Rename photo files in iPhoto after import?
 

Hello,

I would like to rename several files in iPhoto's library, is there a way to do this?

As far as I know, one cannot modify the file name of a photo after it has been imported. The only way to rename a file already in iPhoto's library seems to be to:
- export the file (or use a copy of the original),
- rename it file,
- delete the corresponding file in the iPhoto library,
- re-import the renamed file.

Obviously, I'd lose all metadata (title, keywords, original date of import into iPhoto, ...) by doing this.

Any suggestions? Thank you!

P.S.: I am using iPhoto 5, but I assume there are not many differences to iPhoto 6.

First of all, do NOT do any modifying within the iPhoto folder in Finder -- do all your changes from within iPhoto app. Messing in the finder folder will create havoc -- corrupted photos, lost photos, etc. Just use iPhoto app to do any and all renaming. Rename all your photos in the app and you will be just fine. There is even a batch change (in iPhoto 6, and probably in 5) that will allow you to rename or redate or otherwise change your photos. Look under thw Window menu for Batch Change. And remember, stay out of the finder!

am looking for a way to rename the actual *files*
 

Hi and thanks for you reply,

I know how to give titles etc. to the photos. My problem is that I have some files in my library with file names like img001.jpg which I don't find suitable (there are several img001.jpg, for example), so I would like to change the actual file name (as opposed to the title) of some files (so that I can have unique names which is important for external sharing etc.).

As far as I can tell, that's not possible (without resorting to the method described in my intial post), is it?

Did you figure this out?
 

I have the same question/problem. I'm new to the MacBook and iPhoto and would like to still be able to upload photos to the web (snapfish, etc.) and use Photoshop Elements to edit them (rather than iPhoto for editing). There has to be a better way than renaming photos in the finder and then adding the titles in iPhoto. If you found out anything helpful, I'd appreciate hearing your resolution.

Thanks!

Again, stay out of the library in finder! If you need to do something external (upload to snapfish, etc.) just export the photos from iPhoto app to, let's say, your desktop and then upload from there. There is NO reason to be in the finder! Same for photoshop editing. You can export and then edit -- better still, set Photoshop as your external editor from within iPhoto preferences, then your edited photos will save back into iPhoto without a lot of exporting, etc.

Do not mess with photos in the finder! You will lose your precious photos, and will have only yourself to blame! Trust me -- been there, done that. Everything that you could possibly want/need to do to your photos can be accomplished by working within the app!

no solution, but using ExifRenamer is great for renaming
 

I haven't found a solution - I think there is none. So I'm living with it and hoping for the next major version, but I very much doubt that that would actually help.

For now, I've just hammered into my head that I *must* give the photos names *before* importing them into iPhoto. Since those names are thus to be somewhat 'eternal' and I want them to be unique, I rename according to the following scheme:

YYYYMMDD_HHMMSSZZZZZ_CC.<extension>

where:
YYYY = year
MM = month
DD = day
HH = hour
MM = minute
SS = second
ZZZZZ = difference of local time to UTC (GMT), e.g. "+0200" or "-0700"
CC = a counter, usually "00", only increased to "01" etc. if there are name conflicts.

I use a handwritten Apple Script that calls the cool program ExifRenamer.app to automatically rename all files before importing. ExifRenamer uses the EXIF date stored in the digital camera files (or the file creation date if there is no EXIF date) as the date source. To make things fully automatic, I have set my Apple Script that calls ExifRenamer configured as the action to be used automatically in Image Capture.app after downloading pictures from the camera.

In other words: Another important point is to use Image Capture to download the photos from the camera, then manipulate their names and then, finally, import them into iPhoto -- and not import the photos directly in iPhoto. (After the import, the files will reside in iPhoto's file structure, so you can delete those files that you dragged onto iPhoto for importing to avoid having duplicates.)

I can only repeat the above advice: Don't mess with files in the Finder once they're under iPhoto's control. Use iPhoto itself or instruct it to open the files in an "external editor".

