Child Item

Dropbox using (2) different Naming Conventions and Date Formats

Hello,

Recently Dropbox has been uploading photos with different file names and date formats. Example: some files will be named "2022-04-07 17.07.01" and others will be named "Photo Apr 07 4 29 40". All photos were taken on the same device (iPhone). Also, all photos are uploading to multiple computers in an office, is this a syncing issue or something else? I have already gone into settings and set Date Format preferences to "YYYY-MM-DD".

Thank you 🙂

Find more posts tagged with

Desktop

Camera Uploads

Mobile

Sync

Insightful

Agree

Closed - Partially Delivered

Accepted answers

Jay

Hi @delraybeachplasticsurgery, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

If you're using the camera upload feature, all images will have the '2022-04-07 17.07.01' format, whereas images uploaded via the manual upload feature, or by dragging and dropping, will have the original filename on them, which could be similar to the 'Photo Apr 07 4 29 40' you saw.

If you need any further assistance, please let me know!

All comments

Jay

Hi @delraybeachplasticsurgery, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

If you need any further assistance, please let me know!

oceanside22

Excuse me, but you’re saying that pictures uploaded from the camera are named in a way and pictures uploaded manually from the app are named in a different way.

But we already noticed that. Can you kindly comment on the Why??

what is the logic in that? The pictures end up all out of order! It’s a mess!

is there any benefit or reason for the naming format being different? Is there an option in settings to chose wich format we want??

oceanside22

Please a litle help.
I can’t find the setting to change the file name formatting. Currently my dropbox app uses something like “Photo August 17 2023 3 45 PM” but this format causes a sorting issue, as August will be listed before January.

I would like the automatic format to be 2023 08 17. Is there a way to set this??

Can you share how do you sort your files?

Calvin2DBX

Hi @oceanside22,

Thanks for reaching out!

Glad to clarify about the automated name changes.

Files you add, manually, will keep whatever names they had originally. There is no automation, unlike when Camera Uploads is used, so they don't change, unless you add a custom name rule to the destination folder yourself.

You can specify a format for automating name changes in any folder you like, with the steps from here: https://help.dropbox.com/organize/naming-conventions

Hope that helps!

oceanside22

Thank you for responding. I tried this, but it only worked for uploads via dropbox.com,

when I upload via the ipad app, names are still “photo august 17 2023… “ any ideas what could be wrong?

also when I try to apply the “set naming convention” to a folder that contains folders, that option is not there, do I have to do it for each individual folder?

thanks

Jay

Hi @oceanside22, could you clarify again, are you using the automatic camera upload feature, or manually uploading images via the iPad?

Each folder has their own naming conventions, which aren't inherited from the parent folder.

oceanside22

Manually uploading with the ipad app, names them different than uploading via dropbox.com

is there not universal setting for ALL uploads?? Seems logic. Why would we want different naming for different devices??

Jay

Each device has their own method of saving images, even different iOS or Android devices have different naming formats for images.

When uploading manually, the original filename from the device is kept. If you're using the camera upload feature, regardless of your device, then Dropbox would rename the file to YYYY-MM-DD HH.MM.SS (and the extension would be different based on the original file).

oceanside22

“When uploading manually, the original filename from the device is kept”- This is not true, when I upload manually the file name is changed to “Photo August 17 2023” Manually is my preferred method of uploading pictures. (iphone and ipad)

“Each device has their own method of saving images, even different iOS or Android devices have different naming formats for images.” This defeats the idea that Dropbox is a seamless solution across devices. The photos will be all messed up. You can argue that different devices have different formats, but we are uploading using the same dropbox app, wich should be able to handle all formats and “remember” the file name format my account wants.

“If you're using the camera upload feature, regardless of your device, then Dropbox would rename the file to YYYY-MM-DD HH.MM.SS.” This is the format that I and many others want for every photo uploaded. Why should this be so difficult to implement. I already tried the “Naming convention” thing. Firts of all, it didn’t work, the convention is there, but still when uploading, the naming format remained the same as before. Second, we need to set up this formulas for each individual folder! Such a waste of time, assuming it would work, so far it hasn’t.

