Renaming by keyword/comment

[atoner]

Thanks in advance for the help.

Here's what I want to do:
1) view pictures fast and tag the ones I want to keep
2) add comments/keywords as I go through the images
3) rename the files I want to keep, adding the comments/keywords and rating to the filename (batch)
4) move pictures tagged to keep to a folder (batch)
Then, several years from now even if FPV isn't around any more, I can quickly find files on my network server based by filename.

I've been able to do #1 with FPV, much to my liking. I use the numeric rating tag. FPV is very fast.

I can get #4 with copying. I'm not sure if I can get it with just moving by using the file utility plugin. There was some mention of batch renaming in the forum already.

For #2, I've tried adding headlines, descriptions/captions, and keywords to the files (keyboard function w). I'm not 100% happy with this, but I haven't fully implemented the keywords. I'd like to have a bank of keywords to which I can easily add new keywords. For example, if I start browsing some images and realize I'm looking at something new like a trip to Disney, I want to add a Disney keyword easily. I'd like auto-complete and/or some other accelerated way to enter keywords. I'd like this to happen without needing to move the mouse and click. Ideally, keyboard function w would put me right into a dialog box where I can start typing, accept auto-complete, space between keywords, and exit out with an Enter.

For #3, I've been able to get the "description/caption" to write into filenames using "{Comment}_{FileName}", but it only works for freshly entered descriptions. If I quit the application and open previously commented pictures, I can see the previous descriptions for each image have been saved (keyboard function w). But they don't map into the new filenames (keyboard function F2). If I keyboard function w on an image, copy then paste the description/caption, then keyboard function F2 I get the correct new filename.

Again, thanks for the help. FPV has a lot of promise.

[Axel]

The IPTC Editor supports keyword collections with auto-suggestion, you can create your own collection or acquire one of the existing ones. Adding a suitable pre-defined keyword collection should ease the pain of keywording tremendously and cover your point 2, as well as adding a great deal of consistency to your keywording.

Your points 3 and 4 are easily handled by the batch processor plug-in. You can create a renaming rule through the Rename function (F2) then apply the rule to your files to copy the files in batch (and rename the destination files) or rename the originals then copy (or move) them. You can set criterieas to apply the rules only to the files you have rated above a certain score, etc.

This scenario (and many others) are covered very efficiently by the batch processor plug-in.

About the point you mentionned (comment not being applied in some case, or the {Comment} variable not always being up-to-date?), please write to support {at} fastpictureviewer.com with more details (ideally a step-by-step reproduction of the issue) and we'll look into this. If there is a glitch we'll fix it.

As a side note, Windows Search can find images by metadata. You can of course add as many information as you like to the filename, but this may not be absolutely necessary: see Advanced Tips for Searching in Windows and you'll learn that Windows Search can go a long way towards finding your files by metadata (you can basically search on any field displayed in Explorer's metadata pane).

[atoner]

Thanks for the very quick reply!

I'm looking into the keywords, Windows Search, and renaming today.

One new question. I've tried setting FPV to write the rating into the file metadata. This works. However, if I change that setting to add a filename prefix, I get the error "Cannot rename [file path]. Please verify that the target media or device is writable and that you have proper write permissions. 0x[lots of 0's]"

I am viewing files on a network file share, a NetGear ReadyNAS Ultra. I don't get this error if I copy the files to my local hard drive. I wouldn't be surprised if there's some ReadyNAS/Windows permission problem. However...

I can rename the file in Windows Explorer over the network
FPV can save the metadata rating over the network
I've tried changing Windows and ReadyNAS settings to ensure read/write access is available
I've tried giving FPV admin run access

Any ideas on what FPV is doing that's unique?

Thanks,
Adam

[Axel]

Any ideas on what FPV is doing that's unique?

You have good investigation skills

FastPictureViewer uses the Kernel Transaction Manager, a feature introduced in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, to perform certain file and registry operations atomically.

Your NAS may not be as 100% Windows-compatible as it appears to be, and perhaps does not support file-system transactions?

You can turn this feature OFF in FPV by creating the following registry value

Code: Select all

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\ARSD\FastPictureViewer
Name: DisableKTM
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 1

Attached is a small .reg file that will do that for you.

[atoner]

That worked. Thanks. I'll check with the ReadyNAS folks about KTM.