One of the reason I switched to COP many years ago was because of it's robust ability to export images and keep things organized. The list of tokens is great, mind you many are pretty useless while obvious ones are missing. It would be nice to at least add "album name" to that list. So I have a client / project and various people / product / outfit in various albums I can export images and have them organized in collection name/ album name / recipe name.
When was the last time you were affected by this lack of functionality, or specific tool?
Every time I export images for clients.
Current workaround
Are you using any workarounds or other solutions to achieve your goals in Capture One?
That reminded me to upvote your request. But as album is already available (collection name) you might want to consider modifying the title and description.
btw, the tokens [Session Sub Path] and [Session Sub Path Long] do not work with my session (windows 10, C1 15.2):
BeO, I've been using the "Description" the same way you suggested to use "Job identifier" since that token is available. I've been trying to add during import but it does not work for me somehow. So I always end up having to do it for each album manually before I export. Sometime in a rush I forget and I can't find my exports. They ended up in an "empty folder" hence why I was hoping to have an easier way to export based on folder structure I have them in my catalog.
I see. Very interesting approach, and job, and it sounds very approriate for what you do, given so many images per day, quickly changing "components" and the lack of good automatic folder hierarchy support (sub folders) in a tethered session.
369260519517 most of my work goes into sessions that have been built using "mass imports", but I'm moving to tethering to be able to describe photos. The idea is to update naming scheme manually in real time (it can change every minute or so, shooting day goes up to 14h), so that I can filter photos using any of the five or more possible components (yeah, up to 150 characters in total...), but most importantly - by unique numbers, that are used by clients in orders and can be anywhere within 10k to 30k of photos taken during a single day.
My solution to the above is to use >"5 Digit Counter" "Name"< as scheme and paste strings containing all components into Name field within Next Capture Naming, at best autogenerated from schedule.
Edit: and I want to see the full information at any time when browsing photos and be able to export the full scheme in filename as well.
First: Sorry, I did not notice yesterday that the file renaming was suggested by Marcin, not by Marc.
11057524292637,
Do I understand correctly, instead of a catalog you are using a big session and the "All Images" collection contains all your images? You can achieve this by either putting all image files in the Capture folder, or by adding different folders as favorites, or putting it into an album, how did you do it? I once tried a big session using the "All Images" collection too, but C1 slowed down considerably beyond a few thousand images.
367538483918
I'm open to try sessions for editing and exporting and see if that helps my workflow if you say it would be better for what I want to do.
I am not sure it is a good idea to change your workflow radically only because C1 is lacking the token support for exporting your edited images into a hiararchical file structure, maybe you can find a workaround for that, even if it is manually moving the exported files.
But if you have other reasons to try a different approach then it might possibly be a good idea to think about it.
I use both a session and a catalog. I have more trust in simple files instead of a catalog database, when it comes to the storage of my image metadata and edits. Hence I use one session for editing (metadata, ratings, keywords, and image adjustments).
All this is stored in each image's .cos file and I can import it all into a new catalog at any time without loosing this information.
I use the catalog for searching and smart albums only.
Once I filtered my images to work with I drag&drop them to the running session and edit them there, afterwards I update the catalog.
Maybe I describe more details in a separate thread because I find myself posting parts of my workflow in other users threads more often than I thought.
Is there a way to easily convert / export a group to a session or I have to manually add the files?
My suggestion is to have all your images (your original raws, sooc jpgs and tiffs) in a decently structured folder hierarchy. Then use one dummy session to visit/browse these folders with the folders part of the library tool. (The All images idea in the session (Marcin) might possibly replace a catalog).Visiting your folders will create the CaptureOne subfolders having the settings (cos) files. (The All images idea in the session (Marcin) might possibly replace a catalog, if there are not too many files and folders).
Not sure what your current image folder stucture is, or if you use "In Catalog", but there is no betterway to "export originals" than to export jpgs, you have the same tokens available.
