Renaming with alphabetic numbering

[rcrigan]

I'm about to update my ancient iMatch 5 and would like to know if its rename ability covers my needs for which I currently use Directory Opus, a file manager. It would be nice to carry out upload, rename and triage all in Imatch.
I rename pictures to an eleven letter template: xxxddddddAA where:
xxx are three letters representing my studio name
dddddd are six digits representing the day the photos were made, YYMMDD
AA are two letters of the alphabet from A to Z, a unique pair for each photo on that day. The first photo of the day is AA, the second AB, the third AC. After twenty-six photos the first letter rolls over and the twenty-seventh is BA, twenty-eighth BB and so on.
This gives over six hundred names for each day. It's not enough for many photogs but sufficient for my needs.
The obvious advantage of this scheme is that the date is Immediately evident without looking at the file's EXIF content. And also that sorting by date is automatic should that be what you want.
A big advantage for me, less obvious, is that when sorting files or selecting a file for editing I need only take note of the last two characters of its filename. There's less chance of misreading or misremembering HM say than 091356.
Please excuse the long exposition. My question is,  can IMATCH 2021 do this? I'd be mightily impressed but it does almost everything else so...
Thanks for reading so far.
Robert, SE Australia

[sinus]

A big advantage for me, less obvious, is that when sorting files or selecting a file for editing I need only take note of the last two characters of its filename. There's less chance of misreading or misremembering HM say than 091356.

Interesting, Robert.
But to be fair for the numbers, I think, you should compare

HM not with 091356, but with 356.
Because you would to have use only a 3-digit-number at the end, to achieve more uniqe files, as with your letter-system (999 versus over 600).

I speak often with clients, what photos must be choosen, and from my experience, a 3-digit-number-system (hey, is 481 better than 283?) is not problems for people to communicate, even a 4-digit-number is ok, but not more that good is a 5-digit-system

Unfortunately I do not know, how we can solve your unique system. I would like to help, but I simply do not know, how.
I wonder, if this is possible, I have no clue.

Hope, you get some hints for solving your problem.

[rcrigan]

Thanks Sinus. your point about comparing apples with apples is valid but it presupposes the three digits are a number, part of a series from O01 to 999. This is fine but it loses the date advantage.
You make a good point in needing a simple and unambiguous way of referring to a file. In my view letters are intrinsically easier but numbers up to a triplet are equally simple. I once had a client who was dyslexic. I insisted on read back and then read back again before the end of the phone conversation.

[sinus]

I guess, my naming-system is quite complex, for some too complicated :-)

https://www.photools.com/community/index.php?topic=1644.0

As a remark: delivering files for clients I do usually only give files with a 4-digit-number, like 3712 (sometimes even only 3).
With my workflow I find then maybe instead only 1 file more files, say 5-10 files.
But it is no problem then, to see the correct file immediately.

The reason is, I want make like for my clients easier   

[Mario]

For renaming files in IMatch, please see The Renamer
The Renamer offers powerful features for renaming files, including full support for IMatch Variables, folder creation on-the-fly, copying and moving files.

Tip: The IMatch Help System is very good and a quick search for rename immediately brings up all the info you need.

[rcrigan]

Thanks Mario. The Help file should always be the first recourse but some of us need reminding.
Robert

[Mario]

The Renamer has no feature to produce numbers from letters like AA...AZ.
You need to use some other software for this purpose. I have never seen a number schema using this and it was never requested.

[rcrigan]

Question answered promptly and succinctly Mario. Yes it's an odd request and I'm the only one I know using such a system.  Thanks for your time.

[ubacher]

It was not mentioned that you could do your renaming as wanted with a javascript app.

(I see this kind of request here frequently: one wants to maintain a certain "workflow" when switching to
Imatch. I call it the "Legacy Problem". I still use Imatch the way I started with Imatch 3. This means I do not
use many of the new features Imatch now has because to convert my existing setup would be too difficult
and starting a new way would mean having two different ways of handling my files - not practical!
)

[Mario]

Question answered promptly and succinctly Mario. Yes it's an odd request and I'm the only one I know using such a system.  Thanks for your time.

Yes, this AA...ZZ naming scheme is pretty unusual. Feel free to add a feature request in the feature request board. If several other users also would like to have this, I will look into  it.

[Mario]

because to convert my existing setup would be too difficult
and starting a new way would mean having two different ways of handling my files - not practical!

IMatch does not enforce a specific workflow but tries to integrate into whatever workflow you have.
New users come to IMatch all the time, with different workflow requirements. Private users have very different workflows than professional photographers, as do scientists or librarians or artisans.

Every user users probably 50% of the features IMatch offers - but every user uses different 50%...