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File naming template and tokens for captures and imports

One template names every file that enters the gallery: screenshots, recordings, dragged-in photos, web captures, AI renames and batch renames. The default is:

{date} {time} SC-{name}

Edit it in Settings → Capture → Naming. The tab lists each token next to a live example and previews the result as you type.

The date comes first on purpose. When a folder is sorted by name, it is also sorted chronologically. The SC- marker still identifies SuperCapture files at a glance.

Examples

Section titled “Examples”

For something that arrives on 2 August 2026 at 14:32:10:

What arrived {name} is File name
A screenshot with no name empty 2026-08-02 14-32-10 SuperCapture.png
A dragged-in IMG_4821.jpg IMG_4821 2026-08-02 14-32-10 SC-IMG_4821.jpg
An image dragged from a web page with no filename Extension Capture 2026-08-02 14-32-10 SC-Extension Capture.png
An AI rename the model’s description 2026-08-02 14-32-10 SC-Login screen validation error.png

Tokens

Section titled “Tokens”
Token Example Meaning
{date} 2026-08-02 Year-month-day
{time} 14-32-10 Hour-minute-second, 24-hour
{datetime} 2026-08-02 14-32-10 {date} {time}
{hhmmss} 143210 Time without separators
{timestamp} 1785681130 Unix time in seconds (depends on your time zone)
{YYYY} / {YY} 2026 / 26 Year
{MM} 08 Month
{DD} 02 Day
{hh} 14 Hour, 24-hour
{mm} 32 Minute
{ss} 10 Second
{name} IMG_4821 The name the item arrived with
{n} 1 A counter the app fills in to keep the name unique

{timestamp} means the same thing here as in workflows.

What fills {name}

Section titled “What fills {name}”

{name} holds whatever name the item came with:

  • The original filename of a drag-and-drop or file-picker import
  • The page or video title of a web capture
  • A name you typed, or one passed in by an MCP client
  • The AI’s suggestion, when AI rename is on

Files that arrive through sync from your other devices are the exception. They keep their exact filenames, with no timestamp added.

Rules for missing names and odd templates

Section titled “Rules for missing names and odd templates”
  • No name, default marker. If {name} is empty, the orphaned - is removed. If the template’s last word is then the bare SC marker, it becomes SuperCapture. If you wrote your own word instead of SC, it’s left alone.
  • A name, but no {name} slot. In a custom template like Shot {datetime}, the name is added to the end after a hyphen: Shot 2026-08-02 14-32-10-Login error. The name isn’t thrown away.
  • Unknown tokens turn into nothing. Braces never end up in a file name.
  • Leftover separators are cleaned up: repeated spaces collapse, a - or _ directly before an empty token is removed, and separators at either end are trimmed.
  • Unsafe characters are removed, including ? * | < > ", so the file can also sync to Windows. Names are capped at 180 bytes.
  • A template that produces nothing falls back to the default.

If the name is already taken, a Finder-style suffix is added: name (1).png, name (2).png.

AI rename

Section titled “AI rename”

AI rename replaces only the {name} part. It never changes the rest of your template. Naming a file takes a few seconds, so the file is saved under the template first and renamed afterwards.

It’s configured separately for captures and imports. Both are on by default on macOS 27 and later. For imports, only rename files with non-descriptive names is on by default. Names like IMG_4821, DSC01234, Screenshot 2026-08-02 at 14.32.10, hashes and bare numbers get renamed. A name you chose, like Q3 revenue chart, is kept.

Section titled “Related”