I'm not sure if this is answering ur question but with photos I found I had to open each one to get a certain photo I was looking for when they were labelled '001' etc. So what I did was create a folder in finder under 'pictures' NOT 'iphoto library'. Then I dragged all the photos in an album from iphoto to that created folder. So within ur created folder u can then re-name '001' to whatever you want for each picture.
PS - re-naming pics takes ages so a quick tip is to click on the file and hit 'enter'. This highlights the file name for editing and saves a lot of time.

Thanks for the additional input...I'm trying to work out these issues before I get too far into the process of organizing my photos. I found the following recommended approach and it seems to be a good option:

Once you have all of your new titles entered the way you want them, create a new album (by clicking on the "+" button in the lower left side of iPhoto, and drag all the newly named images into the album. Then click once on the album to highlight it, and click on the "Share" button to reveal the "Export" icon in the lower right corner of iPhoto. Click on "Export" and choose "File Export" from the tabbed dialogue box.

In the File Export dialogue box, be sure to click on the "Use Titles" radio button under "Name." Once you've decided the other parameters you want, hit the "Export" button. iPhoto will ask you where you want these images placed on your hard drive. Navigate to the desired folder, click "OK," and iPhoto will export the entire album and include the names you wrote in the "Title" field as the new filenames for the pictures.

Now here's something really cool: If you want to build an iPhoto library that has all descriptive filenames for your JPEGs, and then include them in your Title field too, follow these easy steps:

* Create a fresh iPhoto Library as described in Tip #6.
* Choose "Import" from under the "File" menu.
* Navigate to a folder with renamed images.
* Import the entire folder.

All of your pictures will retain their descriptive filenames in iPhoto, and those names will also be displayed in the Title field.

Copying file names in iPhoto 6
 

I have a related problem that I have seen discussed but not recently. I have about 700 pictures from a recent holiday in Ireland that I painstakingly titled in iPhoto, so that I and anyone else, could see where they were taken. I would like to give a copy of the pictures to a couple of those travelling with us, but I can find no way to transfer the files to another installation of iPhoto without these names being stripped out, and the original "DSN......" being substituted. Is there any way, or any software, to do this?

Can't test this right now, but try this:

1) Put the pictures you want to share into a separate album.
2) Insert a blank CD/DVD.
3) iPhoto should ask you if you want to burn a CD. If not, choose this option manually (it's somewhere in the menu).

As far as I know, this will export all images along with a mini iPhoto library file for just those images. So if your friends have iPhoto, too, then can import the library together with the pictures. I think you really need a physical CD, you can't do this without it (i.e. put the pictures and the library file somewhere on your HDD).

Important: Once you've exported onto a CD, test it! I'm not sure if it works.

Other but really awkward solution (be careful with this one and make a backup first!): Copy your entire "iPhoto Library" folder to a different location. Then open iPhoto, delete all pictures except those you want to share, empty the trash. Then you can copy the entire "iPhoto Library" folder, which should be much smaller now, to a CD and give it to your friend. Once you're done, delete the folder and replace it with your backup copy of it. Again: Backup, backup, backup! This can turn out really bad if you screw up. This method also only works if your friends use iPhoto.

Finally: Use some of the export options. If you simply export the files, choose "original format" and "use title as filename" (or similar). This method works with every program. But you only preserve the titles, not the comments and ratings, and you loose the original file names (in case they are meaningful).

Or export to HTML. That's a pretty neat option, it preserves your titles and comments and gives you a portable, cross-platform solution! Try it. To be honest, I'd prefer that rather than using iPhoto's proprietary, binary, flaky format which will probably be unreadable in a few years (and certainly now on non-Macs).

