what rename it will do on the right hand side. If it looks good, hit the Rename button.

beardedgit

Cheers for that, Nicholas.

I've just installed it without any problems, looks like it'll do the job.

I'll start feeding it files when I have more time - there's a lot of unzipping to be done first.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks again

healingarts

I wish the renumbering could pick up the original sequence number from the metadata... looks like the sequence is lost, once smugmug has renumbered the file. Please smugmug, change this!!!!

btw I found a solution using a shell script and some wildcard file identification. I still can't make an easy link back to the original file - I have to eyeball each one - but at least I can give them the files they chose. With all the files in the current directory, and using Terminal, I read from a file that has all the 4 digit selections from the client and copies them to another directory:

for i in `cat selections.txt`;
do
cp *`echo $i`-O.jpg ../images_to_keep ;
done

So simple once I figured it out... It does sometimes picks up another file that has the same four digits at the end, but I can usually spot the odd photo once I check out the thumbnails in the Finder.