Photoshop

Custom Naming Your Lightroom Images That You Edited in Photoshop

If you use Lightroom with Photoshop, you do have the option of changing the name of the files that are sent over to Photoshop and appear back in Lightroom once they’re edited. Here’s how:

Rename1

STEP ONE: Go to Lightroom’s Preferences and click on the External Editing tab (seen here). The option for choosing the name for your files that go over to Photoshop and back are at the very bottom of the screen, from the Template pop-up menu (shown circled here in red).

Rename2

STEP TWO: Click on that pop-up menu, and choose Edit (as shown here) to bring up the naming editor.

Rename3

STEP THREE: From the Preset pop-up menu at the top of the Filename Template Editor, I generally choose “Custom name – Sequence” as shown here. This lets you choose the exact name you want, and then it will automatically number the files you sent over. (for a different option see below).

Rename4

STEP FOUR: To edit the Custom Text, just double-click right on that little slug that says “Custom Text” and it highlights so you can just type in a new name right over it (which is what I did here where I typed in “Photoshop Edit-” [yes, I added a dash at the end just to make the name visually more clear]. Here’s another option for you to consider (below):

Rename3a

 

 

ANOTHER OPTION: Some folks choose to keep the original file name (since it already has a number) and just add some custom text to the end of it, which is a solid choice, too — choose whichever makes the most sense for you. To do that, from the Preset menu choose “Filename” then down near the bottom of the window, under Custom click “Insert” and it adds the words “Custom Text.” Double-click on that Custom Text and it highlights so you can just type in a new name right over it (which is what I did here, and I named my custom text PSedit). Just another option.

There ya go! Hope you find that helpful 🙂

Best,

-Scott

 

Share:

6 comments

  1. Bob K 27 June, 2015 at 08:47 Reply

    Thanks for the tip Scott. Is there a way to give a unique filename after editing in each different application? For example, say we edit a Lightroom raw file in Photoshop, and we want the file coming back from Photoshop to Lightroom to be suffixed by PS (so we know we externally edited in Photoshop). But say we want the files we exported to Topaz to be suffixed by Topaz, and say we want the Perfectly Clear files to be suffixed by PC. Maybe I’m doing something wrong, but it seems you only get one file name convention for all the external editors. It’s one size fits all. The only work around I see is before exporting to a given external editor, open Preferences and pick the appropriate file suffix. Am I missing something (or is Lightroom missing something)? It sure seems like a user should be able to pick a different, custom file name convention for each export preset. I’m working in LR CC 2015 on Windows 7.

  2. Florian 8 April, 2015 at 09:24 Reply

    Thanks, Scott. I was working on editing a photo just before I read this yesterday and it came back as have others I’ve worked on and I had to manually change it. After reading this tip, I followed your directions and BAMM problem solved. Since I use several different plug ins I kept a simple custom text addition at the end of “Edited”

  3. Florian 7 April, 2015 at 16:57 Reply

    Scott- Super tip. I was just editing a photo and it returned so I had to go and retype the name. Now I don;t have to thanks to you!!!

  4. DJ 7 April, 2015 at 11:17 Reply

    Great tip Scott.
    How would Lightroom add Custom Naming when for various apps such as Nik’s Plug-ins, Topaz Plug-ins, OnOne Plug-ins, etc.?
    Thx …

    • lyle 9 April, 2015 at 13:46 Reply

      They use the pattern you establish as documented in the tip ( at least Nik sharpening, Silver Effects pro 2 and Viveza 2 do). Not sure about other tools outside of those. You set the bit-depth, colorspace and file formats etc. you want in the same “Edit | Preferences ” for external editors location as you establish the filenaming format.
      |

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *