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Forum Discussion
Dropbox using (2) different Naming Conventions and Date Formats
Hello,
Recently Dropbox has been uploading photos with different file names and date formats. Example: some files will be named "2022-04-07 17.07.01" and others will be named "Photo Apr 07 4 29 40". All photos were taken on the same device (iPhone). Also, all photos are uploading to multiple computers in an office, is this a syncing issue or something else? I have already gone into settings and set Date Format preferences to "YYYY-MM-DD".
Thank you 🙂
Hi delraybeachplasticsurgery, thanks for bringing this to our attention.
If you're using the camera upload feature, all images will have the '2022-04-07 17.07.01' format, whereas images uploaded via the manual upload feature, or by dragging and dropping, will have the original filename on them, which could be similar to the 'Photo Apr 07 4 29 40' you saw.
If you need any further assistance, please let me know!
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I already tried several times, different folders, but the naming convention doesn’t affect Video Files. See attached photo.why?? Is this a bug?? Am I the only one with this issue???
- Walter
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hey oceanside22, sorry to jump in here.
I just wanted to mention that we checked back with the team and here's what we found:
When you manually upload files, you know exactly what/where you are uploading. With automatic uploads, photos/videos across all your devices are being uploaded to that single Camera Uploads folder.
It would be hard to figure out which file is which, different manufactures may follow a different naming convention for the files (like IMG_001.png, CAPTURE_*, etc), so that's why Dropbox normalizes this by renaming all the files from all the different devices using one convention. That should make it easier to locate the photos/videos you are looking for by checking the timestamp in the name.
I hope this information helps!
- I’ve been trying for a while but it just doesnt work. Am I the only one having this issue? Please let me know of you got this to work and how please.
I’m organizing photos using a naming convention, so every file gets renamed with the date taken. It works perfectly but not for videos. Every photo gets renamed but the videos are not, even though the notifications say they have been renamed. (I’ve done many tests with only one video or a few in a folder, and it says the files were renamed but they’re not) This error only happens with video files.
I’ve tried different folders, uploading from different sources (web,app,mobile).
Can anybody help??
The naming convention I need is “2023-09-16 etc” “date taken”.
I’ve tried different ones and none of them work for video files.
Please help. - Megan
Hey oceanside22, happy Monday!
Did you have the chance to take a look at what my colleague, Walter mentioned above in this similar thread about your case?
Keep me posted!
- It is not similar. Of you could take the time to read it.
We’re pass the issue of dropbox naming the files differently depending of the device.
We are using naming automation so no matter the device the files get renamed.
THE PROBLEM NOW is it works for every file expect video files. 
BenDBXCommunity Manager
Hi oceanside22,
I've raised your issue with our engineering team, who is attempting to reproduce it in order to troubleshoot. We need to confirm a few more details.
- Which folder are you uploading these photos to? Is it a default Camera Uploads folder, or a different folder?
- What device or devices are you using to upload these photos?
If you would prefer to share this information privately, I can reach out via a support ticket.
Regards,
Ben
I'm only here in June 2024 because my automatic camera uploads stopped working a few days ago. Force-feeding them (manually) appends the "Photo" file naming prefix, which I don't prefer.
With that I'd like to find the root cause of why my auto stopped working. No, I have enough storage space, which is usually the culprit. I reset my phone, restarted the ios app, etc. etc. and even updated my password. Still sleuthing. 2024-06-28.
- Walter
Hey petemvoss - sorry to hear about this.
Can you please clarify your device's OS version, and the version of the Dropbox mobile app installed there?Have you tried clearing the app's cache and signing out and back into your account?
Also, what happens when you navigate your Photos tab in the app on your iOS device?
Thanks Walter. Turns out my ios Dropbox app had limited permissions to photos. For some reason something limited this setting on June 25th. I'm back in business with full permissions and using the native file names without the "Photo" prefix, and cleared the app's cache per your suggestion.
Regards,
Pete
- Walter
I'm glad to hear it's sorted now and thanks for keeping me in the loop too, Pete.
Have a lovely week ahead and see you around!
