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I have thousands of audio files that I need to make sure have Unique IDs associated with them before they're sent out for editing. Is there a quick way to have PT add the unique IDs to an entire folder?

Right now I'm using a session and adding the files to the clip list.... but this is VERY tedious.

SouthFresh
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  • Are you using Windows? Could you use something like this? – n00dles Jan 31 '16 at 17:51
  • Thanks for the response! I'm not trying to rename files. In the PT workspace PT uses a Unique ID that it writes to the file's metadata. To my knowledge, PT only writes the Unique ID when the file is added to a session. I'm hoping to find another method of doing this. – SouthFresh Feb 01 '16 at 02:51
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    Oh, ok. Unfortunately, I know nothing of PT's metadata. Is there an ini file or something you could edit. PT must store them somewhere, maybe it's an external file. – n00dles Feb 01 '16 at 03:01
  • This is a really cool tool from PT for when you've got a large crew working on the same project. The Unique ID is used by the PT Database to distinguish between files with the same name but different content. The ID is stored in the WAV file metadata header. This way, if you send out project assets to a collaborator and they happen to have a file with the same name, PT can tell the difference between the two. – SouthFresh Feb 01 '16 at 18:26
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    Oh right, makes sense. The only thing I'd suggest, if you can't get an answer here, is to ask on a PT forum. – n00dles Feb 01 '16 at 19:03
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    @SouthFresh I wrote a (Windows) tool that can alter the ID field of the BWF header in compatible WAV files. If it does what you need it wouldn't be hard to add the ability to call it in a loop using Command Prompt or PowerShell. Contact me off list here and I'll get you a copy to try out. But, Windows only. – Jim Mack Mar 02 '16 at 22:20

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On OSX you can do something similar using AppleScript.

Good luck!

Hens Zimmerman

# AppleScript (multi) rename script for Finder files.
# Hens Zimmerman, October 16, 2011.

# Iterate through all selected files and rename them.

tell application "Finder"
    set filenames to selection
    set theCount to number of items in filenames

    repeat with idx from 1 to theCount
        set theFile to (item idx of filenames as text)
        set TheName to name of (theFile as alias)
        set UUID to do shell script "uuidgen"
        set NewName to (UUID & " " & TheName)
        set name of file theFile to NewName
    end repeat
end tell
user2235980
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  • This appears to be renaming the files with a system generated UUID. Is there a way to have that UUID entered in the "Unique ID" metadata field of the PT Workspace? – SouthFresh Feb 01 '16 at 02:50