How to Rename Photos on MacBook Air

Note: This may not be the quickest or easiest way to rename a photo, but it actually worked for me. Article written August 2024.

P.S. - You don’t have to be tech savvy to understand this article.

I travel frequently. While on the road, a magazine submission opportunity may come up with a rapidly approaching deadline. Sometimes guidelines include specifics such as file naming, where each image must be renamed to fit desired criteria. Recently this happened to me.

After googling “how to rename an image using MacBook Air”, I followed directions from two authoritative looking websites. Neither worked. Instead of having a newly named image, a pop up banner said the image could not be saved. Frustrated, and before totally giving up, I played around to see if anything would produce results. Did I think my effort would pay off? Not really, but I was not in the mood to give up.

So, here is how I renamed an image. Step by step:

• Open Photos application and keep out of full screen. Click whichever image you wish to rename and drag it to the Preview app. If you do not have the Preview application in your dock, I recommend adding it. You can resize an image through the Preview app as well. (Tell me if you want an article on how to resize an image.)

• The image should appear in a new window using the Preview app. I like to enter full screen at this point, but you do not have to. Previously, I had tried “Export…” and “Rename…” under the File tab, changing the “save as” title to the new image name, then adding it to photos. The “could not save image” banner popped up every time. What finally worked was saving the image to desktop.

• Click File tab, then click “Rename…”. Under Favorites to the left of the screen, click the Desktop. Change the name of current “save as” title to desired name. Once entered, hit save button on lower right corner of screen.

• Now exit full screen or exit application completely, and look at your MacBook desktop. The newly named image should be saved to your desktop screen. Click image and drag it to photos app in dock. This should add the image to photos. You can delete the image from the desktop once added to photos by dragging it to the trash bin.

• To verify the image is renamed, click the image in photos once and then click the icon with an “i” in a circle to get info on images. The icon is located at the top of the screen between “all photos” and share a selected photo icon.

If you have a better way, feel free to send me a message.