Today’s Question: If I’ve renamed photos in Lightroom Classic but then change my mind, is there a way to revert to the previous filename?
Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, but you can only revert to the original filenames, and only if the photos had originally been renamed using Lightroom Classic (or using Adobe Bridge with the “Preserve current filename in XMP Metadata” checkbox turned on).
More Detail: When you rename photos in Lightroom Classic, the original filename is preserved in Original Filename field. The same field will be populated with the original filename if you had used Adobe Bridge to rename the photo as long as the “Preserve current filename in XMP Metadata” checkbox was turned on when the photos were renamed using the Batch Rename command. You can then use that original filename to restore photos to their original naming.
However, you can only use this approach to revert to the original filename from the first time the photos were renamed. If you renamed the same images multiple times, your only option is to revert to the original filename, unless you remember what filename structure had been used and you can manually create a template for that purpose.
To revert photos to their original filename in Lightroom Classic you can first select the photos you want to rename and then choose Library > Rename Photos from the menu. In the Rename Photos dialog choose Filename from the File Naming popup to set a simple renaming template. Then click the popup again and choose “Edit”. In the large textbox delete the “Filename” token. Then choose “Original filename” from the second popup in the Image Name section. If this option was already selected from the popup, click the Insert button to the right. At this point the textbox should only contain “Original filename” as a token.
Click the Done button to close the Filename Template Editor and click the OK button in the Rename Photos dialog to rename the selected photos to their original filename based on the value stored in the Original Filename field in metadata.
