# Get Rid Of Preserved File Name



## lnicole (Aug 9, 2020)

I am a professional digital graphics creator. I rename my graphics in Lightroom before publishing them in collections and I DO NOT wish for the Preserved File Name to be in my final files I sell to customers! I didn't notice that this is a (relatively) new feature in Lightroom until today. I looked at older published graphics and they don't have the preserved file name.

My problem:

If I export files as JPEGs, etc then I can check the metadata to be only copyright information, but I also create .png files and I also publish layered .tif documents. 

For the transparent .png files, I can export as transparent .png if the photoshop file in Lightroom is 1 layer with transparency. The thing is, I don't flatten my files and convert to transparent until publish so I can edit further if need be down the road. I will have to start creating duplicate files in LR that are final files with transparency. This is going to be a lot of work. Plus, with exporting directly from LR, it only exports sRGB. I save most of my files as grayscale .png. They take a little less file size.

I can find work-arounds with the .png files as mentioned above, but what about the layered tiff files? I open them up in PS and save a Tiff - but then all the metadata is saved with it. 

Question #1 How can I just TURN OFF Preserve File Name? (I've been doing Google searches and can't find this info.)

Question #2. If I can't turn off the Preserve File Name, How can I save layered Tiff files with limited metadata (copyright and contact info only)

P.S. Sorry if I'm frazzled. I have a big collection bundle to publish this week and just realized I'm going to have to re-save all my graphics. Tons of extra work when I'm already super busy!


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## Gnits (Aug 9, 2020)

Someone may have an answer for how to clear the 'Preserved Name' field. I am interested in the answer for this myself.

Do you need the tiffs to be multilayered.  

Can you simply export the original multi layered psd or tiffs from Lightroom (say into a subfolder) using the metadata export options native to Lightroom.  That is.  Save the Tiff/Psd  as multilayered from Photoshop, but then export as Tiff as specifically required for your client from Lightroom.  If you are renaming the psd/tiff files during the Photoshop save process, then you may need to synchronise your folder to get all the new tiffs/ psds into Lr. [I keep my Photoshop files as Psd and only export to Tiff when sending to a print service.... so my original psd has all the layer info and the exported tiff has a single layer for my printer service].


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## johnbeardy (Aug 9, 2020)

Have you looked at Jeffrey Friedl's Metadata Wrangler Plugin ?  Even if Jeffrey hasn't noticed this addition, I'm sure he could add it to his list.


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## johnrellis (Aug 9, 2020)

When creating a template in the Metadata Wrangler Plugin, add the field "XMPreservedFileName" to the field list in "Finally, Forcefully Delete These Fields".  (I haven't tested this, but I'm reasonably confident this is the magic spell.)


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## johnrellis (Aug 9, 2020)

That smiley emoji should be a colon followed by a P.  (I don't know how to tell the forum to not turn off emojis.)


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## clee01l (Aug 9, 2020)

lnicole said:


> and I DO NOT wish for the Preserved File Name to be in my final files I sell to customers!


Why is this even important?  IMG_1234.JPG  is not a very descriptive name or even unique.


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## lnicole (Aug 9, 2020)

This was a response to @clee01l (the quote feature didn't work.) 
_"Why is this even important?  IMG_1234.JPG  is not a very descriptive name or even unique."_

A lot of my graphics are scanned images. The file names are often just date-sequence-quick name, but I will often put descriptors about the source or part of the production process in the file name. I just don't want that name showing in my final collection names. Maybe it's not a BIG deal, but I'm creating a professional product. Having those working names visible in Bridge (for example) is just not what I want in my final customer files. I think we should have that option to not have anything except copyright and contact info exported. In most export choices, this is the case - you have that choice. Except when you are exporting the original - which is the case if I am saving a layered file OR if I need to open and save as a transparent .png file.

For the .pngs - the 2 options I've come up with is to 1. Duplicate my image in Lightroom and create a publish ready file (1 transparent layer) and then I can export as a .png - although only an sRGB .png, which is not my ideal or to export a .psd file to hard drive, run my actions to flatten and convert to transparent and save as .png. Again, Lightroom will only export as sRGB - which is still not my ideal.

I'm not sure what to do about my layered files yet. I'm looking into Photoshop scripts.


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## lnicole (Aug 9, 2020)

Gnits said:


> Someone may have an answer for how to clear the 'Preserved Name' field. I am interested in the answer for this myself.
> 
> Do you need the tiffs to be multilayered.



Yes, I sometimes need files to be multilayered. They will sometimes be templates with different layers that can be changed or turned off.


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## lnicole (Aug 9, 2020)

johnbeardy said:


> Have you looked at Jeffrey Friedl's Metadata Wrangler Plugin ?  Even if Jeffrey hasn't noticed this addition, I'm sure he could add it to his list.


Thanks - I'll look closer at this. I use Jeffrey Friedl's Export to Zenfolio, so I'm sure this is a good plug-in. I don't notice anything about the "Preserve File Name, but I'll look into it.


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## Paul_DS256 (Aug 9, 2020)

There is the command line utility EXIFTOOL that looks like it could access the EXIF tag PreservedFileName to allow you to clear it.


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## Jim Wilde (Aug 9, 2020)

lnicole said:


> Thanks - I'll look closer at this. I use Jeffrey Friedl's Export to Zenfolio, so I'm sure this is a good plug-in. I don't notice anything about the "Preserve File Name, but I'll look into it.


See the response from @johnrellis (post #4 and 5) above.


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## lnicole (Aug 9, 2020)

johnbeardy said:


> Have you looked at Jeffrey Friedl's Metadata Wrangler Plugin ?  Even if Jeffrey hasn't noticed this addition, I'm sure he could add it to his list.


Woo Hoo! This did it! I can export originals including layered files to hard drive and it doesn't include the "Preserved File Name!" Thank so much to all who pointed me to this plug-in!


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## prbimages (Aug 10, 2020)

lnicole said:


> I think we should have that option to not have anything except copyright and contact info exported.


Going slightly, but not completely, off-topic here (and it might even be relevant for your situation) ...

It's long been a pet peeve of mine that when you export with "Copyright & Contact Info Only", both Lightroom and Photoshop will still include the TITLE in the exported file. Generally, this is NOT what I want. I usually write my titles for myself only, not for distribution to others. (E.g. imagine if a photographer at an event titled some images "Bride's annoying cousin." You probably don't want to distribute the photo that way!) However, if you export with "Copyright Only" then the title is NOT included in the file. Seems inconsistent to me.


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## johnrellis (Aug 10, 2020)

prbimages said:


> when you export with "Copyright & Contact Info Only", both Lightroom and Photoshop will still include the TITLE in the exported file.



I was going to suggest that you file a bug report, but you already have (three years ago):
https://feedback.photoshop.com/phot...field-is-erroneously-included-in-exported-jpg


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