thanks for visiting : glad you found something you like
i am no longer offering free downloads of my work. for many years i have been distributing scripts all around the world and offering help to people writing their own scripts. unfortunately very few people hit the ‘donate’ button.
scripts and apps can now be requested for AUD$10 each via paypal (donate button). requests for script assistance can be lodged as a comment on this page, or you can flick me an email to macgrunt.au@gmail.com.
of course, you can build most of the scripts on this site yourself by simply copy/pasting the code from the post into script editor.
keep grunting
macgrunt 
Hi apologize if this came through twice, WP wanted me to log in. I’d like to try your tool for integrating Zoho CRM and Box. Need to create 400+ folders so hoping this does the trick!
Hey,
I often use your script to “create batches of folders”, it saves me a lot of time.
I would like to use the “rename files” script as well, is that possible?!
Thanks
Lino
Hey I came across your page when I was looking for a script to create a set of folders and subset of folders to save receipts and correspondence every year. I was once a SQL programmer and found your code to create the folders. I was hoping you might have code that would assist me in completing this little project. Many thanks for your assistance.
I work with high school yearbook staffs and I am looking for an easy way for them to setup a folder structure for their project that will have each spread have it’s own folder named as that spread, and then 3 or 4 folders created inside that spread folder in which to contain their spread assets. This script/app looks like it would be the perfect automation. I’d appreciate being able to try it out. Thanks for the thought and hard work that I know went into this script!
Hello MacGrunt,
I feel lucky to discover your articles and the CreateFoldersII app. It is very useful and save much time to create the folders. Could you send me the download file?
I really appreciate your great work and the effort!
Have a nice day!
Alex
So cool
Hi. I would like to use CreateFolders app.
Thanks!
Your site is very uselful, thank you
Same here – need a speedy way to generate a few hundred folders/buckets for media distribution. This looks to fit the bill! Cheers mate, appreciate the effort you put it for this.
Bonjour,
je viens de me mettre à l’applescript et je découvre votre site qui est super
Merci
Need to create jillions of folders for organizing media files in a movie post-production workflow. It sounds like your app might help me out A LOT. Please send a link as soon as you have a chance! Thanks for making it freely available!
Hi,
I am a researcher working in a large longitudinal study about human knowledge. We need to create thousands of folders, and I have not been able to automatize it. One of the problems I have, is that folders contain characters such as , / or _ Which is why I can not make it work with mkdir command.
I really appreciate your effort. thanks
Hi.
I´m a researching working in a longitudinal, large scale project. We have to crate thousands of folders and subfolders, and it is seems this is not an easy feat. I really appreciate your work, and the effort you made to create this script.
Hi – I need to create a folder for two dates each week for the rest of the year. Please may I have your script to save my sanity?
Thank yoU!
I need to create a folder for 2 dates each week for the rest of the year – please may I have your script to save my sanity?
Hi
I would like to use to create folders for weekly ad materials.
I recieve a list of aprox. 20 ads a week in excel, then I output a text file of a specific naming structure. To be able to automate the folder creation/naming would be great and something new to learn 🙂
Hope to hear from you soon.
/M
Hi – I own and operate a school picture company and I need a fast way to create student folders from a csv file so that I can import those folders into Lightroom and then organize their pictures into their folder.
Hello, I’m interested in a download of the CreateFolders app, I plan on using it to create a set of folders for students and faculty on our grade school’s Gdrive
Thanks,
David
I’d love a copy of your script! I work in commercial photography and sometimes on catalog shoots I get a pdf of file names for each shot and sometimes there are hundreds. Having to copy and paste each one to create the shot folders is tedious and takes forever. I think your script would save me a LOT of time!
Hello, MacGrunt!
I am near retirement, and I purchase and refurbish guitars to donate to teens and young adults with medical conditions. For each guitar, I shoot photos and document what needs to be done to make them playable, and I also document the parts I need to purchase for each one. This is entirely a self-funded project and I take no tax deductions for what I do. Creating a folder for each guitar is time consuming, and I have a list of all the guitars, so using your Script would likely benefit me.
Thank you,
Jim
Hi! I’m from a high school in the Netherlands, and I would like to use the create folders app to easily make 1000+ folders all named and sorted based on school-class and names, based on my excel list (converted to text). They will use these folders on their one drive to turn in their assignments!
You do great work!!
Im always looking for an efficient way to do laborious tasks and was looking for a speedy way to ‘batch’ create multiple folders with different names ….. searched for 2 hours … many options for windows but for Mac 🤔 Im hoping the CreateFolders App is the solution! 😃 I run an entertainment agency and have a large portfolio of hundreds of performers and I desperately need tidy up their various folders, docs, biogs, publicity, mp3/mp4 files into categories i.e music genre, act type and then alphabetically by Band/Act name, have all listed in a text doc so if its as easy as dropping the file onto the app then wow!
App received, thank you, It works perfectly, in an instant, a brilliant time saver, I just wish I found this before 😊
Hello,
I am a designer. I have hundreds of InDesign files to rename post data merge. Each record is merged to a single InDesign file. Each of those inDesign files has to be renamed before converting to PDF. I am using Teacup DataLinker plugin to perform the data merge. The merge plugin does not offer an option for assigning a unique file name for each record/inDesign file created.
RenameByList may be my best option because the sequence numbers added by the data merge do not align with the numbering sequence needed in the middle of the filename.
For example:
Orignal Filename = L1234_18_56789_Start_InDesign File Name_v1_Record 20
New Filename = L1234_18_56789_Start 01_InDesign File Name_v1
The Datalinker plugin adds “Record 20” to the end of the InDesign filename.
Thank you,
Liz
Matt
The EasyRenaming app looks like exactly what I need. I’ve been doing grunt work (first with Quark and then Indesign) for the past 25 years so I really should have got my head around basic scripting by now but somehow I’ve never got together. At the moment I have a monthly job where PDFs have to be renamed to client’s specifications in a really illogical way. Doing it by hand is time-consuming and mindless (and is taking its toll on my thinning hair) so I’m keen to investigate any tool that will help automate as much of this as possible.
Cheers!
thanks for the file from https://macgrunt.com/2011/08/06/renaming-finder-items/
Would love a copy of the create folders app. We are a personalised confectionery business and we have to generate the days’ folders with customer name and job number every morning. About 50-60 folders! That’s half an hour a day! So I’m just thinking I export the customer name and job number to CSV, drop it on this script and it builds them in this simple format – “132003 – John Smith” If it does that right, I’ll be a very popular guy. Cheers, Ben
P.S. You should post a paypal account. Be happy to donate a few bucks to help pay for your hosting costs.
This is exactly what I am looking for. We hold events to fund AIDS Research and now use squarespace for auction items rather than printing costly catalogues. I need to resize all the photos to a width of 2500 px while keeping it’s original dpi (which are different all throughout. Out event is in 7 days and we need to get these done in a couple of days.
Thanks for doing this.
Raoul
I am in need of renaming about 4000 files in one folder. I have a spreadsheet showing the first 6 characters of the original file name and in column2 I have what it should be named. Will this script work? The list in column 1 does not have the entire original file name. Only the first 6 numbers.
I need to create folders from lists daily! We are a small agency making ads for a franchising chain. CreateFolders.app looks like a perfect solution for me.
I teach online classes, and I have well over 100 students in any given term. I’m hoping to be able to quickly create folders from the course rosters so that I can sort downloaded assignments into those. This would save me a great deal of time and frustration.
Hey there.. hope to have this work creating folders and file names for a big photography shoot!
amazing work, thanks
I’m very excited about the cvs to folders script… this is just what I was looking for. Thanks for the great work and great explanations and seeing your process in troubleshooting is fascinating.