Another solution was suggested to me, and it seems to work. I used "File>Export" from iPhoto, checked the "Use title" option on the Export dialog, and copied the relevant photos to a folder on my desktop. I then used Toast to burn a CD of that folder, and then imported the contents into the iPhoto library on the second computer. The titles were retained.

iPhoto re-arranges the photos by title, but that can be remedied simply by doing a "View>by date" in iPhoto. Then some minor shifting is necessary since it actually sorts by date modified, but that is very simple.

I like the solutions suggested here, too. iPhoto does seem flaky when it comes to file conventions, so I wil try these.

but now heres a larger problem
 

Since the file names can't be changed in the Finder from iPhoto there is a much larger issue. Unlike in iTunes, wehre you can change an artists name or album and it changes the file name instantly, iPhoto dosnt do that. The problem now is as follows: Lets say i have a picture named "me at the beach " I notice, in iPhoto, there is a space at the end of the title. I change it in iPhoto but, as we said, it doesn't change it in the Finder. So now i have a picture in the Finder that has a space at the end (prior to .jpg) When i create a website, in iWeb '08, with that picture, export that website to a folder, for upload and try to upload to a site (other than .Mac), using Fetch, Dreamweaver or Transmit, it will not upload becasue those apps create an underscore "_" in leu of that space " " (all this worked in iWeb 06 without a prob but iWeb 08 exports differently. So its looking for the picture with the space but that doest exist in the upload anymore Rather there is a new file with the underscore - All this could be solved if the original file could be corrected. But since it can't and i now use iWeb 08 I'm screwed. There must be a way that when you change the title in iPhoto it will change the actual file. Any thoughts? g

jewishrapper -- no need to export from the finder. Export your photo from within the iPhoto app and your problem will be solved. Repeating what I stated before -- there is NEVER a need to go into finder. All of the work that other posters are doing is wasted energy. iPhoto will handle all of that for you. All of those that are doing double and triple work importing, renaming, re-importing, etc. are just sticking with the old Windows ways. Let the app manage for you and your life will be simpler, and your photos will be safer. Ease up -- go the mac way and make life easier!

Great Utility for renaming - PRE-iPhoto Import
 

Hello,

I was looking for something else on this site but came across this thread.
Yeah, I was pretty pissed too when I switched to Mac, started using iPhoto, imported all my photos, renamed them in Finder, only to click on the iPhoto thumbnail and have it come back with a "Can't find the photo you're looking for" question mark.
Lost about 2,800 photos.
Won't do that again.

That lead me to find this nice program called "A Better Finder Rename".
I bought it ($20?), and it is worth many times that. You can rename anything, anyway you want. I'll give you rundown of your renaming options.
There are 2 drop down menus at the top (permanent location), and they change all the drop down menus below, once you've selected what you want them to do.

The first drop down menu is "Change:" and gives you 4 very concise, not confusing options:

1. Change File Name and Extension
2. Change Only File Name
3. Change Only File Extension
4. Change Only File Extension (including separator)

The second drop down menu is "Action:", which gives you a ton of options:

• Add text to beginning
• Add text to end
• Add date/time to beginning
• Add date/time to end
• Add folder name to beginning
• Add folder name to end
• Insert text at position
• Insert text in front of existing text
• Insert after existing text
• Replace text
• Replace text at beginning
• Replace text at end
• Replace characters
• Replace using regular expression
• Convert to valid NTFS/SMB file name
• Convert to valid Mac OS 9 file name
• Remove a given number of characters from beginning
• Remove a given number of characters from end
• Remove a range of characters
• Remove text
• Remove text from beginning
• Remove text from end
• Remove specific characters
• Truncate
• Truncate to DOS 8.3 format
• Remove vowels
• Remove trailing spaces
• Convert to Uppercase
• Convert to lowercase
• Convert to title case
• Produce sequence number list
• Insert sequence number at position
• Insert sequence number in front of existing text
• Insert sequence number after existing text
• Add sequence number at beginning
• Add sequence number to end
• Change existing sequence numbers
• Produce alphabetical sequence list
• Add alphabetical sequence at beginning
• Add alphabetical sequence to end
• Rename to date/time
• Rename music files using MP3/AAC tags
• Rename from file list
• Manually rename
• Completely rename

