File Name Formats for Image Uploads
Typically, you would just use your image title as your file name, but your file name can be any name. You will have an opportunity to assign a title to your image after it is uploaded, but it is handy if your file name already contains a title.
Additional file name formats can extract additional information and simplify setting other values associated with your image. All of these values can be set after you upload an image, which makes all file name formats optional.
When you upload an image and use a specific format for your file name, the system can automatically identify additional values beyond just the image title. If the file name format is not recognized, the entire file name becomes the proposed title, for the image unless the meta-data for your image contains a title.
If you use a program like LightRoom or PhotoShop, you might embed an image title in your images. If such a title is present it will be used instead of your file name as long as your file name does not appear to contain any of the special parsing characters: "~", "[", or "--".
You will not be able to upload files from a Mac if they were named with a file name that is not valid for Windows. File names cannot start or end with blanks. They may not contain any of these characters: \ : / * ? " < > |
Only jpeg images are supported. Your file name must end with ".jpg" or ".jpeg". Underscores in file names are replaced with blanks.
The system expects file names to be in one of the formats below. If the format is not recognized, the entire file name becomes the image title.
~xyyy~title[seq]subtitle~author~suffix.jpg
-or-
title[seq]subtitle~author~suffix.jpg -or-
title[seq]subtitle--author--suffix.jpg
Fields are separated by a tilde (~) or by double hyphens (--). You must use only one type of separator in the same file name.
~xyyy~
Starting the file name with a tilde ("~") indicates you will supply a Competition Type Code and an optional Competition Level Code. This is normally only done when uploading directly into a competition. Any Competition Level Code will be ignored except for Category Competitions and submitting to another organization's competitions.
A "category competition" requires a Competition Level Code with your submission. Competition Level Codes are also needed when submitting images from a child organization to a parent competition.
If "W" is specified as the first letter of the Competition Type Code, it will match a code starting with "N" instead of a "W" to indicate a Wildlife entry for a Nature competition.
If you are not uploading directly into a competition these codes are ignored, except that a "W" code will mark the image as Wildlife.
Title Field
The next or first segment of the file name is the title. If additional fields are provided, a separator must follow the title.
If the image is part of an Image Sequence, the title is specified in 3 parts. The main title for the sequence is first, followed by a number in square brackets ("[" and "]") indicating the order of the image in the sequence, followed by a subtitle for the specific image. A sequence number of 1 starts a new Image Sequence. Sequence titles are stored with "[]" in the sequence field and are displayed as "[2 of 3]" when viewed.
Author Field
The author field follows a separator after the title. This must exactly match the Informal Name defined for the person or it can be the numeric User Id. The Author must be a member of the submitting organization. Only Competition Managers will recognize this field. For others, it will be included in the title.
Unless you are a Competition Manager, the Author Field must be your own name or User Id and is only needed if you want to specify a suffix value.
Organization
If you are a Competition Manager uploading images into a competition from another organization, the author field must include an identifier for the submitting organization. Follow the author indicator with and exclamation point ("!") and a numeric Organization Id or an Organization Short Name. The Author must be recognized as a competing member of that child organization. The current organization is used to validate membership if the organization identifier is not present.
An Organization value should only be specified when a parent organization is submitting images from a child organization, otherwise it must match the current organization.
Suffix Field
If you follow the Author field with another separator, the value that follows becomes the "Author's Image Id". This value is displayed for the author so they can identify the image within their own image connection. This value is not used by the Image Competition Manager or the website.
Examples
Golden Gate Bridge~John Doe.jpg
Title: Golden Gate Bridge
Author: John Doe, for the current organization.
Golden Gate Bridge~123456~20150201-6057.jpg
Title: Golden Gate Bridge
Author: John Doe, for the current organization. This was determined from the User Id of 123456 specified in the author field.
Author's Image Id: 20150201-6057
Golden Gate Bridge--Jane Doe--20150201-6058.jpg
Title: Golden Gate Bridge
Author: Jane Doe, for the current organization.
Author's Image Id: 20150201-6058
~CAT03~Golden Gate Bridge~John Smith.jpg
Competition Type Code: "CAT" (assumed to be a category competition)
Competition Level Code: "03" (assumed to be a level in the competition)
Title: Golden Gate Bridge
Author: John Smith, for the current organization.
~W~Leopard Watches from Tree~222333.jpg
Competition Type Code: "N", changed from "W" and image was marked a Genuine Wildlife. No Competition Level was specified.
Title: Leopard Watches from Tree
Author: User Id 222333 in the current organization.
~T~Eiffel Tower, Paris~222333!PCC~1207-0264.jpg
Competition Type Code: "T"
Title: Eiffel Tower, Paris
Author: User Id 222333 in the child organization with a short name of "PCC".
Submitting Organization: The child organization or current organization with the "short name" of "PCC".
Author's Image Id: 1207-0264
~W~Coyote Hunting [1] Stalks Mole~222333.jpg
Competition Type Code: "N", changed from "W" and image was marked a Genuine Wildlife. No Competition Level was specified.
Title: Coyote Hunting [] Stalks Mole. This starts a new Image Sequence named "Coyote Hunting". The "[]" will be filled in when viewed with "1 of 2".
Author: User Id 222333 in the current organization.
~W~Coyote Hunting [2] Catches Mole~222333.jpg
Competition Type Code: "N", changed from "W" and image was marked a Genuine Wildlife. No Competition Level was specified.
Title: Coyote Hunting [] Catches Mole. This continues the Image Sequence named "Coyote Hunting". The "[]" will be filled in when viewed with "2 of 2".
Author: User Id 222333 in the current organization.