Can Lightroom 4 automatically create import folders using the shoot date and custom shoot name?

Question

I want Lightroom 4 to import files into a structure like this:

YYYY/YYYY-MM-DD_name_of_shooting/YYYY-MM-DD_name_of_shooting_001.nef

The date should come from the photo’s capture date, and during import I’d like to enter only the shoot name once.

I already have a file renaming template that uses Custom Text so the filenames are created correctly. The problem is the destination folder: Lightroom can create date-based folders, but I still have to manually type the subfolder name that includes both the date and the shoot name.

Can Lightroom 4 use the custom text field in the destination folder name during import, or is there a workaround?

user26144 · Answer

You can change any of the default-Lightroom patterns to accomodate your desired folder structure.

This will generate the folder structure and date pattern for you. You still need to rename the last folder to put in the shooting name.

You need to change the file "TranslatedStrings.txt", which is located within the following path: (Lightroom 3)

On Windows: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop Lightroom x.x\Resources\de 
On Mac: /Applications/Adobe Lightroom x.app/Contents/Resources/de

(Lightroom 5)

On Mac: /Applications/Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.app/Contents/Resources/de.lproj

Within that file, Search for Strings like

"$$$/AgImportDialog/ShootArrangement_1/Label=Nach Datum: 2005\12-17"
"$$$/AgImportDialog/ShootArrangement_1/Template=%Y/%m-%d"

For each of the 13 Templates, there are these two keys. Now customize it in the following way: Label specifies the text that will be shown in the box if you select this template Template specifies the actual pattern.

You can use the following placeholders:

%a
Shortened Weekday (“Mon”)
%A
Full Weekday (“Montag”)
%b
Shortened Month (“Sep”)
%B
Full Month (“September”)
%d
Day with leading zero (“09″)
%e
Day without leading zero (“9″)
%m
Month with leading zero (“08″)
%y
year with two digits (“11″)
%Y
year with four digits (“2011″)

This change is not really officially supported, and an update of Lightroom will most likely break it (e. g. The file gets replaced and/or moved).

I found that tweak some time ago on an german blog: lightroom-blog.de

This will get your folder structure right, but I have no idea how to rename the files automatically.

Can Lightroom 4 automatically create import folders using the shoot date and custom shoot name?

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