Batch Processing Using Adobe Bridge

Alternative Resources

For a more in-depth understanding of this topic, we recommend the following School of Print Media class: Digital Asset Management. If you have questions, please consult your instructor or a DPC Customer Service Representative (CSR).

Important Facts

When indexing a large number of images, it may be beneficial to create a file naming convention for better organization. This first tutorial will walk you through the steps required to rename multiple files in one step using Adobe Bridge CS3.

Actions created in Photoshop can be performed on multiple images through Adobe Bridge. This includes resizing images to a standard size, performing color conversion, running filters on several images at once, and you can create other actions using Photoshop. The only pre-requisite is that you have to first create these actions in Photoshop before Bridge can perform them. Once this has been done, you can follow the second set of instructions to batch apply the action using Adobe Bridge CS3.

How to Bacth Rename Files

In Adobe Bridge, select the files you want to rename or a folder in the Folders panel located to the left of the window.

Choose Tools > Batch Rename (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Location of Batch Rename tool in Bridge

Set the following options and click Rename.

Figure 1: Location of Batch Rename tool in Bridge

For Destination Folder (Figure 2), select whether you want to place the renamed files in the same folder or in a different folder, move them to another folder, or place a copy in another folder. If you select Move To Other Folder or Copy To Other Folder, click Browse to select the folder.

Within the New Filenames portion of the window, choose elements from the menus or enter text into the text boxes. The specified elements and text are combined to create the new filename for each image. You can click the plus button (+) or minus button (-) to add or delete elements. A preview of the new filename appears at the bottom of the dialog box under the Preview section. An example of a good filename: Stoll_AnicolorPaper_ Figure001.tif.

Note: If you choose Sequence Number, enter a number. The number is automatically incremented for each file name.

Select Preserve Current File Name In XMP Metadata, if you want to retain the original filename in the metadata.

For Compatibility, select the operating systems with which you want renamed files to be compatible with. The current operating system is selected by default and cannot be deselected.

How to Batch Apply Adobe Photoshop Actions

Choose Tools > Photoshop > Batch (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Location of batch apply in Bridge

Under the Play section of the Batch dialog box, specify the action you want to use to process files from the Set and Action drop-down menus. The menus display actions available in the Photoshop Actions palette. You may need to choose a different set or load a set in the palette if you do not see your action (Figure 4).

Figure 1: Selecting a PDF preset (Indesign)

Choose the files to process from the Source drop-down list:

The Folder option will process files in a folder you specify. Click Choose to locate and select the folder.

The Import option will process images from a digital camera, scanner, or a PDF document.

The Opened Files option processes all open files.

The Bridge option processes selected files in Adobe Bridge. If no files are selected, the files in the current Bridge folder are processed.

Set processing, saving, and filenaming options.

To use the Override Action “Open” Commands option, the action must contain an open command. Otherwise, the Batch command will not open the files you have selected for batch processing. Selecting this option does not disregard everything in an open command—only the choice of files to open.

Deselect this option if the action was intended to operate on an open file, or if the action contains open commands for specific files that are required by the action.

The Include All Subfolders option will process all files in subdirectories of the specified folder.

The Suppress Color Profile Warnings option will turn off display of color management policy messages.

The Suppress File Open Options Dialogs option hides file open dialog boxes. This is useful when batching actions on camera raw image files. The default or previously specified settings will be used.

The Destination section configures the filenaming convention for processed files.

The None option leaves the files open without saving changes (unless the action includes a Save command).

The Save And Close option saves the files in their current location, overwriting the original files.

The Folder option saves the processed files to another location. Click Choose to specify the destination folder.

To use the Override Action “Save As” Commands option, the action must contain a Save As command. Otherwise, the Batch command will not save the processed files. Selecting this option does not skip everything in the Save As command—only the specified filename and folder.

If you do not select this option and your action includes a Save As command, your files will be saved into the folder specified by the Save As command in the action, instead of the folder specified in the Batch command. In addition, if you do not select this option and the Save As command in the action specifies a filename, the Batch command overwrites the same file (the file specified in the action) each time it processes an image.

The Filenaming option will specify filenaming conventions if writing files to a new folder.

Note: For more detailed instructions on this, see the “How to Batch Rename Files” section of this document.

The Compatibility option will create filenames compatible with particular operating systems.

The Error drop-down menu specifies how to handle processing errors.

Stop For Errors suspends the process until you confirm the error message.

Log Errors to File records each error in a file without stopping the process. If errors are logged to a file, a message appears after processing. To review the error file, open with a text editor after the Batch command has run.

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