I really appreciate your feedback A Melina. I’m glad to see that all the effort I went to is benefitting others. Travel safe.
Just trying to make a whole bunch of folders to organize videos and photos. Every time I come to this step in the workflow I always try to figure out a way to automate it and have failed so far. This time I found this site and want to give it a go.
I had been using this or something similar to this more than 10 years ago.
In my work then, I manage a picture library of football matches. I received emails of matches and some of these team names are not English names, thus more difficult. So, I created a list of these teams’ names to create a folder for their matches’ pictures.
An automated system would be very useful over typing a name for each folder. It would be more accurate, faster, and can be reuse for others.
Now, occasionally, I also need to create folders to file my contents. Without this utility, it would be terribly slow.
I used it years ago and I still need this now. It is a blessing.
Hi There
I need to create a directory with lots of folders for housing different assets by Brand.
Your app looks like a good solution, I’m a graphic designer not a programmer so this help is appreciated.
Cheers
Ross
Wanting to try this script out to create folders. Working at a label print shop. Thanks
Hey! I’m a photographer and I need to create a lot of folders with names. Your app sound like the perfect solution! Could I receive a copy of the app, please?
I’m exporting loads of clean footage plates for visual effects on a movie and because the plates are image sequences I’m having to create a lot of folders for the plates.
I’m working on exporting clean footage plates as image sequences for a film and was looking to find a way to create many folders named specifically for each vfx shot. This looks like it could help a lot!
Hi Mac,
I work at an online shop and have to rename a lot of files to make their names match with the productcodes on a list. I can imagine your app would help me a lot.
Thanks an regards from Germany
Andreas
this is exactly what I’m looking for. Photographer, need a lot of folders for photoshoots I work on. Would same me so much time! I used to work on PC and had a little program for it. Couldn’t find it for Mac. You saved my day! thank you!!!
you’re welcome :-)
Cool. Making a web gallery of 1200 Panoramas from my travels
My english is no good, but i can understand something of applescript thanks to you and your examples. Thank you very much for all the lessons
Thanks for your feedback Armando.
Glad you found something useful here.
m.
I am a Project Manager and often need to create Sequential Folders..I am a complete novice when it comes to Applescript or even programming of any kind…blogs/sites like this are invaluable to me
I would like a copy of your “create folders from list” application. I am a Math teacher and need to create folders for each of my 120 students.
Harold Peaden
HPeaden681@bellsouth.net
Thanks! I am a photographer and I would like to create different folders for each shot during a day long shoot with multiple subjects.
Hi MacGrunt,
I’m a photographer & retoucher and ferquently have to create SEVERAL shot folders in a VERY short length of time from a list of file names. Your create folders script would be very useful.
I work in film music and often have to create recording files from a list of pieces of music. Being ale to create the folders quickly from a text list would save a lot of time. The list already exists, created by the composer or composer’s assistant. Would love to get the script. Thanks!
Looks very nice and clean. Need this tool for resizing a bunch of thumbnails for my portfolio website.
Found this script and looks good. I’m going to try it!
I’ve been searching for a solution to create multiple folders and sub-folders from a list. This is going to save me a lot of time. I’ll use the CreateFolder app to generate a products library.
Ellis above (from a couple years ago) sent me here. I’m a photo digital tech and am looking for an easy way to create folders from a shot list. I love how it works when I’ve seen other techs use your script. Thanks!
Used this for years.. Very helpful.. Took my time to find your site again though!… Thanks for a great script.
Ben
hello! I’m using this tool to rename photos that are going into the yearbook of the school I work for. The program the yearbook company gave us has overcomplicated the file tagging process so I figured a script using my Excel document would be best! Thanks so much!!
Backing up a movie folder to NAS drive and want to have pre-existing folders to sort before the move.
Hi Jerry
Please respond with a different email address.
The one you gave me does not work
m
Trying to batch create folders for med-school lectures
Just looking to clean up my movie folder. Ideally I wanted to have a system intelligently sweep through a bunch of subfolders, remove the files and place them into single folders… i ended do most of it manually but wanted to create the named folders from a list
Hi I want to create a series of folders from a text file for a web project
Hello, this seems really great! I need this to make an html for 60 Stores, Where I Will read the File Name and show it as a text on de html! Will really appreciate the example code!
I would like to have your app and script to make hundreds folders for my product photography works. My clients usually provide a list of the SKUs. I need to make the product photos in each SKU folders. Thanks for your wonderful work, it will save me a lot of time.
This is going to be great for what Im using
I require you script that grabs the path of a file to paste it into a Terminal command line, that will then convert multiple mac formatted .csv files to Windows Latin 1 formatted .csv files.
Something interesting you say. I am an aviation enthusiast. I always wanted to fly on the Concorde when it was in service. I didn’t get that opportunity but I did come close. My father and I were able to get a tour of it when British Airways was doing charter flights to New York and Toronto was one of their stops. I sat in the Captain’s chair and snapped a few photos. The Co-pilot showed us a very small gap in the cockpit area, where when the Concorde was on the ground you could squeeze your hand in. However when the Concorde was in supersonic flight it stretches 12″ and you are able to place your whole hand in the gap. It is also the reason that the floor where the seats are was on rollers.
Thanks,
Richard
Great App
Hey Mac
I have been reading through some of the comments and found some very interesting stuff there, i always find it amazing how many different uses there are for scripts like this.
I’m trying to create a set of folders from a list and to keep the same heirachy as the list or even from an excel file, not sure which method would be the easiest or best solution as i’m fairly new to it.
The story is i am sorting through 1000’s of images from 23 years physical work in the fencing landscaping industry for which i need the folders in order to upload to my website for portfolios of work.
Would really appreciate it if you would be kind enough to send me a copy of the create folder app as it looks like the perfect solution.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Many thanks.
Ivan.
coming your way Ivan
m.
Your site contains some real nuggets! In particular the CreateFoldersII app is exactly what I am looking for. I often find myself in the situation that I collect information and data for various purposes. The info is first listed on a long structured checklist and then saved in corresponding folders. As the info and the folders are hierarchical and extensive, this is a somewhat tedious and lengthy operation.
My usual way is to create a spreadsheet list where one column is numbering and sub-numbering and the other column contains names. I then convert the spreadsheet into a text file dirlist.txt which I save in the root folder. Then I use terminal — cat dirlist.txt | xargs mkdir — to create the folders. Of course this only creates a flat structure and I still have to create the hierarchy manually by moving groups of folders around, but at least the major job is done.
CreateFoldersII would do the trick for me – any chance of you sending it to me?
Keep up the good grunt…
Hey Mac,
I see you’re still chugging along with this site, which is awesome! You were kind enough to help me with a batch printing script way back on October 30, 2013 and I’m hoping you can help me again.
I’ve got two issues I’m trying to solve.
The first one looks like your batch renaming script will solve the issue, maybe with some modifications. The second issue, I’m not even sure it can be done because it deals with adding copy/text to a copy block inside of indesign.
Currently still using InDesign CS6. I use an old script that allows me to take a document that’s a spread in indesign and make two separate single page PDF files. It’s fantastic. It will export a spread document into two single page PDFs, or JPGs, or EPS, etc. allowing me to change the name, location, etc. of the final files. I use this primarily to make PDFs for the printer.
Some examples of the final PDF file names that are exported using the script are:
5CATPH1_26-27_700.2.P02.pdf
5CATPH1_26-27_700.2.P03.pdf
5DGPF1_04-05_1600.P02.pdf
5DGPF1_04-05_1600.P03.pdf
I usually have a hundred or so files for one book. I then have to go through and manually rename the files to the correct page number. Usually, anything ending with a .P02 is for the even page number, and .P03 is for the odd page number.