Maybe you can select all images in your Day1 album in the project and add "Ruthless Bastards" to the IPTC-Status field "Job Identifier" in the metadata tool (copy and apply). And then use this field as a token for the "export originals" including adjustments.
Use the year as a literal (or the year token if your project images are all in the same year) or manually drag the "Ruthless Bastards" folder underneath your desired target folder hierarchy. Instead of "Day1" you can also use one of the image date tokens if you like to have your structure always 'subfoldered' by date.
Do this for every album of every project.
Are you aware of a tutorial on the topic of exporting to a folder structure I could watch?
I usually use sessions when I do tethered shoots on my laptop but I ended up adding them to my yearly catalog on my main PC. I do like to have all my projects in one place as I often juggle multiple projects at once and having them all there within reach is my preferred way to work. I'm open to try sessions for editing and exporting and see if that helps my workflow if you say it would be better for what I want to do.
Is there a way to easily convert / export a group to a session or I have to manually add the files?
Are you aware of a tutorial on the topic of exporting to a folder structure I could watch?
The information you want to put in the filenames to distinguish the files after export, you can use one or more IPTC metadata fields instead to help getting closer to your desired export folder structure.
Session By looking at the small screenshot of your projects it seems you are a professional photographer who works on project assignments/jobs which are time-limited, which probably means you don't nessesarily need the capability to search images across different projects in the same search. If that is true then I want to reinforce Mathieu's advice to think about a session for each project/job instead of a catalog (or a catalog for each project). For this type of work at least.
Put Day1, Day2, Gallery, etc. as subfolders beneath the "Capture" folder and add these subfolders as "Favorites", so they appear in the session's All Images collection.
_____
Catalog But if you want to work with a catalog, consider using the "Folders" part of the library tool. Have a good folder structure on your file system e.g.
You don't need to put so much information into the filenames then. It might quickly become an annoyance if the filenames are too long, or if you use abbreviations which are easy to forget their meaning in a few months.
I think most users here would probably agree that above methods are good if not even best practise EDIT: (except my preference for folders instead of project/album collections within C1)
...or maybe build structures into image names. I have considered using albums and continued renaming files instead, as renamed files can be reimported in case .cosession file breaks, no weird directory structure and failures during import, easy to include when exporting, easy to filter... not to mention staying permanently in "All Images" view is considerably faster than switching away from an album, as C1P can even hang for a while trying to reload images.
Hi 367538483918, yes your description makes sense, and unfortunately it is not possible at the moment.
Have you tried working with Sessions instead of Catalogs? They are usually preferred when working on individual projects and offer better control for exporting images, you could be using the "Session Sub Path" token for example.
I still don't quite understand how that works, all I want to do is export images in an album so I can have the images organized in the same way I have them in COP.
/Ruthless Bastards/Day01, /Day02 etc.
Simple enough right?
When I use Collection name token it only adds the album in the path.
368108974477 and 369260519517 are right - Capture One allows you to create different types of collections: albums, smart albums, groups, and projects in catalogs ; albums, smart albums, session favorites and session folders in sessions. The token you are looking for is indeed "Collection Name".
Additional bit of info for those who might be interested: catalog collections like "All Images" or "Recent imports" (the default ones we create for you) are in fact smart albums, and this is why they can be used to name an export with the Collection Name token.
"collection name" refers to album, smart album, system folder, a recent import, session folder and also project name in other words every collection. No misnomer imo. If you select a group you don't see images but the token is filled as well, in the "sample path" of the export location. Win C1 v22.
The way I typically export images is by filtering my 5 star images on a given album. So I'd want the token to use the album name the image was selected.
If exported from all images then the export location would need to be changed by the user or album name is ignored then.
Can you elaborate on how this Album Name would be picked? Currently one image can belong to several albums, so that would make a heavily context dependent action - unless you switch directly between Library and Export tabs, you won't know the effect on names. What about "pseudoalbums" like All Images? Is the token going to state All Images, or should it be empty for lack of selection of a user-created album?
