Retroactively rename previously stored files?

lfstrube
Hi all,

I've just set up a custom file renaming scheme. Is there any way to retroactively apply this scheme to previously stored files?

Thanks!
  • dstillman
    Not easily*, but we know this is an issue and plan to provide a way to do this.

    * You can construct a search for all PDFs — either in the quick search or a saved search (e.g., [Attachment File Type] [is] [PDF]) — and do Select All, which will only select the matching items, and then right-click → Rename File from Parent Metadata. Depending on your search, you may need to manually deselect any parent items that were matched.
  • lfstrube
    Thanks for such a quick response.

    On my end it appears that "Rename File From Parent Metadata" is only a right-click option if selecting one pdf file at a time. Since I just began working in Zoterro this is tedious but doable for me.

    If you happen to see this reply, I have one more question about file renaming that perhaps you can help me with.

    Is it possible to specify a formula that uses a specific quantity of words from the title rather than a specific quantity of characters? I'm imagining a formula that truncates after a specific number of special characters (i.e. spaces or hyphens).

    Thanks again.

    Just moved to zoterro from another well known citation manager and so far it is proving itself worth the subscription price.
  • adamsmith
    On my end it appears that "Rename File From Parent Metadata" is only a right-click option if selecting one pdf file at a time.
    No, that's not right. It's only available if you're selecting only attached PDFs, but you can have any number of them selected at once. You can check by selecting a couple using ctrl+click.
    The option described by dstillman will only select PDFs (though it will select top level PDFs, if you have any, and including those in a select all will disable rename because there are no parents to rename from)
  • lfstrube
    Ah! I missed the instruction to create a saved search.

    That worked! Thank you. Only took 10 seconds.
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