The final file names end up looking like this because I manually remove the “.P#” and corresponding “-page number”, so the files end up like this:
5CATPH1_26_700.2.pdf
5CATPH1_27_700.2.pdf
5DGPF1_04_1600.pdf
5DGPF1_05_1600.pdf
Sometimes the .P02 or .P03 might be another number like .P06 or .P07 just depending on what the spread number is named in Indesign.
Would one of your batch renaming scripts work for this problem?
The second issue deals with formatting / adding text to a copy block within indesign, by either using a lot of find/change queries or a plug-in or script. I’ll make a new post for that after a bit.
Thanks
Scott
G’day Scott
You’ll need the RenameByList script for this. You’d still need to create the new names by hand, but doing them all in an excel spreadsheet will be quicker than doing it to each file.
I expect it will work fine. I’m just not sure how it will deal with those additional stops you have in your filenames (that’s a filenaming no-no).
Sending this to you now.
m.
Media coordinator for an educational publisher here. I’m looking for an easy way to create 100’s of folders broken down by unit/chapter/lesson. Looks like you have the perfect tool for my needs. Big thanks in advance!
I have a one-man digital business at home outside a small town in northern New Mexico. I want to turn a list of about 30 names into folders. Thanks!
Please could you send me the getfolders app for my photography work, I need to create named folders for each person from a list. many thanks
Hello,
I am quantifying microscopy images with a program that names the output files sequentially. I would like to rename each file with the original image filename. I think your RenameByList script will do the trick.
Thanks!
Hi! I work with photography and I shoot many items that have barcodes as a way to identify each item. So, I usually have a list of all items that I need to shoot and I need to create a folder for each item. This folder creation really breaks my rithm when shooting, so I’d like to have all the folders created before begining to actually shoot. Your folder creator from list tool would be very helpful with this. Thanks!
Hi Matt!
I work in music licensing and I’m often sent large batches of music files from studios that I need to resend to a client. The problem is they often have insane naming conventions that I need to re-work in excel to make them more understandable for the client. I believe this script will work like a dream!
Looking forward to giving it shot; thank you for your contribution to making lives less insane!
Best
David
HI!
I found your article on creating a script to resize images to a specific height or width, but when I clicked on the link to get the script, it took me to this page and I don’t see the script (I could be blind, I’m going to dig through the posts…
Please help!
I have about 230 images that were scanned on different scanners so they are multiple sizes and not the same aspect ratio and I’m just trying to halve their size and keep the ratio without having to go through every single image in Photoshop.
What I’m working on is a personal project (historical) about my grandfather who walked across South America in order to emigrate to America in 1930 (Illegally). He started in Puan Argentina and ended in Honduras where he stowed away on a banana boat to New York. The boat scam run by human traffickers. He had enough foresight to document his trip by carrying a notebook with him. Since he was flat broke most of the time, he often stayed in open jail cells in whatever town he visited and he had the police or local officials sign, date and stamp his book. Needless to say this book is now an irreplaceable family heirloom!
In order to preserve the book and have something a little easier to work with, I did high resolution scans of every page. Took me days to do this!
When my grandfather did his trip, he walked almost the entire way (he used a raft on a river in places) and he also carried a six shooter revolver, had a machete and his companion was a police dog. The story reads like something out of Indiana Jones (minus the archaeology) and it was published in 1955. He was made an honorary member of the “Adventurers Club”, which was basically a club for hunters and explorers back in the 1950s. He died in 1958 in a mining accident looking for gold… I never got to meet him. To my dad he was a super-hero and to me he’s a legend.
We’ve been trying to get the story made into a movie for decades, including my writing a screenplay that made it to the finalist round in American Zoetrope’s annual screenwriting competition in 1997. They loved the story but had to pass on it for budget considerations. This would be an action/adventure/period piece so yes, the production costs would be high.
I think this story has a lot of merit in the context of our current immigration debate, and because there is ton of drama and action in the story. The wilds of 1930 South America were extremely dangerous, and the whole trip was a life or death scenario for my Grandfather. Literally! The fact that he managed to cheat death on multiple occasions only to wind up as a victim of a smuggling ring who threatened to have me deported from America back to Argentina after 2 1/2 years of struggle is kind of the best “ending twist” to a story you could possible have which is what makes it such a great story.
I own the rights to all of it now, but unforunately I don’t know any directors, actors or studio executives, so my ability to sell the story is limited.
I did meet a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and he suggested I put up a Facebook page dedicated to my grandfather and THAT is why I need to resize the images. I’m also sending them to my father and I want 3 different szies of the images to work with.
Hope you found the story interesting! You can e-mail me the script at lsc9@lsc9.com
Thanks and have a good one!
Best regards,
Louis S Carrozzi
wow. what a great story. i hope you get the decision-makers interested. maybe you need to create a best-selling book first. :-)
that resizing script is coming your way
m.
Hi, thanks for all your hard work, I would like to have the complete script for the Export Seperate PDF’s. I am using it to export individual pages so I can scale and “place” them into InDesign on an accordian layout.
I had a folder full of subfolders with subfolders with subfolders, a lot of them, and I managed to open every single one of them in the finder list view, as a result of which the finder had a nervous breakdown. I couldn’t therefore select them and left arrow the folders shut! So I ended up using Automator to add a 4 digit number to the end of each folder name and Lo! Problem solved. Now I want to truncate the file names again so your script would be most handy! Cheers
G’day Andrew
I’ve no idea why your Automator trick solved the problem, but good on you for coming up with an innovative solution.
A couple of renaming scripts coming your way.
m.
Hi,
Terrific! Your site looks like an excellent source of clear advice. As I’m just starting with scripting this is invaluable stuff .. especially as I’m a bit of an old man to be starting to learn a new discipline from scratch! Any and all help is gratefully received. Thank you so much!
Andrew
Hi there,
Just looking though your site here full of information. Ive been messing around with applescript for awhile and love it. Could you send my your app FinderCleanup app to look at.
My background is pre-press and love automation to save me doing the really boring stuff.
Cheers
Andy
Hey Andy – your post reminded me of a free book that just came out. https://automatetheboringstuff.com/
would like to take a list of titles to create folders to organize itunes music into easier. I have over 500 file folders to create, but have the list readily available to generate the folder names. this will help as I search to apply music to video productions of a wide variety of purposes.
I need to create 100s of empty duplicate image folders. I’ve used an applescript previously which worked to a point (but it added unwanted characters to some of the created folder names).
My workflow: I select the folders in the finder copy and then paste and match style in textedit which pates name of folder only, save and then run script… It would be great to try yours out…
Many thanks.
Hello! Great content here. We are interested in your script so that we may create multiple breakpoint images form a single image. For instance an original large image rescaled for different viewports (lg, md, sm, xs) in our assets folder on the server. I appreciate the time and thought you’ve put into these requests.
Sending you the basic ProcessImages script Malachi.
Let me know if you need help adapting it to your specific needs
m.
Hi,
We have a lot of sound files to process. The files are now named like :
Chantal_Petitclerc_L.wav
Georges_St-Pierre_C.wav
Georges_St-Pierre_L.wav
Gilles_Villeneuve_C.wav
Gilles_Villeneuve_L.wav
Guy_Lafleur_C.wav
Guy_Lafleur_L.wav
Jean_Beliveau_C.wav
Jean_Beliveau_L.wav
Joannie_Rochette_C.wav
After the batch processing with Reaper the files will be name like.
sound1.wav
sound2.wav
…
So your app is exactly what we need to rename the files with their original names after the batch processing.
