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Forum Discussion
Stop renaming my files! (on auto phone upload)
Video files ( possibly photos too ) get renamed on automatic upload from the phone to Dropbox.
There must be a really good reason for Dropbox to rename files and I'd like to hear it.
It's very annoying because the file names are perfectly fine the way they are and so I can keep track easier for missing files, innterrupted transfers, moved files and so on.
It's a mess with video files especially becuase:
- Phone writes the video file with date time at the start of the video ( that's what it should be )
- Drobox renames the file with date time when the file was closed ( finished recording ).
So, can we please not mess with my video files names ?
Thanks !
video, file, rename, date, time, metadata, offset, unnecessary
- Daphne
Dropbox Staff
Hi there BoxyBeat, This seems very interesting indeed! :thinking:
I tried replicating this on my side and here are my findings.
With videos taken on an Android device, the file is automatically named with the date and time at the start of the video, as you mentioned.
However, when checking the details of the file (from the "..." in the top right when viewing in the gallery), the timestamp recorded there shows the end time of the video.
With automatic camera uploads the app names the file according to the timestamp on the file. This fits with the behaviour you described above.
When I tried this by manually uploading the video, it retained the name of the file rather than uploading according to the timestamp on the video.
Can you let me know if the same differences in file name and timestamp in the video details from your Gallery? Would you mind sharing too which OS version your device is?
Looking forward to your reply!
Test Video File , approx 10sec long.
1.
On my phone, details from "Gallery"
20 01 23 12:08 am
Filename is 20200123_000803.mp4
I think it's safe to assume it's HH MM SS there at the end.
2. Opened Dropbox on my phone and I've let it do it's thing.
3. This is the file name I have on my computer, Dropbox sync folder:
2020-01-23 00.08.14.mp4
and with a 10 sec video file it checks out the initial theory about final write time of the file and filename.3.
When uploading manually to Dropbox, filename stays as the original.
4. My OS
Thanks for looking into this !- Daphne
Thanks for checking on that too BoxyBeat!
In this case, I can only suggest to use manual uploading for videos if you'd like to keep the original filename I'm afraid.
Camera uploads is expected to upload and name the file based on the timestamp of when it was take.
While I can't provide you with a work around for this while using camera uploads, I'd suggest sharing your thoughts here if you'd like to maintain the file name itself rather than the timestamp.
Sorry that I couldn't be of further help with this, but please don't hesitate to get back to me here.
Thanks!