The simple question is, Why can’t Dropbox, who is already renaming all my files in any folder to “August 17 2023”, rename them to “2023-08-17” instead. Why is this so difficult to set up??

oceanside22

I would like the automatic format for all devices to be 2023 08 17. as it is for dropbox.com
Is there a way to set this??

Can you share how you sort your files?

oceanside22

I already tried several times, different folders, but the naming convention doesn’t affect Video Files. See attached photo.

why?? Is this a bug?? Am I the only one with this issue???

Walter

Hey @oceanside22, sorry to jump in here.

I just wanted to mention that we checked back with the team and here's what we found:

When you manually upload files, you know exactly what/where you are uploading. With automatic uploads, photos/videos across all your devices are being uploaded to that single Camera Uploads folder.

It would be hard to figure out which file is which, different manufactures may follow a different naming convention for the files (like IMG_001.png, CAPTURE_*, etc), so that's why Dropbox normalizes this by renaming all the files from all the different devices using one convention. That should make it easier to locate the photos/videos you are looking for by checking the timestamp in the name.

I hope this information helps!

oceanside22

I’ve been trying for a while but it just doesnt work. Am I the only one having this issue? Please let me know of you got this to work and how please.
I’m organizing photos using a naming convention, so every file gets renamed with the date taken. It works perfectly but not for videos. Every photo gets renamed but the videos are not, even though the notifications say they have been renamed. (I’ve done many tests with only one video or a few in a folder, and it says the files were renamed but they’re not) This error only happens with video files.
I’ve tried different folders, uploading from different sources (web,app,mobile).
Can anybody help??
The naming convention I need is “2023-09-16 etc” “date taken”.
I’ve tried different ones and none of them work for video files.
Please help.

Megan

Hey @oceanside22, happy Monday!

Did you have the chance to take a look at what my colleague, @Walter mentioned above in this similar thread about your case?

Keep me posted!

oceanside22

It is not similar. Of you could take the time to read it.
We’re pass the issue of dropbox naming the files differently depending of the device.
We are using naming automation so no matter the device the files get renamed.
THE PROBLEM NOW is it works for every file expect video files.

BenDBX

Hi @oceanside22,

I've raised your issue with our engineering team, who is attempting to reproduce it in order to troubleshoot. We need to confirm a few more details.

Which folder are you uploading these photos to? Is it a default Camera Uploads folder, or a different folder?
What device or devices are you using to upload these photos?

If you would prefer to share this information privately, I can reach out via a support ticket.

Regards,

Ben

petemvoss

I'm only here in June 2024 because my automatic camera uploads stopped working a few days ago. Force-feeding them (manually) appends the "Photo" file naming prefix, which I don't prefer.

With that I'd like to find the root cause of why my auto stopped working. No, I have enough storage space, which is usually the culprit. I reset my phone, restarted the ios app, etc. etc. and even updated my password. Still sleuthing. 2024-06-28.

Walter

Hey @petemvoss - sorry to hear about this.

Can you please clarify your device's OS version, and the version of the Dropbox mobile app installed there?

Have you tried clearing the app's cache and signing out and back into your account?

Also, what happens when you navigate your Photos tab in the app on your iOS device?

petemvoss

Thanks Walter. Turns out my ios Dropbox app had limited permissions to photos. For some reason something limited this setting on June 25th. I'm back in business with full permissions and using the native file names without the "Photo" prefix, and cleared the app's cache per your suggestion.

Regards,

Pete

Walter

I'm glad to hear it's sorted now and thanks for keeping me in the loop too, Pete.

Have a lovely week ahead and see you around!

micawber

Okay, but WHY does Dropbox use two different naming conventions? And why is there not yet and automated feature to rename the files from one naming convention to the other?

Please please!