I’m a sound designer working with Audiotopie , we mainly create sounds installations and soundwalk.
Thanks,
Étienne
Hi,
I’m trying to crop images all to exactly the same size (eg 600x400px), but all the images are different sizes and ratios. I believe you have a script that can do that. Is that right?
A little about me…
I work at a little web agency in N. Ireland and am the creator of The Print Handbook – www.printhandbook.com
Thanks,
Andy
My apologies for taking so long to get back to you Andy.
I’ve used applescript to resize images previously, but not for cropping.
I’ll look into how this can be done and get back to you in the next few days.
Sorry, busy times.
m.
I believe I need your RenameByList script because I have about 9,000 images all named by the product’s ISBN number, but I need to change the image file names to be our internal part numbers.
Hello Mr. Grunt,
I’m contracted by a government grant program to help them keep track of reporting and documents submitted by the grantees. Each year another batch of 60-80 grantees is added, and they each need a folder with their name on it, and two subfolders within, one for reporting and one for supplemental documents. Your create folders app looks like the most efficient way to accomplish this.
I see your optional bit of script for subfolder creation, how would I modify that for two subfolders?
Thanks for your help!
Andrew
Hi, great script. I’m currently working on store signage. I have a lot of files. With the script I’d like to ad the doc name with size to ease the process. I have more than 500 different pieces I’m working on in different versions. Thanks for your help!
Looking to use your Rename From List app.
I work for a small EComm business, need a script to search a folder for all files with X in the filename and replace X with Y. From what I can see, this is exactly what your script does. It would save me hours of copy and pasting!
I have tried to make something similar via Automator but it doesnt have the capability (as far as I know) to check columns in Excel.
RenameByList is exactly what I’ve been looking for! I have 860 files I need to rename…and again. This would be great can I get a copy? Thank you in advance.
thank you!!!!
Hello, I’m interested in your folder creation script.
I’m a graphic designer and Ι frequently need to create big number of folders in order to keep oraganized products in various webdesign projects!
Thanks
I am interested in your script for renaming image files from a list generated in Excel. I do a lot of travel photography and like to name my files in a hierarchical manner with descriptive text following the original numbered filename. For example, I might use “City”, then “venue”, then “activity”, then “specific” as the categorical descriptors in columns in Excel. This way I can drag the same “City” name down over many files, the “venue” over a subset of these, then “activity”, etc. The last column of the file would contain a formula to concatenate the previous columns and insert the text just ahead of the extension. The Excel file also becomes a handy catalogue of all my photos.
Here is an example of what the final filenames might be (ColumnA and ColumnF):
Original Name New Descriptive Name
DSC20447.JPG DSC20447 Paris, aerial view, landing approach.JPG
DSC20448.JPG DSC20448 Paris, Eiffel Tower, view from top, looking east.JPG
DSC20449.JPG DSC20449 Paris, Eiffel Tower, view from top, looking west.JPG
DSC20450.JPG DSC20450 Paris, Eiffel Tower, view from top, river Seine.JPG
DSC20451.JPG DSC20451 Paris, Eiffel Tower, riding elevator.JPG
DSC20452.JPG DSC20452 Paris, Louvre, paintings, Mona Lisa.JPG
DSC20453.JPG DSC20453 Paris, Louvre, sculptures, The Thinker.JPG
DSC20454.JPG DSC20454 Paris, Arc de Triomphe.JPG
DSC20455.JPG DSC20455 Paris, Arc de Triomphe, police directing traffic.JPG
DSC20456.JPG DSC20456 Marseille, harbour, cruise ships.JPG
DSC20457.JPG DSC20457 Marseille, harbour, freighters, containers.JPG
DSC20458.JPG DSC20458 Marseille, harbour, freighters, cars.JPG
DSC20459.JPG DSC20459 Marseille, beach, Prado, waves.JPG
DSC20460.JPG DSC20460 Marseille, beach, Prado, sand.JPG
DSC20461.JPG DSC20461 Marseille, beach, Prado, skatepark.JPG
I can handle all the Excel work, but I don’t have the Mac programming skills to do the actual file renaming based on matching “old name in ColumnA” with “new name in ColumnF”. It sounds like you have created exactly what I need in your RenameByList script. A copy would be most appreciated. Thanks. JF
PS Yeah, looking at the example above I should convert ‘comma-space’ to ‘underscore’ to save characters.
PPS And who am I? I am a recently retired defense scientist. My wife writes travel articles and I do the photography. So far we have visited over 80 countries, including hitchhiking the east coast of Australia and Tasmania (back in 1980 when we were young!!!).
G’day John
Yes, sounds like the app is exactly what you’re after.
Coming your way.
m.
Hello, I’m interested in your folder creation script. I have to hand off hundreds of album art images that each need to be in the track name folder (per the developer’s spec). I do have a spreadsheet with the track names, this seems like it will help get the most tedious part done quickly.
Thanks,
rick
Apps coming your way Rick
m.
Love your blog. very informative for newbies applescript users. Looking at code from another users I learn.
Hi,
Interested in taking a look at your folder creation script. I work in a university’s communications office and we need to create a series of folders from a list so we can package up files to distribute.
Thanks
coming your way Erik
m.
I’m a professional retoucher in a commercial photo studio and I’m looking for a fast way to truncate the 3 or 4 digit counter generated by Capture One. We are dealing with hundreds of files that need renamed. The last dash (-) and either 3 or 4 digit numbers need to be removed from the end of the filename. (ex: -129.tif or -1029.tif). Thanks!
G’day Nate
I’ve adapted the TruncateFilenames script to do what you’re looking for.
Coming at you.
m.
I’m helping someone in a busy office and need to create around 500 folders, one for each client and then scan relevant documents to each. All will then be uploaded to a web-linked storage facility. Once in there, all hardcopy can be destroyed i.e. empty the filing cabinet of everything scanned. The storage system will react to the folder name so it will make life a lot easier to create the folders in batches. I saw this app promoted and thought it would make life easier even though there are other ways to achieve the end result.
Coming your way Mike
m.
I need to create 398 folders from a txt file with all different names and no subfolders. This app could hep me quite a bit.
Coming at you Joshua
m.
Hi there,
I’m interested in looking at your CreateFoldersII app.
I’m a PC guy, but one of our graphic designers has just convinced our manager to switch to a Mac server! However, that means I’ve lost the ability to batch create our job folders and assign permissions to them programmatically through Windows.
Looks like your app could help me out, and then I’d intend to learn a bit more about AppleScript and add some permissions stuff to it eventually.
Cheers,
I’ve got a similar situation to Mr. Philipson’s- I’m a content specialist at my place of work and’ve been tasked with organizing a great deal of clips (I’m talkin’ thousands, categorized by the names of a series of files they’d been pulled from), and the “Create folder from list” script would be extremely helpful. Hope all’s well! Take care.
coming at you Merrill
have a good one
m.
Hey macgrunt. Thanks for the info on resizing .jpgs with an Apple Script. I’ve completed the script and have it in my sidebar but when I drop an image in the app and input my desired size and click the width or height button I get an error message. The message reads Can’t get alias “Macintosh HD:Users:AWP:AWP Image Library:Children:Bentley_bday_1:1_disc:1.jpg”.
It does create the folder that the new resized image would go in but it doesn’t put a resized image in it. Any help you can provide would be great!!!
Thanks
Kev
G’day Kevin
Yes, it looks like this no longer works with the newer OS versions.