My guess is that album names have been explicitly skipped due to headache of explaining to users, how they would work during exports. Too many special cases and gotchas - existing tokens are rather self-explanatory (I have no idea what some of them would print, but that's likely "something obscure from EXIF").
That reminded me to upvote your request. But as album is already available (collection name) you might want to consider modifying the title and description.
btw, the tokens [Session Sub Path] and [Session Sub Path Long] do not work with my session (windows 10, C1 15.2):
BeO, I've been using the "Description" the same way you suggested to use "Job identifier" since that token is available. I've been trying to add during import but it does not work for me somehow. So I always end up having to do it for each album manually before I export. Sometime in a rush I forget and I can't find my exports. They ended up in an "empty folder" hence why I was hoping to have an easier way to export based on folder structure I have them in my catalog.
Hi Marcin,
I see. Very interesting approach, and job, and it sounds very approriate for what you do, given so many images per day, quickly changing "components" and the lack of good automatic folder hierarchy support (sub folders) in a tethered session.
369260519517 most of my work goes into sessions that have been built using "mass imports", but I'm moving to tethering to be able to describe photos. The idea is to update naming scheme manually in real time (it can change every minute or so, shooting day goes up to 14h), so that I can filter photos using any of the five or more possible components (yeah, up to 150 characters in total...), but most importantly - by unique numbers, that are used by clients in orders and can be anywhere within 10k to 30k of photos taken during a single day.
My solution to the above is to use >"5 Digit Counter" "Name"< as scheme and paste strings containing all components into Name field within Next Capture Naming, at best autogenerated from schedule.
Edit: and I want to see the full information at any time when browsing photos and be able to export the full scheme in filename as well.
Hi Marc, Marcin,
First: Sorry, I did not notice yesterday that the file renaming was suggested by Marcin, not by Marc.
11057524292637,
Do I understand correctly, instead of a catalog you are using a big session and the "All Images" collection contains all your images? You can achieve this by either putting all image files in the Capture folder, or by adding different folders as favorites, or putting it into an album, how did you do it? I once tried a big session using the "All Images" collection too, but C1 slowed down considerably beyond a few thousand images.
367538483918
I am not sure it is a good idea to change your workflow radically only because C1 is lacking the token support for exporting your edited images into a hiararchical file structure, maybe you can find a workaround for that, even if it is manually moving the exported files.
But if you have other reasons to try a different approach then it might possibly be a good idea to think about it.
I use both a session and a catalog. I have more trust in simple files instead of a catalog database, when it comes to the storage of my image metadata and edits. Hence I use one session for editing (metadata, ratings, keywords, and image adjustments).
All this is stored in each image's .cos file and I can import it all into a new catalog at any time without loosing this information.
I use the catalog for searching and smart albums only.
Once I filtered my images to work with I drag&drop them to the running session and edit them there, afterwards I update the catalog.
Maybe I describe more details in a separate thread because I find myself posting parts of my workflow in other users threads more often than I thought.
My suggestion is to have all your images (your original raws, sooc jpgs and tiffs) in a decently structured folder hierarchy. Then use one dummy session to visit/browse these folders with the folders part of the library tool. (The All images idea in the session (Marcin) might possibly replace a catalog).Visiting your folders will create the CaptureOne subfolders having the settings (cos) files. (The All images idea in the session (Marcin) might possibly replace a catalog, if there are not too many files and folders).
Not sure what your current image folder stucture is, or if you use "In Catalog", but there is no betterway to "export originals" than to export jpgs, you have the same tokens available.
Maybe you can select all images in your Day1 album in the project and add "Ruthless Bastards" to the IPTC-Status field "Job Identifier" in the metadata tool (copy and apply). And then use this field as a token for the "export originals" including adjustments.
Use the year as a literal (or the year token if your project images are all in the same year) or manually drag the "Ruthless Bastards" folder underneath your desired target folder hierarchy. Instead of "Day1" you can also use one of the image date tokens if you like to have your structure always 'subfoldered' by date.
Do this for every album of every project.