And as I said previously, once you select one of these "Actions", the lower part of the GUI changes and you have input fields and all sorts of other functionality.
So, once you've chosen a "Change" and an "Action", you would drag your photos (it'll take somewhere between 500-1,000 at a time, which is nice)...you take your photos and drop them into the empty window on the bottom of the GUI. It has a line down the center. On the left side is the current name of the file, and on the right side is what the new name is going to be/look like once you hit the "OK" button. Once you do hit the okay button, you can watch the files in your folder rename in real-time and when ABFR is finished, it clears the GUI window of all the old and new photo names so that you have a clean slate to do it all again.

A couple of other features I like are:

1. The program remembers what the last rename title was for every specific "Action". So say that you chose "Insert text at end" for your Action and put in the text "Havasu Spring Break". You rename those pictures, then you decide to switch the Action over to "Produce Sequence Number List" and type in "Lamborhinis". Now say you found some more pictures from Havasu that you forgot to rename before. You can make your Action "Insert Text at End" again and "Havasu Spring Break" will still be in the name field so that you have consistency in your picture renames, and you don't have to retype it every time. The program will only remember the last name you assigned something for that Action. It won't do an AutoFill/AutoPopulate from all of your previous inputs.
2. I love this feature. You can create what are called "Droplets". They are basically a macro, for lack of a better term. Say you rename alot of pictures frequently, but don't want to have to go through the drop down menus, etc.. You can create a system of steps, including Text you want used in the rename, and where you want the file saved, then when you create the "Droplet" it puts a little icon on your desktop. From now on, whenever you drop a picture (or group of pictures, and any files you need renamed, for that matter), ...when you drop them onto the Droplet icon, it just carries out all those actions you pre-determined, in the back ground. Done deal. You don't have to write any code or anything. You just have to type in the text you want the item(s) renamed to, where you want them saved (and maybe click a couple of different options, depending on how intricate you want to make the Droplet), and you're done. Very slick and efficient.

BTW, I don't know the guy who created this, nor am I affiliated with that company in any way, shape or form. I just like telling people about solutions I've found to problems I've had, and cluing people into slick software that will save them boatloads of time.

So, once you've done the ABFR rename, import the pix to iPhoto and it should take the names at face value, and not the original "DSCF 886.jpg" or "IMG001.jpg".

I'm sure you can find A Better Finder Rename from multiple download sites, but here is a quick link:
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/6322

Hope this helps some of you.

Justin

Because of these issues with iPhoto and Finder, and how iPhoto imports into its own library, I had avoided it like the plague.

iPhoto 06, and I believe 08 also, allows importing without actually copying the images into its library. Instead, it creates a sort of alias to the image.

So, I still rarely use iPhoto, but when I do want to take advantage of its integration with another mac app, I'll make sure I have already used Finder to move my images from cameras into folders, then navigate from within iPhoto to that folder, and import without copying.

If I move that particular folder, or make changes to it, I can from within iPhoto now, delete that 'roll' (or 'event' in iPhoto 08) and if I want to see it again, renavigate to it and reimport it.

But I try to avoid iPhoto if at all possible.

One of the other problems with iPhoto, is that when viewing in slideshow, the names of the images don't show. I shoot lots of US soccer, and have to go through up to 900 images per game, choosing good ones for manipulation or just sending onward to others. I need to see the file name.

I previously used ACDsee, but now I'm using Canon Image Browser. It's simple, fast, shows the file names, and doesn't feel proprietary about the images. It just displays them. I had needed to install it to download pictures from my son's Canon camera, but now use it for this.

If I were a pro, I'd use apple's aperature or adobe's lightroom, but for me the costs are prohibitive. I just googled Canon Image Browser, and found a link to versiontracker which seemed to have a download for it.