I’ve now got a better version of this script at work. I’ll try to remember to send it to you tomorrow.
In the meantime, replace :
with this :
Hopefully that will work for you in the interim
Thanks for letting me know — I’ll have to update the post
m.
Great. Thanks for the quick reply. I exchanged the code as you directed and now it works. Thanks again. This is so much easier than having to go through Adobe Bridge for batch work.
I googled for “automator create folders from list” and found my way here. I frequently (weekly sometimes daily) have to create many folders using a list of titles in an excel spreadsheet and working an app into this workflow would save time in the long run, even if I am only creating 20 or 30 folders at a time. Sometimes I have to create 150 though!
On its way Owen
m.
I am trying to use automator to create folders from a .csv list in excel (single column) so I would like to try your create folders app pretty please. Just the basic one – at this stage it is a single list, no folder hierarchy involved
Well, since you asked so nicely …
… coming your way Penny
m.
Same as the first user. I work for a photo company and we want to take a list of product and make all the folders up first before we begin shoot.
G’day Brian
This is coming your way now.
m.
Hi,
I need to rename the files imported in Indesign by the ISBN name + Number of page + Position in the page.
I can copy the informations of links and then paste them in Excel.
After, I need your script !!!
Thanks again
G’day Patrice
Sending this to you now.
m.
School administrator here looking to create folders for a list of 350 students. Thanks!
G’day Phil
Sorry for taking so long to get back to you.
macgrunt is a side project that I can only spend time on after hours.
The two CreateFolder apps are coming your way.
m.
It seems pretty common, from the other comments. But, here goes: I’m a photography digital tech (some call it DIT) and I would like your script to create folders from CSVs for photoshoot organizational folders. Specifically for use in Capture One Pro. I’ve used house/client made scripts before, but they’re non-customizable for general purpose.
Thank you!
Yes, you’re right, these have been most often requested to deal with filing images. The other common theme is teachers creating folders for students.
Two scripts are coming your way.
m.
Hi – I am looking for a quick way to create folders from a list in order to file our photo database. Your app seems to do it.
Coming at ya Mike
m.
The company i work with is in the process of creating a asset management system and didn’t want to go with my initial proposal so now it’s crunch time! I looked at trying to do it with terminal or applescript or whatever, but I don’t know the Mac geek speak so I have to trust I can make several hundred folders/subfolders by using a csv file *crossing my fingers* Unfortunately I need this to work like..today. because it’s taking waaay to long to find the solution.
Sorry it’s taken so long to get back to you — I’m on the other side of the world.
Two CreateFolders apps are coming your way.
m.
Where has this script been my whole life!!! I hope I can get it to work it would save me a ton of time and who likes tedious, time consuming tasks?? I intend to use this script to create about 20 folders at a time for placing bracketed exposures in to folders based on a shot list. Thanks!
Coming your way Matt
m.
Hi, I have been looking for a way to make folders from a list for a long time. I do lots of produce labels and get lengthly lists from my client that i have to hand enter or copy and paste individually at best. Your create folder script would be a big help. Thanks! – Jennifer
Ah. my most popular script — on it’s way Jennifer
m.
I’m working on creating a document of items that is produced by importing an xml file. But I need to export the individual items from the database as separate PDF files to have on hand. Seems like this is the best option to do that. Thanks
G’day Tobby
There are a few different approaches to exporting separate PDFs.
I’ll send through my best guess.
m.
Hi,
I have been smashing my head with moving pages to another document for days and I can not figure it out and there is no applescript reference to it :( I have found JS for this but can not use it.
I am creating an applescript app for merging multiple document located in multiple folders and I really don’t know how to define “Move to” dropdown. I have previously been doing scripts for moving pages which is simply done with (move page X to after pageX) but this is killing me :)
I would really appreciate for any kind of suggestion, code snippet or help in any way.
G’day Denis
If I understand you correctly, it should be something like this :
tell application id “com.adobe.InDesign”
set mgDoc to active document
set mgNewDoc to document 2
duplicate pages 3 thru 6 of mgDoc to after page 1 of mgNewDoc
end tell
end tell
Hope that gets you closer.
m.
First of all thank you for your super fast reply!
At the end I was able to solve the problem yesterday – Instead of using “move pages” the solution was “duplicate”.
Again thank you for doing a great job with this page!!! Years ago I started with InDesign automation, making a standalone app for InDesign for creating an automated design layout and exporting content from InDesign for WEB and I wen’t thru f**** hell doing it :) Places like this made my life easier (and still do!).
Best,
D
I work for a non profit called NatureBridge. I plan to use this to create folders for 224 employees.
Coming at you corey.
m.
Hi “macgrunt”,
Just googled my way to you page in my search for a script to create a bunch of folders from a csv-file.
I’m helping a client change from one FTP server software to another, the new server software (crushftp.com) has a feature called “Magick Directory”. This automatically creates a ftp-user if you create a folder within the “Magick Directory” called “username—password—notify_email@address.com”. It sends an e-mail from a predefined template to the new user, telling that their account is ready, and their username+password.
So going from one server to another, where I have all existing users in a cvs-file containing username, password and e-mail, should be a breeze using your script.
So I would really appreciate a copy of you script :-)
G’day Jacob
I just got your message about how you typed the script from the screenshots — good on you mate — 10 points for initiative.
Glad it worked out for you.
Have a good one.
m.
For a certain workflow I often have to create a folder structure from a list. I would be glad to use your script for that!
Regards,
Toni
No worries Toni, sending this through now.
m.
I’m a graphic designer and I regularly do data merges for hundreds price tags. I’d love to get my hands on your droplet to rename them all!
Nonda
Coming at you now Nonda
m.
I have hundreds of photos that need to be stored in folders corresponding to the subjects name. The information for each subject is in an excel spreadsheet that I convert to a csv. Your droplet is just what I need. I had another droplet, but it does not work with Lion.
Sending this to you now Tania
Let me know if you have any dramas
m.
I’m a graphic designer. Interested in doing some file management and creating multiple folders easily. Looks like this may do the job. Thanks.
Coming your way dude.
m.
Hello MacGrunt !
(Sorry for my Bad English…i’m French)
I’ve to create 244 folders from a list (ISO Country) to organize images by folder…
but i’ts very very long to create this manually… i’ve found you’re very Useful Script so…
Can you help me with your AppleScript ? it would be very nice…
Thank’s for your Website !
G’day PGK
I love the way many French people apologise for their ‘Bad English’ despite the fact that their English is often better than many native speakers I know. :-)+)
I will send this app through now.
m.
Great!!
Hi I’m interested in your image processing script – want a more painless way to deal with resizing images than going through photoshop
G’day Neil
I seem to have an updated version of this now.
Will send you a copy — let me know how it works out.
m.
Hi. This is ideal for what I want to do. I have a list of students, and I need to make a folder for each of them, ideally from a spreadsheet, but I can make a text document if that is how it works. Could you let me have CreateFolders.app? Thanks!
G’day Sarah
I’ll flick the two versions to you now.
m.
Hi, Macgrunt –
I came across your site researching how to batch rename files from an excel file as I have to rename thousands of files from old colorcodes to updated colorcodes. Would you be able to send me your script to try out? :)
-Laurie
No worries Laurie
… coming your way
m.
Hi Macgrunt,
This is awesome! I recently took a tedious low level asset production job. This would definitely help take the edge off it and possibly delay the looming carpal tunnel. Please kick me a copy, aye? Thanks in advance!! Much appreciated!
-Travis
No worries Travis.
Just let me know which awesome bit you’re after and I’ll flick it your way.
m.
