Rename photos, batch rename, and move them out of the library
Rename one photo or a hundred at once with a pattern like {date} {n}, tidy photos into the library's own folders, or move them out of Portman2 — and keep their albums, tags, stars and edits.
Right-click a photo, or a selection, and choose Move & rename for three things you can do to the files themselves. Each one also works from the viewer and from popup windows.
Rename…
For one photo the dialog holds its whole file name with the name part selected, so typing replaces it and the extension stays. Press Rename or Enter.
For several photos you type a pattern instead, and the list underneath shows every old name beside its new one before anything changes:
{n}is a counter through the selection in date order, padded to the size of the selection —01to12for twelve photos.{date},{year},{month},{day},{time}and the other date parts come from when each photo was taken.{stem}is the photo's current name,{tags}its tags,{tag}the tag it was given first, and{hash6}six characters of its fingerprint. A photo with no tags simply leaves{tag}or{tags}out of its name, along with the space or dash beside it.- Anything else you type is kept as it is:
Iceland {year} {n}givesIceland 2026 01.jpg,Iceland 2026 02.jpg…
Click a token under the field to put it in at the cursor. Two photos given the same name become name (2), name (3) and so on, and the list shows the numbered names before you press Rename. A photo with no capture date is left out of a pattern that uses the date, and the list says so.
Re-file by library rules
Moves each photo to the folder, and gives it the name, that this library would give it if it were imported today — the filing shape chosen when the library was created. The dialog lists where each photo goes; photos that are already there are left alone and counted.
This is how a {tag} folder catches up with tags given after the import: a library filed by {tag}\{year} moves a photo tagged beach since into beach\2026. {tag} is always the tag the photo was given first, so adding more tags later never moves it again, and a photo with no tags goes in Untagged. Folders left empty by the move are removed.
Move out of library…
Takes photos out of Portman2 and puts them in a folder of your own: one photo opens a Save as dialog with its name filled in, several open a folder picker. Each file is copied, the copy is checked against the original, and only then is the photo deleted from the library, with its albums, tags and star. It cannot be undone from Portman2.
When the selection holds an edited photo, the confirmation asks which file to take: the edit, as it looks in the library, the original from before editing, or both (the original is saved as name (original).jpg). Whatever is not taken is deleted with the library entry, and the dialog says which.
A name that is already taken in the folder is never overwritten: the copy is saved as name (2).jpg. Move out of library… is greyed out in a popup window; use it from the main window.
To keep the photo in the library and save a copy somewhere else — smaller, or in another format — use Export… instead.
What moves with a photo
A renamed or re-filed photo keeps its albums, tags, star, hidden state, edits and the original kept for Reset, and every other computer that opens the library sees the same change.
Virtual copies have no file of their own, so all three are greyed out on one; in a mixed selection they are left out and the dialog says how many. Photos in the trash are not renamed or moved. A long run shows its progress in a notice, with Stop: every file is either moved completely or left exactly as it was. If Portman2 is closed or the computer loses power part way through, the next rename or re-file finishes the interrupted one first, and the library and the notice show those files too.