Export Sub Folder - Image Folder Name

[Ben Rubinstein]

Hi,

I'm trying to export from a catalog using the sub folder 'image folder name' tag to create export folders on a different drive with matching names to the original image folders. The problem is that all my files were originally created in sessions but imported into the catalog as images so all I get it a long line of folders called 'capture'. Is there any way to define the 'image folder name' by the parent folder for each image folder? That would give me the session name which is the correct identifier.

Thanks!

Ben

[UnfamiliarLight]

Nothing jumps out of the token list (https://support.captureone.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002578618-Tokens-and-their-definitions) that will work directly. One thing I make a lot of use of is Collection Name. You could make a manual album named the same as the session name and put the images in there that you want to export and then use the Collection Name toke to create the directory structure you want.

[Ben Rubinstein]

Nothing jumps out of the token list (https://support.captureone.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002578618-Tokens-and-their-definitions) that will work directly. One thing I make a lot of use of is Collection Name. You could make a manual album named the same as the session name and put the images in there that you want to export and then use the Collection Name toke to create the directory structure you want.

Wouldn't work, I'm trying to deal with hundreds of sessions at a time and specifically avoid having to add any data, otherwise I might as well write in the correct output folder name for each session which would take forever. Thanks anyway!

The solution I have is to do a batch rename of all 'capture' folders to that of their parent folders before import to the library. It would work fine, I've tried it, only problem is that you then 'break' all the sessions for use as sessions. For each one you would need to tell Capture One where the capture folder had disappeared to by pointing to the renamed folder and selecting 'use as capture folder'.

[UnfamiliarLight]

I looked again and did some more experimenting. When you import a session into a catalogue it also creates a project with the name of the session and then collections to match the session folders under that. Unfortunately there are no tokens to get that project name. That seems like an oversight. Having a token for the project name solves your problem and opens up a bunch more organizational choices.

Drats.

A few more thoughts that might offer you other paths.

One token I use often is Job Name. You could select the images and set the job name to the session name and then create your recipe rule using the job name token. I have taken to set the job name in import to something sensible which means I often use it for creating output folder names.

If you are renaming folders before import might I suggest another choice - using a custom session folder layout where the select folder is not a sub folder but the root folder of the session. Or perhaps you would prefer to use the capture folder as the root instead.

I started doing that as my default. My reason was the way numbers of images were not rolled up to include sub folders. I decided to take advantage of that so my folders in library view showed me the number of keeper images (selects) for each job. What I do is create a new session template where the standard folders are tweaked so that the Selects folder is just a dot (.) which puts the select collection in the session folder. So, when I import into my catalogue my library view has session names as the top level folder and all my selected images are in that folder. My library view shows me how many "best" images are in that folder and I can still get to all the other images by selecting the other sub folders - but lets be honest I rarely do.

In a setup like that the image's folder name is the session name already.

[Ben Rubinstein]

I looked again and did some more experimenting. When you import a session into a catalogue it also creates a project with the name of the session and then collections to match the session folders under that. Unfortunately there are no tokens to get that project name. That seems like an oversight. Having a token for the project name solves your problem and opens up a bunch more organizational choices.

Drats.

A few more thoughts that might offer you other paths.

One token I use often is Job Name. You could select the images and set the job name to the session name and then create your recipe rule using the job name token. I have taken to set the job name in import to something sensible which means I often use it for creating output folder names.

If you are renaming folders before import might I suggest another choice - using a custom session folder layout where the select folder is not a sub folder but the root folder of the session. Or perhaps you would prefer to use the capture folder as the root instead.

I started doing that as my default. My reason was the way numbers of images were not rolled up to include sub folders. I decided to take advantage of that so my folders in library view showed me the number of keeper images (selects) for each job. What I do is create a new session template where the standard folders are tweaked so that the Selects folder is just a dot (.) which puts the select collection in the session folder. So, when I import into my catalogue my library view has session names as the top level folder and all my selected images are in that folder. My library view shows me how many "best" images are in that folder and I can still get to all the other images by selecting the other sub folders - but lets be honest I rarely do.

In a setup like that the image's folder name is the session name already.

I should have explained myself better. I have some 20-40,000 sessions, 8 years work from a studio. They all need to be imported into a catalog and then have certain styles applied and processed out as TIFF's the contents of each session into a folder containing the session name on a different server to the original sessions. Any procedure which requires me having to make changes to the session structure on a one by one basis would take forever.

[jeremyrh]

Sounds like time to use a script ?!  You may find a starting point on the PhaseOne scripting forum.

[Doug Peterson]

Sounds like time to use a script ?!  You may find a starting point on the PhaseOne scripting forum.

100% this is a use case for scripting.

We did a free webinar on scripting for Capture One that I believe to be, by far, the most comprehensive introduction to the topic. You can watch for free here:
https://www.dtcommercialphoto.com/project-lemonade-webinars/

[Ben Rubinstein]

Thanks folks, I'll look into it!

[Ben Rubinstein]

I haven't had time yet to watch the webinar but overall, are there companies out there providing scripting services? I'd need a quote.

[jeremyrh]

100% this is a use case for scripting.

We did a free webinar on scripting for Capture One that I believe to be, by far, the most comprehensive introduction to the topic. You can watch for free here:
https://www.dtcommercialphoto.com/project-lemonade-webinars/

Absolutely - that was a fantastic help to getting started scripting - thanks for making it freely available!

The scripting forum is here, by the way ...
https://support.captureone.com/hc/en-us/community/topics/360000616838-Development-and-Automation-Workflows-Scripting

and some more scripts to copy
https://github.com/emorydunn/CaptureOneScripts/tree/master/Capture%20One%20Scripts