Hi,
I just started working for a large advertising agency and I am trying to automate as much as possible. We currently resize the document slug to the same dimensions for each document, then drag a slug template from the library. It currently shows Name, Proof no., Client, Date, Job No., Document size then Publication. I think it should be possible to adapt a script like this one to do all of this. Im very new to scripting and have only read your very helpful stuff so far. I’d be really grateful for any help you can give…
Thanks
Iain
G’day Iain
I show two different ways of dealing with a slug form.
lesson 25 shows code for filling out a pre-existing form already on the page.
lesson 27 generates the slug details on the fly.
I’ll flick both of these to you to have a play with.
There should be no problem adapting the first one to integrate smoothly with your existing workflow. Or, you may decide to take an entirely new approach.
I’m happy to give you any assistance you need. You can contact me at macgrunt.au@gmail.com
m.
Hi macgrunt – I recently had to rename more than 600 files by hand. I knew there had to be a better way and maybe your truncate script will be just what I need next time. My file names need the color names removed -or- delete the first space and everything after, but keep the file extension.
old names:
123456789 white-grey.ai
123456789_1 white-grey.ai
new names:
123456789.ai
123456789_1.ai
I don’t know if Truncate will be able to help me with another task as well, a batch of files where I need to delete the first 7 characters, keep the next 6, delete the next character (space/underscore,hyphen) keep the next three and delete the rest.
old name: ABN705_ABN706-301-BLACK-WHITE-GREY.ai
new name: ABN706301.ai
What do you think?
G’day Elaine
We can definitely adapt the renaming script to your other requirement.
As long as there is some kind of consistent pattern (as you’ve described) it can be automated.
I’ll flick you something when I get a chance late tonight (about 12 hours from now).
m.
I have a list of client names (over 150) that I’d like to convert to folders so we can begin organizing all images into client folders. Saw your app and thought I’d give it a shot. Can you help?
No worries mate — it’s on its way.
m.
I would like the truncate script so I can cut down screen shot filenames so they are short and have no spaces so they can be used in a bash script which uses imagemagick to cut out a specific section of the screen from all of them.
Coming at ya Mathew
m.
Hi,
First off, I’d like to tell you that your ‘Renaming Finder Items 2’ explanation has been a great help since it explained the list of lists part which i have had a hard time understanding as i am new to scripting.
Second; my reason for asking you to send me the file. I’ve downloaded lists of various stock prices for the purpose of statistical analysis, but they have downloaded as a series (sheet1, sheet2.. etc). That has been fine til now, as i’ve been able to do things with them in series, but now i need to rename them, use of your script would be of great help.
regards,
Chuck
MG,
You made me a droplet from the PrintAllFiles script, and it’s been working great. But I noticed that I when I drag multiple files to the droplet, the dialog boxes pop up with missing links, or update links. Is there a way to prevent all dialog boxes from popping up and just let the droplet print the files as is?
Thanks
Scott
HA. That’s what you get when you throw a script out there without proper testing.
Change the start of the script so it reads :
See how that one treats you.
m.
Cheers M much aprpeciated
I need to create past completed certificates for 70,000 learners and upload them to new lms.
Managed to get the certificates done using FileMaker Pro but it cant create the folder on export so this kind of script would work perfectly (if I knew how to applescript) to premake the folders for all the learners and then have filemaker send the certs to the correct folders. A donwload link would be greatly appreciated if this still works in mavericks.
Thanks
Adam
G’day Adam
If I’m understanding you correctly, you just want the CreateFolders app from this post : https://macgrunt.com/2011/10/05/create-folders-from-list/
I’ll flick this to you now
m.
HI,
I work with nucleotide sequencing. I have all day to change hundreds of files generated by the sequencer for a numerical list. But sometimes users need the files are generated with names given by them using a list of excel.
Can you help me.
G’day Victor
If it’s as simple as mapping one set of names onto another then the RenameByList script should work for you :
I’ll flick this to you now.
Let me know how it goes.
m.
Hey MG,
I’m looking for a script that will allow me to print multiple InDesign CS4 / CS6 files to a printer. I used to have a droplet that would allow me to drop a bunch of .indd files on it, and it would then ask me which printer preset I wanted to use, followed by what printer to use. It stopped working when we upgraded to a new OS, and my co-worker that originally wrote the script is no longer with us. :(
I ran across your site with the exact thing I was looking for, but couldn’t download it. Is there anyway I get that amazing script from you?
Thanks,
Scott
G’day Scott
I’ll flick this to you now.
m.
Thanks for the help!
Hy Hombre,
I often have to create a lot of folders for some Design or Video Projects, so that I won’t go insane with all of the media assets.
Since I’m an absolute Applescript Newbie I’d be really happy with one of your folder creation scripts :)
Greetings from Austria to Australia!
Ha. Well, we don’t want you going insane do we Philipp.
Will flick that script to you now.
m.
I’m a yearbook adviser at a Middle School and need to rename a bunch of filenames of pictures that were given to me with named with student numbers and give them filenames that match student names instead (using an Excel sheet).
So, I’m hoping to use your rename by list script.
Thanks so much for your help.
Mike
G’day Mike
I’ll flick this to you now.
Love to hear how it works out for you.
m.
Hello Macgrunt. Thanks for your very helpful site. I was able to get the script to work but i have one question. I am trying to save the pdf to the same place as the original indd file and i am having a hard time in trying to figure out how to do this. Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Al
G’day Al
Let me know which script you are using (which lesson you have been working from) and I can step you through it.
m.
Hello M,
This is what i have so far:
tell application “Adobe InDesign CS5.5”
activate
set mgDialog to make dialog with properties {name:”Export preset to use : “}
tell mgDialog
make dialog column
tell the result
set mgExportButtons to make radiobutton group
tell mgExportButtons
make radiobutton control with properties {static label:”Press Quality”, checked state:true}
make radiobutton control with properties {static label:”Standard crop marks .125″}
make radiobutton control with properties {static label:”Standard crop marks .625″}
end tell
end tell
end tell
show mgDialog
if result is true then
set mgExport to selected button of mgExportButtons
destroy mgDialog
else
error number -128
end if
if mgExport is 0 then
set mgExport to “[Press Quality]”
set mgSubFolder to “Prepress Files”
else if mgExport is 1 then
set mgExport to “Standard crop marks .125”
set mgSubFolder to “Standard crop marks .125”
else if mgExport is 2 then
set mgExport to “Standard crop marks .625”
set mgSubFolder to “Standard crop marks .625”
end if
set properties of PDF export preferences to properties of PDF export preset mgExport
set page range of PDF export preferences to all pages
repeat with mgDoc in every document
set mgFolder to file path of active document
tell application “Finder”
if (exists folder mgSubFolder of folder mgFolder) is false then
make new folder at mgFolder with properties {name:mgSubFolder}
end if
end tell
set mgDocName to name of active document
set text item delimiters of AppleScript to “.”
set mgShortName to text item 1 of mgDocName
set text item delimiters of AppleScript to default
set mgFilePath to mgFolder & mgSubFolder & “:” & mgShortName & “.pdf” as string
tell active document
export format PDF type to mgFilePath without showing options
end tell
save active document
close active document
end repeat
end tell
I believe this is lesson 8 and 9.
Thanks,
Al
OK — I think you mean you want the PDF saved at the same level as the InDesign file — not in a subfolder.
