Feature request: better file names for new projects
I do a lot of experimenting. That means creating lots of new projects.
I don't know how to name these projects before starting, so they all end up as "Untitled-*". Having hundreds of those isn't nice.
It would be nice if the default name for new projects would be the current date. Something like "2018 Dec 08". Or anything really that's better than "untitled-2413".
Comments
When I’m experimenting I title the project something that helps me identify what I was experimenting with such as “obsidian programming test”. How is having a bunch of dates any more helpful than a bunch of “untitled” files?
That's great if you know beforehand that "obsidian programming" is what you're going to do.
Generally other DAWs don't ask me to figure out a name before starting a track.
I don't know what the proper solution is here, "untitled" isn't it IMHO.
You should probably do a ”Save as” as soon as you have something worth saving. We did discuss automatic naming and turns out there are about as many preferences and workflows as there are people. There are fairly few apps that use automatic naming and personally, having used Gadget for a long time, I’m not at all convinced random words work any better than ”untitled-x”.
But getting into a habit of using save as would definitely solve your problem and give you meaningful file names.
Save as doesn't delete the untitled project though. Any chance this could be added as an option?
It’s a good feature request. We’ll have a better place for them when we get a chance to organize the forum a little better. Very soon, I hope!
How about double tapping on a project's name to edit it? Much better
I’m in the same boat. When I start a project I usually don’t know what I’m going to name it. For apps that like NS2 that ask at the beginning I usually spend time thinking of a name and once I get the track going I rename it. So +1 for edit name.
I just name any new track with the date in YYYY-MM-DD format. If I start more than one in a day in the same app, I append a number to that. It’s nice if later on there’s a rename function rather than save-as and then delete.
But really, is this practically all that bad, or is just affecting people’s design sensibilities? Seriously it can’t add up to more than a minute per day of anyone’s life. It seems like a very small priority in my eyes.
Definitely a very small annoyance very low on the priority list
Yes, a default name based on date and time would be way better that what we have now.
+1
you can rename project file, just select file in file browser and tap "Aa" icon in top navigation.
Althought just now realized you still cannot rename (from Load browser) file which is currently opened. I remeber that we discussed this and Matt told that he will remove this limitation, maybe he just forget @Blip Interactive
Regarding dates - whats exactly point to have file name as date when you already see date at right side of filename ? Just curious
Btw most apps ever created use some form of "new-x" or "untitled-x" naming logic for new files.. just pointing cause i know you like when things are made same way like everywhere else
Yes, I thought that this date was the last saved date, but if it is the created date, this is fine.
But then we still miss the last saved date.
You need both, as we all know from the desktop.
Going to test this.
In the overview, you see the last saved date, the creation date is only visible after you loaded the project.
So, if the name would default to date and time, we would have both important information!
As already suggested in this topic
It's wayyyy better then "Unnamed-" with a number and realy easy and fast changed.
But you know what day it is, since you asked for that type of formatting then just type in that. I must admit I do end up with lots of untitled projects which later on are pain in the arse to sort out but hey, it does ask to input a name.
When it comes to best practices, naming a project (or any other file) properly from the start is a good habit to get into. Relying on any kind of automatically generated naming is asking for trouble. I have been editing video professionally for well over 30 years. I wouldn’t risk my livelihood by not being able to properly identify every file I work with. It WILL bite you on the ass at some point if you don’t and it will cost you time, maybe money, or maybe your job.
Yes, and therefor, a date and time as default Project name would help greatly.
Wondering if, after half year when there will be 35 files with random datetimes as files names, it would be in any way helpful to identify which one is which
)
Like i'm barely remembering what date was 5 days ago :-))) And not which track experiment inwas doing back then
)
That's the point.
100 files where you can see the creation date and the last saved date is just much better than 100 files named "Unnamed-x".
Of course you rename important stuff, but his is about the default name and most people just press return initially.
Why so negative to this idea?
It is realy much better than what we have now!
For me, it goes even further: Using editor and notebook apps that force me to enter a name have good chance to get removed, as there are better solutions where you do not have to type in something at first. And if the system requires a file name, date and time are the best default possible.
Dates are better than "untitled". I also name projects by date like 18-12-08 and if there more than one, so 18-12-08-1 and -2 and so on.
I name my files with the thought that anyone can look at the name and have a pretty good idea what it is. Makes it easy for everyone especially me. Take it or leave it.
@anickt
i use same approach during coding, every single line i wrote i'm holding in mind than anybody who looks at my code should be able very quickly understand it.
Dates as filenames would need settings for the order of fields – there are several default ways of expressing dates internationally and several of them add alphabetical sorting difficulties. Personally I’m not a fan of all-numbers names, they are much slower to tell apart for me than even those ”untitled-46” names.
There's only one correct way of writing dates. That's YYYY-MM-DD
Yes, that is the best way to make a filesystem play nice with the number and I use it to organize my folders but then again, I’m not a normal person.
Hey hey, europeans are normal people!
I have to agree with @anickt on this. Relying on the app to do the organizational work for you is never going to please everyone. And I don't see it as difficult to just make your first project of the day the date. Regularly stop and Save As with a v# at the end. Simple. We need to not overwhelm Matt with requests that are not critical to most users or he will not have as much time for the important features we want. We should all be mindful of this and try to keep the overall noise level a bit lower, especially if we can just adjust our work habits slightly as is the case for this 'feature'.
But then, this would be the most easy and fast change of all
YES! Maybe. I dunno... Anyway, I get the joking intent of that, but... OK, I don't code, but since I make physical things I relate to what I've learned from Matt which is that sometimes the seemingly simple things are really time-consuming. Only Matt will know his code well-enough to decide. He's good at prioritizing. I do think that the less he is side-tracked at getting the stated priorities completed, the faster he'll get to the place of creating the bells and whistles that we want. One of those may well be this feature - low on my personal priority, but I understand that some people might find this useful.