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Can I automatically rename files within a folder based on their added date/username?

Dear Dropbox Gurus,

I am setting up a folder where members of my team will be able to upload data from an external system that we will use for other processes. What I would like to do is unify the file names and if possible have Dropbox automatically rename the files to a standardized format without relying on the user to do this.

We would like to have the files named in the following format:

"BW_Scoring_Data_"{FileTime Stamp Format YYYYMMDD_HHNN - use date/time from file if exists/otherwise use current date/time}_{UserName}.{fileExtension}

So for example: if I had uploaded the file "BW+Score+Recorder+-+with+AI_April+20,+2025_09.52 (1a).xml"

I would like to have it renamed: BW_Scoring_Data_20250420_0952_GaryH_BAR01.xml

Is this possible to set up via Dropbox Automation? If so, how?

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Comments

Nancy

Welcome back to the Community, @GaryH_BAR01.

At the moment, it’s not possible to create an automation that adds the name of the user who uploaded the file to the filename.

However, you can have the files within the folder be automatically renamed according to the date they were added to Dropbox, or the date they were captured (for media files).

There’s also the option to separate words with underscores (from the “Set naming convention” window).

You can see more info on naming conventions and how to use them from this Help Center article, and test if they help with what you’d like to achieve.

Other than that, I’ll be here for any questions you may have.

GaryH_BAR01

Hi @Nancy

Thank you for your reply. I understand not being able to add the username (although that would be a nice add on to keep track of who is uploading the files in a shared folder).

A) Is there a way to not have it keep the existing file name?
Is there a way to not have a "." between hours and minutes? The reason I ask is that VBA / MS Access is not very receptive to file names with a "." other than before the file extension.

So that the file name would become BW_Scoring_Data_20250420_0952.xml

Here is what I have so far