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Screenshot file naming format changed out of the blue

Hello-

Out of the blue, Dropbox changed the filename format it uses when capturing and saving screenshots from a Mac. Like so many changes Dropbox made, there was no warning, there is no manual control, and it has negative impacts on workflow.

The old format used to be:

"Screenshot YYYY-MM-DD HH.MM.SS" where the 24 hour clock was used

The new format is:

"Screen Shot YYYY-MM-DD at H.MM.SS AM/PM" were the 12 hour clock is used

This seemingly minor change has file sorting implications. Changing the beginning of the file name had a impact on file sorting, but switching from the 24 to 12 hour clock sorts the resulting files within 12 hour blocks rather than 1 day blocks. We capture regular screenshots and archive them and finding them by exact date and time used to be no problem. Now, with the new system, files are getting mixed up.

Can this either be reversed, or simply revert to the 24 hour clock but keep the additional fields? Or, best yet, GIVE THE USER SOME CONTROL???

Thank you,

Dave

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Walter

Hi @lauschke; welcome to our Community!

I'm sorry for the late reply; your post was marked as spam, probably due to its length.

Could you please let me know when you first noticed this happening and which version of our desktop app you're using on your Mac?

If you post a screenshot of an example too, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks a bunch!

fedelinn

Hi,

I'm having the same issue and it's impacting me as well, so changing it back to what it was or allowing the user to set it manually would be ideal

I'm using Dropbox version 103.4.383 on Mojave and noticed it today, here's an example of both the old and new way

aeblin

Just ran into this issue as well, the file sorting issues on this are pretty frustrating. Would love the ability to control this change, or a reversion of it. Not really sure there's any usability benefit here.

Ale_G

Same problem here. Thought it was me messing with terminal and finder, glad to know I'm not alone. Sorting I was used to is now gone.

By the way I think the current new naming scheme is the default osX uses. The problem is we have been accustomed to what dropbox gave us from the beginning (+1200 screenshots to date).

Dropbox v105.3.379 on El Capitan

davidscottsmith

I just discovered this problem as well! It started on August 8th for me. (I have a screenshot on Aug 5 with the old naming, Aug 8 with new naming.)

Would love for the old naming system to come back! I have 4,000 screenshots, and this change messes up years of "automatic" filing across multiple computers!

Please put the original naming convention back!

Thank you!

xrys

I've been having this problem for a few weeks and it is very frustrating. The problem began sometime between August 2nd and Augst 12th. Where the files used to be named "Screenshot year-month-day hour.min.second" they are now named "Screen Shot year-month-day at hour.min.second". I looked through both Dropbox and Mac preferences/settings to see if screenshot naming convention could be controlled, and that does not appear to be possible. The new naming appears to be the Mac default naming convention.

Running: Mac OS Mojave, 10.14.5. Dropbox version: 104.4.175.

For screenshots, I use the default Mac screenshot tools. For viewing files on Dropbox, I use the "Open folder in Finder" option instead of the Dropbox desktop app. I use column view for the Finder which uses file name for sorting. This is my preferred workflow, and Dropbox's screenshot integration has been an important feature for me since 2011. It was one of the features that made me choose Dropbox over other options. This change to the screenshot file name greatly impacts my workflow and incentivizes me to look at other services. I'm paying too much for this kind of a problem to be happening.

If this is a Mac problem, then fine, but please have your people look into this so that we can know where the issue lies.

Lusil

Hey everyone, thanks for your ongoing reports on this.

It seems that this is OS specific, so we'd recommend contacting Apple for more information on the matter.

I understand that this may not be the ideal reply you were looking for, but let us know if you have any other questions. Thanks again!

fedelinn

Uh, why would/should we contact Apple when the change was on your end?

I haven't updated macOS since May, and this change was done entirely by a Dropbox update a couple of weeks ago at the beginning of August.

This is something you guys should fix.

Walter

Thanks for getting back to us @fedelinn.

I'm not sure if this will do the trick for you, but I found an article with information on how to change the date format in your screenshots filenames:

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/245771/change-date-time-format-in-the-screen-shot-filename

Could you give it a go and let us know how it goes?

Thanks!

paulhenman

Thanks for the tip on changing the time format.

I asked in the Apple forum how to change the text - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251714867

The answer is:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture name "Screenshot"
killall SystemUIServer

So now the format looks like "Screenshot 2020-08-22 at 10.18.35.png" - almost back to where I want it.

I haven't worked out how to remove "at" between date and time though.... yet

https://henman.ca/2020/08/22/macos-screenshot-naming-format-has-changed/