Just wanted to update my last post here. I found a great app called FileBuddy. I still avoid iPhoto for managing my real images. I've been using it a lot for putting together a dvd for my son's team.

When I transfer images from my cameras to the computer, I do so in Finder. Same with transferring photos from others who have contributed to this project.

FileBuddy allows me to ctrl-click and from its contextual menu, view the contents of folders. It opens in nanoseconds, unlike most other apps which I've used, including the Canon ImageBrowser I mentioned in my previous post. FileBuddy then from a ctrl-click on one of the images, can open a New Viewer, which can be resized. The viewer window shows the filename of each image as I use the arrow keys to move through all the images in the folder, noting which I'd like to use or not use. Very fast, very easy, unlike waiting for iPhoto to import images, or Adobe Bridge.

FileBuddy then allows me to copy images and place them into another folder, creating that folder on the fly, and then batch rename sequentially, with a great many options for the naming, much as jmann mentions in his/her post.

Finally, from there, I can now import aliases of those images into iPhoto. Now that I've become familiar with iPhoto organizing by date and time of the images, I can also add title images created in another app, and assure that they get into the right spots.

Selecting images and placing them into albums from the iPhoto Library view, and then creating slideshows from those albums lets me add effects, soundtracks created via playlists in iTunes, and then export as a Quicktime movie. Creating the Quicktime movie allows me to circumvent iDVD's 99 image limitation on its slideshow feature. Following the importing of the quicktime movies into iDVD, I can then add copies of all the images that were used as if it were also a data dvd, by using iDVD's add content menu. It's working out extremely well. Time consuming, but well.

I hope others find this info useful.

I just used this technique to export some photos which I had imported before I had learned one could import aliases rather than the real images. Since I hadn't changed the titles in iPhoto, once I had exported into a new folder, I used FileBuddy to rename them.

I then imported that folder back into iPhoto, and the filenames were what I had just created. I navigated in Finder to Pictures/iPhoto Library/Originals/2006/2006_11b. This is the path to the roll of the images I just imported after renaming. The filenames were what I had created, not what the originals had been named in roll 2006_11.

Then I changed the titles of two those images in iPhoto using that little info window at the bottom left. I exported again to a new folder, 2006_11c. When I look at that folder in Finder, the filenames of the images are the titles I had created in iPhoto.

So here's where it gets a little sticky. In iPhoto, in Library, roll view, when I look at roll 2006_11b, the two images which had their titles changed, show the changed titles. But if I navigate to Pictures/iPhoto Library/Originals/2006/2006_11b, the filenames of the images do NOT show the title changes, but look exactly like they had before I changed the two titles.

So, I imported the folder 2006_11c, iPhoto asked me for every image, whether I wanted to duplicate the images it said I already had. I said yes. In roll view, 2006_11c appears exactly like 2006_11b. When I navigate in Finder to Pictures/iPhoto Library/Originals/2006/2006_11c, now the filenames look like the titles to which I had changed them. Pretty interesting don't you think?

So, if I had real images that I had imported into iPhoto, and wanted to rename them, I think I would export them into a folder in Finder, and then use FileBuddy or the app that jmann had mentioned previously, to rename them. Then I could import that folder of renamed images into iPhoto and iPhoto could manage the images. This way there would be congruency between the titles of the images from within iPhoto itself, and the filenames that are stored in Pictures/iPhoto Library/Originals.

One could always cmd-backspace on the roll which contained the images that were exported for renaming, to keep the Library less cluttered.

Which is another reason why I don't import copies of images into iPhoto's library, only aliases. If I'm already transferring images via Finder, into directories on the system, I don't want twice as many files.

So, thank you previous posters. Because of what you had all mentioned, I've learned lots.

uh I may be new but in iphoto 08, at the bottom of the app window to the left there is a few buttons a plus sign the i button for info two diagnal arrows and a triangle.

I click on the i - info button and change the name in the info that comes up....

