Photos
Organize photos by date and sequence number
Camera filenames are unique but rarely meaningful. A date plus sequence pattern keeps photos chronological, portable, and easy to search later.
Choose a stable photo naming pattern
A good photo filename should still make sense after it leaves Rename.Tools. Put the date first, then a padded sequence number, then an optional place, client, event, or camera label.
Use four-digit years and two-digit months and days. That keeps alphabetical sorting aligned with time order in Finder, Explorer, cloud drives, NAS folders, and media backup tools.
Decide whether the name should describe when the photo was taken, where it belongs, or both. For personal albums, date plus location is usually enough. For client work, add the project or shoot name so exported files remain recognizable.
DSC_0007.JPG2026-05-22_001_tokyo.JPGIMG_1842.HEIC2026-05-22_002_tokyo.HEICBuild the rule chain
Use Find & Replace or Remove to strip camera prefixes when they do not carry useful meaning. Then use Sequence with padding so every file receives a predictable number.
For albums that should keep the original camera order, sort by name before numbering. For mixed phone and camera photos, sort by modified time or EXIF date when metadata is available.
- 1Import only the photo folder or filter the file list to image extensions.
- 2Set Scope to Name so extensions such as .jpg and .heic remain unchanged.
- 3Add a cleanup rule for camera prefixes such as IMG_, DSC_, or PXL_.
- 4Add a Sequence rule with padding set to 3 or 4.
- 5Use a template like {date}_{n}_trip or {exif.date}_{n}_trip when EXIF metadata is loaded.
- 6Keep extension scope on filename only unless you intentionally want to change extensions.
When EXIF metadata helps
If the photos include EXIF dates, load metadata and prefer EXIF date variables over today's date. This is useful when files were copied, downloaded, exported from a phone, or edited after they were taken.
EXIF is not guaranteed. Screenshots, social media exports, edited images, and some HEIC conversions may have missing or changed metadata. Keep a fallback workflow that uses folder names, today's date, or manual event labels.
When EXIF dates differ from file modified times, trust the value that matches your organizing goal. For a vacation album, capture date is usually better. For a delivery folder, export date may be more useful.
Quality check before renaming photos
Before execution, scan the first few and last few preview rows. This catches sorting mistakes, especially when filenames include numbers with different lengths.
If the preview includes non-photo files, stop and filter the list. Mixing photos, documents, and videos in one sequence can create technically valid names that are not useful later.
- 1Confirm every target name begins with the intended date.
- 2Confirm sequence numbers are padded consistently, such as 001, 002, and 003.
- 3Confirm .jpg, .png, .heic, and .raw-style extensions were not rewritten.
- 4Switch to Affected Only and scan for files that should have stayed unchanged.
Vacation/IMG_0421.jpgVacation/2026-05-22_001_tokyo.jpgKeeping the event folder and adding a sortable filename gives you two useful organization layers.
Separate photos by source when needed
Phone photos, DSLR files, screenshots, RAW exports, and edited copies often need different naming rules. If one rule chain starts getting complicated, split the files into smaller batches instead of forcing every case into one workflow.
For example, camera photos may use EXIF date plus sequence, screenshots may use the modified date, and edited exports may use a project label plus version number. Smaller batches produce cleaner names and make preview review faster.
- 1Use folders or filters to separate camera photos, screenshots, and edited exports.
- 2Create one preset for capture-based names and another for export-based names.
- 3Keep RAW and edited JPEG files in separate batches if they should not share the same sequence.
- 4Use a short event label only when the folder name alone is not enough context.
Edits/final_export_3.jpgclient-a_2026-05-22_v03.jpgEdited exports often benefit from version labels more than capture-time names.
Ready to try the workflow?
Open Rename.Tools, add a few sample files, and preview every rule before touching the real filenames.