Today’s Question: In Lightroom how do you rename the previous import?
Tim’s Quick Answer: You can rename photos after import by selecting them and choosing Library > Rename Photos from the menu. In the case of the previous import, note that you can find those images in the Previous Import collection in the Catalog section of the left panel in the Library module.
More Detail: It is possible to rename photos during import into Lightroom, of course. But you can also rename later in your workflow. You may have forgotten to rename during import, or you might want to wait until after you’ve deleted outtakes, so you won’t have gaps in the filename numbering.
The first step is to select the photos you want to rename. If those photos are the last images to be imported, you can select the Previous Import collection from the Catalog section of the left panel in the Library module. You can then choose Edit > Select All from the menu to select all of those photos, and then choose Library > Rename Photos to initiate the renaming process.
If you need to select other photos, you can navigate to the appropriate folder and select all (or some) of the photos. Then choose the Rename Photos command to bring up the Rename Photos dialog. Note that the title bar for the dialog will indicate how many images you’re renaming, so you can get a sense of whether you’ve selected the correct range of photos.
The renaming process later in your workflow is the same as during import, in that it involves the use of a template. So you can choose a template from the File Naming popup, or choose “Edit” from that popup to bring up the Filename Template Editor dialog where you can define a structure for renaming photos.
In the Rename Photos dialog you can then fill in any other details, such as if the template you’ve selected includes a Custom Text or Sequence Number field. Then click OK to apply the renaming to the selected photos.