Yes, that will appear to change the name of the image. If iPhoto 08 behaves similarly to iPhoto6, then only a label of the image has been changed. The real, underlying file name of the image is still what had been imported originally. Often that's the file name which the camera had given it, for example P08120001.

It's not as easy to confirm this in iPhoto 08 as it had been in iPhoto6, because the files are more hidden to prevent folks from mucking them up in Finder. You can peruse previous threads to see what problems folks have gotten into when trying to move image files around in Finder. iPhoto in any version doesn't respond well to that. That's why I only import 'aliases' of images into iPhoto when I want to use iPhoto's numerous capabilities. I manage my actual images in Finder, dragging them over from compact flash cards using a card reader. I use FileBuddy to rename them. Another useful app for renaming is A Better Finder Rename.

So, if changing iPhoto's label on an image rather than the actual image file name isn't a problem, you're fine.

A Better Finder Rename
 

Was looking at that program and appreciate your detailed critique. Looks like in 2011 it's still a good buy. Thanks for taking the time to write the info on it.

Update on this
 

In case anyone still has not managed to figure out how to change the name of a photo in iPhoto without going to the extremes (exporting, renaming, importing, etc)

Simply choose the photo you are interested in, click View on the toolbar then select Info. Or you can simply short cut with command-I. A new window/toolbar will appear on the right-hand side of the photo(s). Above the date, you can highlight the field and rename it to whatever you would like. Hope this helps!

:) :D

Please refer back to post #19 in this thread. When you use iPhoto's info view to change the name of a photo, you're not really changing the "real" name of the photo, only what iPhoto "calls" it.

For example, let's say I imported photo DSC00091. In iPhoto I click View and select Info. I rename the photo "Me at the Beach." iPhoto will now call it Me at the Beach, but if you were clever enough to find the hidden folder showing the "real" image file, it would still be named DSC00091.

None of the versions of iPhoto with which I'm familiar can really and truly amend the image file's name.

Which is why I never use iPhoto to import the real images into the computer. I use Finder and card readers to drag the files into folders that I create for them. Then rename the files using an app such as FileBuddy or A Better Finder Rename. Then if I want to use some of iPhoto's marvelous tools, such as creating slideshows/movies, I'll make sure that iPhoto's preference for copying, found in Preferences>Advanced is unchecked or unticked. This way iPhoto imports a sort of alias of the image file. It can work its magic just as easily on this alias, including creating slideshows/movies, export to iDVD for creating DVDs. And I have avoided iPhoto's idiosyncracies while taking advantage of its many worthwhile functions.

Now, my needs may be more specialized than the average Joe using iPhoto. I had needed to be working very specifically with image files, and be moving them around. I also work extensively in Photoshop. Now in newer versions of iPhoto, you can choose Photoshop as the editing app, again in Preferences>Advanced>Edit Photos, and choose Photoshop, or Lightroom, or whichever.

I feel that iPhoto is a great image editing/managing app. I would probably use it, even importing the "real" images, allowing it to "Copy items to the iPhoto Library" if I had just been managing photos of family occasions and such.

To assure that my information isn't old, I opened my iPhoto '11, version 9.2.1 running on my MBP running OS 10.7.3.

I went to Preferences>Advanced> and checked "Copy items to the iPhoto Library."

I then imported a photo. I clicked View>Info. I changed the name from DSC_0176_2 to Julie_fabric. See the photo below circled in yellow showing the photo name Julie_fabric.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7218/7...a239ffcf_o.jpg

I closed iPhoto and opened a Finder window, clicking on Pictures.

I right-clicked on iPhoto Library and chose Show Package Contents. I drilled down clicking the flippy triangles to the Masters folder. I kept drilling down via the flippy triangles to 2012>04>and the most recent folder, which is 25, for today's date. Clicking on that flippy triangle revealed that the "real" file name hadn't changed despite my renaming the photo in iPhoto.