If that’s the case, you just remove all references to mgSubfolder
So, you can delete these three lines (although it would make no difference if you left them in — just makes the script longer than necessary) :
set mgSubFolder to “Prepress Files”
set mgSubFolder to “Standard crop marks .125″
and
set mgSubFolder to “Standard crop marks .625″
You definitely want to remove this section (which creates the subfolder) :
tell application “Finder”
if (exists folder mgSubFolder of folder mgFolder) is false then
make new folder at mgFolder with properties {name:mgSubFolder}
end if
end tell
And change this line :
set mgFilePath to mgFolder & mgSubFolder & “:” & mgShortName & “.pdf” as string
to this :
set mgFilePath to mgFolder & mgShortName & “.pdf” as string
See how that works for you
m.
Hello MG,
I made all the corrections that you stated and the script works perfectly! Thank you for the help. It is greatly appreciated!
Al
Hi Macgrunt. I have about 200 files that I need to rename. I have an excel with the current filenames and the new filenames. With a little googling I found your most awesome script. Would you be so kind as to help me out?
Best
David
Will send this through to you now David
I am trying to send a PDF of the current page for a prof and I saw your script and thought I could use that as a base to start from. I have wrote a few jsx scripts but I am new to Apple script and have been learning from your site and others.
If I could have the script from this lesson that would be great
Coming at ya Jeremy
I am an instructor at CSUS and I would like to create folders/subfolders for each of my students from an excel or csv spreadsheet. I have two classes and approximately 60 students. This script will save me A LOT TIME and effort by not having to type all of the names.
Thanks in advance!
G’day Gary
It sounds like you’re after the script from this post : create folders from list
I’ll flick it to you now. Love to hear how it works out for you.
m.
Hello. I’m trying to organize my school and create a folder for each student. So, we can put in the same place all the documents about them.
I’m using OS 10.8. Can you help me
Thank a lot for all this work.
Regards from Belgium
G’day Jean-Marie
I’ll send you the create folders app.
Let me know if you need assistance tailoring it to your needs.
m.
Looking for a way to export multiple records in a loop via applescript from a container field using filemaker. I can export records into a text format file no problem, but not img, png, doc or most media extensions. On each new record landed from the loop the user has to choose the location (usually the same as the last) from the finder window manually. I am already using and applescript to open a new finder window at the beginning of the script and I want to get that first file location the user selects to set a $var so for the remaining records in the loop will open the finder to the $var location. Your applescript might just be the solution I’ve been looking for to complete my crafty script.
Thank you for sharing your expertise.
:-)
G’day Brian
‘expertise’ is a bit strong — I think ‘amateurise’ is probably closer to the truth.
I can’t quite tell from your comment whether you found what you were looking for, or still needed help with completing your script.
m.
Yes I did. Now I just have to create a “chose folder” from finder before this part of the script and all will be well.
Thanks,
Brian
Cool
so you need something like :
global mgLocationset mgLocation to path to desktop
-- code in here to send you into the loop
if mgLocation is (path to desktop) then
set mgLocation to choose folder default location mgLocation
else
set mgLocation to choose folder default location mgLocation
end if
first time through the loop the default location will be the desktop (or whatever you set in that second line), then after that it will be whatever the user chose the first time. you don’t need a ‘tell finder’ block to run “choose folder”.
hope that gets you closer Brian
have a good one
m.
Hi, I’m Verónica from Chile!
I have a lot of pictures and I need to create a lot of folders to put the pictures in them
For example
100_01.jpg , 100_02.jpg , 100_03.jpg in a folder named “100”
200_01.jpg , 200_02.jpg , 200_03.jpg in a folder named “200”
300_01.jpg , 300_02.jpg , 300_03.jpg in a folder named “300”
Do you know how can I Do this?
There are too many “categories” (100, 200, 300, etc), so I can’t do it manually, but I can make a list with those names in excel.
(sorry for my english)
Thanks!
Hi Verónica
Your english is much better than many who speak the language natively.
If you just want to create a bunch of folders, and you can put the folder names in text file, then you just need this script (which I will send to you now).
Moving the images into the folders is slow with applescript — I’ve always found it’s quicker to do it by hand.
I hope that’s what you’re looking for.
m.
I’ve actually put together a script that works quite “fast” (at least on OSX Mountain Lion) that moves files from one folder to the corresponding folder in another folder.
So files from FOLDER1 are moved into a subfolder within FOLDER2. Right now the script checks if the first 7 characters of the subfolder in FOLDER 2 match the first 7 characters of the file in FOLDER 1. (But that can easily be changed into the first 3 characters for Verónica’s situation)
Hope the story above make sense…
Anyway here’s a link to the script:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/sg9lo708e8i9gev/Move%20File%20to%20Corresponding%20folder.scpt
Roy Bax
That looks good Roy.
On the few occasions I’ve had to shift stuff around I’ve made the mistake of trying to do it through the Finder (such is the ignorance of amateur scripting).
I reckon that’s a good starting point for Verónica’s workflow.
Thanks for sharing this dude.
m.
Thanks!
I just received your mail.
My problem with the folders is that I have like 30.000 categories, so, they are like 70.000 pictures …. it’s too much work to do it manually :P
So you’ll have 30,000 folders, each with only 2 or 3 images inside?
Roy Bax has just shared a script which works nicely : https://www.dropbox.com/s/sg9lo708e8i9gev/Move%20File%20to%20Corresponding%20folder.scpt
In its current form it relies on the images being in one folder to start with and the destination folders already existing (which you could use the other script for).
You would need to change this line:
set prefix to text 1 thru 6 of aName
to this
set prefix to text 1 thru 3 of aName
It asks you to select two folders — the first one is the one containing the images and the second one is the folder that contains the destination folders (hope that makes sense).
If that doesn’t match your workflow, we could probably adapt Roy’s script to suit.
Hope this gets you closer
m.
Hi
I like the one from the above, the photographer. I take pictures for the goods online store. And in my job I have to rename 200 images a day. I change the technical name of the tether on the bar code of goods.
I was looking for a quick way to do this job when I found your article on.
I would be happy to use your script for my project.
G’day Pavel
I think you’re looking for the file renaming scripts.
Will flick these to you now.
Would love to hear how it works out for you.
m.
I’m working on an iOS project with a Rails backend, so I find myself going back and forth between Xcode, Finder, etc. for iOS stuff and iTerm & ST for Ruby. I wanted an easy way to grab finder paths, looks like this will do the trick!
I’m after a script as per lesson 27 that will generate a slug that generates file name, date, person who is doing the work, size of document and finally a specific folder within the file structure (ie Working when in design stage and Finished Art)
G’day Graham
I’ll flick this to you now.
m.
Awesome thanks for that, will let you know how I go
Cheers
G
I’d really like to try your image labeling script on a book I’ve just made. I need to provide all the image’s with a filename caption and it will probably go a heck of a lot faster than doing it manually with (live) captions.
G’day Roy
I’ll flick this script to you now. It’s a good one because it creates a paragraph style for the labels — making it easy to restyle the text after the script has run. It’s also a fairly simple script, so it’s a good one to play around with if you’re just getting into scripting
Hope it gets you where you want to go..
m.
Thanks a lot!
I’ve been able to adjust the script here and there with some of your lessons on this website. I already had a paragraph style and layer called “captions” in most of my documents so the script now refers to that style and layer. I also made a duplicate script that basically does the same, but without a dialog box and it goes through all the open documents.
I haven’t been able though to make a version of the script that batch processes a folder (or subfolders) of InDesign files
Roy
nice work Roy
it’s great to hear the base scripts are being used to create new versions — that was the whole idea of the scripting lessons.
there are other clues on this site for how to batch process a folder of files.
eg: https://macgrunt.com/2012/10/13/renaming-finder-items-iii/
happy to show you a complete solution — but it sounds like you’re having fun working it out yourself.
have a good one mate.
m.
