A Snow Leopard rewrite of the Image Capture utility brings about many new features, but one has been removed: the ability to specify where to save your photos just before a program is run on those pictures. Image Capture will allow the user to download images to a folder of their choice, or download to the users Pictures folder and then run an external application on those images.

But you want to be able to specify the folder where your images are downloaded, and then use A Better Finder Rename to rename them. Today I put together an Automator action which does this.

Installation instructions:

1. Download the Automator action here. This will put the file MoveAndRename.tgz in your Downloads folder.

2. Double-click MoveAndRename.tgz. This will produce a file called “Move and Rename.workflow”

3. Double-click “Move and Rename.workflow”. This will open the workflow in Automator:

   

4. Click File, Save As, name the workflow (the default is “Move and Rename”) and click Save:

   

5. The Automator workflow is now saved as an Image Capture plugin.

Usage Instructions:

For more detailed instructions on using Image Capture, check out this tutorial.

1. Open Image Capture

2. Under “Import To:” you’ll notice a new option: “Move and Rename.workflow”:

   

3. Click “Import” to import the selected images or “Import All” to import the entire camera roll

4. You are now asked what folder you would like to move the images to. Select the destination folder and click “Continue.” If you don’t want to move the images anywhere, leave “Pictures” selected and just click “Continue”:

   

5. Next, A Better Finder Rename is launched. Rename your filesas your normally would.

Notes:

• Automator is unable to save the last folder you used in the “Move Finder Items (Move Images)” step.

• If you do not select “Replace existing files” in the “Move Finder Items (Move Images)” step, and images files of the same name already exist in the destination folder, Automator will bomb out. This is a limitation of the Automator action.