See the photo below showing the "real" file name is still DSC_0176_2.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5319/7...3d0ff41a_o.jpg



You can also see in folder 15, that there's no "real" file there. That's because on that date, I had the "Copy items to iPhoto Library" unchecked. So there is an event folder, but the real file is elsewhere on the hard drive. iPhoto copied an "alias" of the photo. I can see it in iPhoto, but it's not in iPhoto's hidden folder hierarchy.

I think the real question is, "Why does it matter to some of you what the Finder's name for the file is?"

In my case, I needed to be able to order the files by date and in temporal order, such as 20091004H2-0004. Telling me it was shot in 2009, October 4th, Half 2 of the game, and the fourth shot of the half. I also needed to be able to see that name in whatever app I was using to review the photos. iPhoto didn't (and maybe still doesn't) have a way to do that. So iPhoto, for that task, didn't meet my needs. And iPhoto then and now doesn't organize in a way that makes sense for the way that I think about organization. But I'm sure that it does for the way that others view organization.

iPhoto met my needs very well for later compiling into slideshows and creating quicktime movies which I could then import into iDVD and turn into end of season DVDs for the players and families.

I can't speak to the reasons that others have for wanting to amend the "real" file names of their photos. But it might be useful for folks to know that renaming in iPhoto doesn't amend that "real" file name.

Just so you know, there's an easier way to do this. In iPhoto, select an image, then use File > Reveal In Finder.

Couple of things to note here. One is that the seemingly present option to change the name of a picture in iPhoto is only allowing you to change what's referred to as the Title of the picture. That, obviously, isn't, well, obvious. But it is the case, so I'm noting it.

For the larger issue at hand, there are a few options. There's what was mentioned upthread a long time ago, to rename the files before importing them into iPhoto. What you described suggests you have lots of pictures, so it sounds like a file-renaming utility would be worth your spending a few dollars. I can provide recommendations if you'd like, or you could also poke around MacUpdate and download demo versions to try.

If you don't want to do that, there is kind of a hidden renaming method I sometimes use in the Finder. Say you've got a Finder window with all your images to be imported. This window is in list view (available from the View menu). If you press the Space Bar, you get a preview of the image. Without leaving the preview, you could press Return (putting the selected image in rename mode), type the new name, press Return again to leave rename mode, then press the Down Arrow key to preview the next one. Then you can rinse and repeat. I throw that out aware that you take a lot of pictures, so maybe that's not convenient enough, but that's a decision for you to make.

Another option to consider is Aperture since its documentation suggests renaming won't have the same issue as iPhoto.

And while not exactly ideal, I'll note there is a way to get a copy of your images with the titles you've assigned applied to the file names. Select the desired photos in iPhoto, then select File > Export. In the dialog that opens, the File Export tab has a File Name pop-up menu. You can set that to Use Title to export a copy of the images with the name you want to see. I guess you could keep these copies temporarily as a way to perform the review you want, then delete these copies.

In my case, after I import my photos, I then need to post them on a shared server. Having 1400 photos all named IMG_0001.JPG is not terribly helpful.

If you want to rename the filename of an image in iPhoto 9.4.2 click on the Info button and then simply edit the filename shown at the top of the panel opposite the stars. Tab to come out of it.

This is true, but unless things have changed from 9.2.1 rather drastically, the method you've described above only changes what iPhoto calls the image, not the image's file name.

And for a great many users, this is perfectly fine.

The original poster had wanted to know if there was a way from within iPhoto to change the 'real' file name, leading to the extensive discussion that followed.

And 5 years later the answer is still "No". I have not yet used a database-centered application that has similar functionality, simply because there's no need. iPhoto has sorting options independent of file names, dates are stored internally in EXIF data, and users aren't encouraged to touch the files after import - hence the package format rather than plain folders.

If you *really* must rename things, either do it before import or use a different photo browser, like the Finder in Icon view.

Yep.

LOL, the forum wouldn't let me leave it as "yep."