I am a DIT, and both create folders and ii would help much with creating anywhere from 10-400 folders for photo shoots i work on. A lot of times i can get good clients to give me line list of product we are shooting, and then i can create barcodes to go with them, this will help a lot with the structures and save a lot of typing.
G’day Eric
Looks like I should start selling these ones — they seem like to most popular.
I’ll flick them to you now. Love to hear how they work out for you.
m.
Your createfolder.app would be extremely helpful for my workflow. I work in video and graphics and my latest project is to create end credit .png sequences. However, I need to create separate folders for each unique sequence.
Flicking two options to you now Cam.
Love to hear how it works out for you.
m.
Hello!
I receive an excel spreadsheet of filenames that need to be applied to pre-exisiting files. I do this manually and came across your solution here: https://macgrunt.com/2011/09/23/renaming-finder-items-ii/
I couldn’t ask for a better solution.
Glad you found something useful here Matthew.
Will flick you the script now — let me know how it goes.
m.
CreateFolders script is exactly what i’ve been looking for. I’m cleaning up our server after years of files being unorganized. My company has always used a numbering method for keeping our jobs organized say “0130 – jonny plumbing” for example. Now i’m trying to get all the files from 0000-3000 with subfolder based on client name under an ABCDEFG structure. The short and sweet of it is my accounting software can pull out my client list in a .CSV based on the fiscal year i need. Your script would make it far easier than COPY and PASTE for hundreds of clients.
Am i worthy of the script.:)
Chris
ah — of course grasshopper.
every person is worthy — but some are more worthy than others (ancient saying).
i’ll flick it to ya tonight, a’right? (modern saying).
m.
Hi,
I’m an artist and a complete novice to scripting and I appreciate greatly the simple language and clarity of the tutorials here. So many books and manuals profess to be for novices like myself but then they’ll use a little bit of jargon that sends me scuttling off to ‘Professor Google”!
Thanks very much!
g’day Marty. the jargon can be a bit off-putting when you first start out, but it will eventually all click into place. so far i’ve only bought one applescripting book — Applescript 1-2-3 — an excellent resource for us beginners. everything else has been trial and error with lots of help from online forums — especially macscripter (which is good because it’s all applescript) and the adobe indesign scripting forum (which is good because it’s all indesign). start off with small snippets for simple tasks and in no time you’ll be creating full blown complex workflows like my pride and joy — the calendars scripts. have fun with it dude. m.
Sure man sound like a win win
Where should I send them
beauty. macgrunt.au@gmail.com
i’ll flick you something tonight when i get home from work.
if you’ve got particular ones you’re interested in — let me know.
m.
Hey MacGrunt,
I work in the design industry doing file preparation day in day out.
I have written 20+ scripts to save time in file set up, file placement and naming, adding pockets in indesign, saving e-proofs for customers, saving out print files, adding cut layouts, adding file names in a document and color profiling. I happened upon you site while doing a google search about scripting and long behold just about every lesson script that you have on here is along the same line of workflow that I script around.
I was disappointed to see that I could not download the scripts in whole, so as to adapt and learn so that I can use these in my workflow here and save me even more time.
Most scripts that I have written are for indesign but I also have written scripts to mount our network share drives, illustrator layout settings, photoshop functionalities, and finder rename items and batch processing.
I have been doing applescript for about 2 years self taught most of the way learning from others scrips online and adapting and writing my own to accommodate our needs here in the office.
I was hoping to get access to the scripts in your lessons here to help me learn new techniques and expand and adapt to our workflow to save us even more time. I was excited when I can across this site because there are so many uses for scripting out there but you and my needs seem to be right in line.
Thanks again for having this online i have already learned so much.
Matt D.
cool — maybe we can do a trade-off.
send me your top five favourite scripts and i’ll flick you a bunch.
what do you reckon?
m.
Thanks for posting the AppleScript for TruncatedFilenames! I was able to modify it to suit my special case of using only the first 13 characters and also changing the extension.
no worries tim
it’s great to hear how others are adapting my stuff to their own workflow.
thanks for the feedback mate.
m.
This is exactly what I have been looking for!
I am in a support role within a creative department and this is a HUGE time saver for me.
I need to rename a list of data merged .pdf files from the generic “part 1”, “part 2″… to a specific name list I have been provided in an excel file.
Thanks for offering this really valuable tool!
R
glad you found something useful here ryan.
i learned this stuff through the generosity of a whole bunch of talented people on forums and whatnot — sharing their knowledge. now i have just enough knowledge myself to start sharing back.
i appreciate your feedback dude. have a good one.
m.
Quick update.
I ran the script this morning and it worked like a charm! (BIG THANKS again).
**I did need to make a few small adjustments to the original script though to make it complete the file name change**
:::Summary:::
1. At the top of the script:
Update the TELL application to “Microsoft Excel”
2. In the next line below:
Update the GET to “Active Sheet”
– and –
the OF to “Active Workbook”
3. In the second line below:
Update the TELL to “Active Sheet”
– and –
the OF to “Active Workbook”
4. In the next line below:
Update the TELL to “usedrange” (no space between)
– and –
the second ‘TO’ to “countrows” (no space between)
5. Click on the “Compile” hammer icon at the top.
Ta-Da! – Your script should be ready to go.
Thanks MG!
R
awesome — thanks for the update ryan.
i noticed those anomalies last time i opened the script (because i don’t have excel at home) but had hoped that just closing without saving would have maintained the original script — obviously not.
i’m updating this now so that my next poor victim doesn’t have to go through that nonsense.
the “used range” thing is interesting — it must be something to do with the version of excel.
all the best to you
m.
nice functional utility tutorial.
i’m looking for the basic code to write a script that will rename the file that ScreenCapture creates that actually makes sense – like YYMMDD-HHMMSS.png.
this code will take me a long way with the funkier parts about time-date business.
g’day dave
have you looked at :
?
m.
Thank you for your AppleScript tutorials. I am using the default scripts provided by apple for converting to jpg and I modified it to provide a jp2. The problem is the “Image Events” doesn’t allow for compression control. I am not sure how to convert the script to use sips instead. Any advice?
G’day thorsted
it looks like these are the two relevant bits from the sips manual :
so you’d need something like :
do shell script sips -s format jp2 -s formatOptions high {reference to file you're processing}the file reference needs to be a POSIX path.
hope that gets you a little closer
m.
Hey man:
We want use your script, I work at a small photo department, we create a new server and I need to put a list of products ( the names) into the server , in the server I need to create numerically from 001 to whatever the number and give to each product a number
saw your page , and it seems I can use right?
Best,
alejandro armas
G’day Alejandro
Glad you found something useful here.
It sounds like you’re looking for the CreateFolders app.
This creates a whole bunch of folders based on your list of names saved in a text file.
I’ll send you a copy of that — see if it’s what you’re looking for.
m.
I need to export a couple of single pages with fixed typos on to send to printers – whole document is nearly 2 gig, so exporting the entire pdf wastes a lot of upload time! Your script will hopefully enable me to do that and then get to bed!
Dude. You don’t need a script for that. Just specify the individual pages in the export dialog.
m.
G’day Matt
Sorry I couldn’t flick you the script earlier — macgrunt.com is a side-project which I can’t spend time on during work hours.
The script you requested won’t just work straight out of the box — it’s one that you have to alter to suit your own workflow. This is not the sort of thing you want to be trying to get sorted when you’re on a deadline and sleep deprived.
You’ll need to look at these lessons to work out how to tailor the script :
Play around with it and I’m sure it will come in handy next time you’re under the pump.
Have a good one.
m.