No
I usually use sessions when I do tethered shoots on my laptop but I ended up adding them to my yearly catalog on my main PC. I do like to have all my projects in one place as I often juggle multiple projects at once and having them all there within reach is my preferred way to work. I'm open to try sessions for editing and exporting and see if that helps my workflow if you say it would be better for what I want to do.
Is there a way to easily convert / export a group to a session or I have to manually add the files?
Are you aware of a tutorial on the topic of exporting to a folder structure I could watch?
Thanks for the suggestions.
The information you want to put in the filenames to distinguish the files after export, you can use one or more IPTC metadata fields instead to help getting closer to your desired export folder structure.
Session
By looking at the small screenshot of your projects it seems you are a professional photographer who works on project assignments/jobs which are time-limited, which probably means you don't nessesarily need the capability to search images across different projects in the same search. If that is true then I want to reinforce Mathieu's advice to think about a session for each project/job instead of a catalog (or a catalog for each project). For this type of work at least.
Put Day1, Day2, Gallery, etc. as subfolders beneath the "Capture" folder and add these subfolders as "Favorites", so they appear in the session's All Images collection.
_____
Catalog
But if you want to work with a catalog, consider using the "Folders" part of the library tool. Have a good folder structure on your file system e.g.
Jobs/2023/Ruthless Bastards/Day1
Jobs/2023/Ruthless Bastards/Day2
Jobs/2023/Ruthless Bastards/Gallery
You don't need to put so much information into the filenames then. It might quickly become an annoyance if the filenames are too long, or if you use abbreviations which are easy to forget their meaning in a few months.
I think most users here would probably agree that above methods are good if not even best practise EDIT: (except my preference for folders instead of project/album collections within C1)
...or maybe build structures into image names. I have considered using albums and continued renaming files instead, as renamed files can be reimported in case .cosession file breaks, no weird directory structure and failures during import, easy to include when exporting, easy to filter... not to mention staying permanently in "All Images" view is considerably faster than switching away from an album, as C1P can even hang for a while trying to reload images.
Hi 367538483918, yes your description makes sense, and unfortunately it is not possible at the moment.
Have you tried working with Sessions instead of Catalogs? They are usually preferred when working on individual projects and offer better control for exporting images, you could be using the "Session Sub Path" token for example.
I still don't quite understand how that works, all I want to do is export images in an album so I can have the images organized in the same way I have them in COP.
/Ruthless Bastards/Day01, /Day02 etc.
Simple enough right?
When I use Collection name token it only adds the album in the path.
I get \Day03
Thanks for the clarification 1901072955773 :)
Hi 367538483918,
368108974477 and 369260519517 are right - Capture One allows you to create different types of collections: albums, smart albums, groups, and projects in catalogs ; albums, smart albums, session favorites and session folders in sessions. The token you are looking for is indeed "Collection Name".
Additional bit of info for those who might be interested: catalog collections like "All Images" or "Recent imports" (the default ones we create for you) are in fact smart albums, and this is why they can be used to name an export with the Collection Name token.
"collection name" refers to album, smart album, system folder, a recent import, session folder and also project name in other words every collection. No misnomer imo. If you select a group you don't see images but the token is filled as well, in the "sample path" of the export location. Win C1 v22.
Ok I guess I just realized that "collection name" refers to album name. It's misnomer I'd say.
In which case it means that project and group name aren't available as tokens as far as I can tell.
The way I typically export images is by filtering my 5 star images on a given album. So I'd want the token to use the album name the image was selected.
If exported from all images then the export location would need to be changed by the user or album name is ignored then.
Can you elaborate on how this Album Name would be picked? Currently one image can belong to several albums, so that would make a heavily context dependent action - unless you switch directly between Library and Export tabs, you won't know the effect on names. What about "pseudoalbums" like All Images? Is the token going to state All Images, or should it be empty for lack of selection of a user-created album?
My guess is that album names have been explicitly skipped due to headache of explaining to users, how they would work during exports. Too many special cases and gotchas - existing tokens are rather self-explanatory (I have no idea what some of them would print, but that's likely "something obscure from EXIF").