Batch convert folder.jpg in different directories

[Barkitten]

Hi,

I just discovered irfanview out of pure necessity; i needed to convert and rename a bunch of jpg's that were in different directories. For some strange reason i really really felt the need to add small cover art images to my mp3's. I already had the cover art for the folders, but those are large files. So time to resize them and rename them.

The jpg's are hidden away like this: D:\Archive\Music\%artist%\%album%\folder.jpg. Replace %artist% and %album% with a serious amount of different names and it becomes a daunting task. Needless to say i wasn't going to do this manually. Well at least not very happily.

So after a bit of searching, i ran into irfanview and the words batch conversion fairly leapt of the screen

Off i go hunting for tutorials and some tips and tricks to get me trough my task at hand, but alas, every single tutorial deals with all the files in a single directory! Not Fair!

Then i run headlong into this post, it's the same problem I'm having! Without a solution! It's bug! NOT FAIR!.

Everybody heard the saying: "You can never make software fool-proof" right?

That isn't always a bad thing.

Sometimes if you just chaoticly bash away at a user interface, you can achieve the wanted result for a change! (note: bash away at temporary files, not your work files)

After playing around with irfanview a bit i figured it out:

1. Start the Thumbnails thing.
2. Hit Ctrl-F or Options->Search Files...
3. Filename Pattern: folder.jpg and search in your music library with Browse: button (in my case D:\Archive\Music)
4. Hit 'Start Seach'
5. Check your results and remove any unwanted with the Remove from results button.
6. Hit the Show all in Tumbnails and all your cover art should be present.
7. ctrl-a to select all and hit B for batch mode.
8. check 'Batch conversion - rename results'
9. Select output: jpg
10. Check the 'use advanced options' and click the 'Advanced button'
11. Select Resize: 300, Preservere, Resample and 'Create subdirectories' (not sure if the last is needed, but when it was checked it worked ) and hit 'OK'
12. Set the 'Name pattern' to '$N_Small' (don't use the $d and $D things.) The new file will be called folder_Small.jpg
13. And now for the important bit: LEAVE THE OUTPUT DIRECTORY EMPTY!!!!!! If there is something there, click on it and backspace, delete or erase it.

Hmmm... this has been a bit more text than I intended, but it's late and i am content; my music archive is richly populated with the little offspring of lot's and lot's of folder.jpgs and they all live with their mothers.

Cheers,
Barkitten

[Trance-M]

13. And now for the important bit: LEAVE THE OUTPUT DIRECTORY EMPTY!!!!!! If there is something there, click on it and backspace, delete or erase it.

I have been looking for this. Batch conversion of pictures in multiple directories, but then overwriting each picture in it's original directory.
I just need to make the pictures smaller to save space, so only used batch conversion 80% option and not the rename option.
When I leave the output directory empty only the pictures in the first directory will be converted. Pictures of other directories will appear in the first directory instead of their original directory.

I don't know if this is due to a new version or something.
I also tested it on our network, but the pictures get converted to an unknown location.
Despite some warnings of existing files, nothing was converted.

Does anyone know how to do batch conversion replacing pictures in multiple directories? The first part with searching works fine. Leaving the output directory blank doesn't seem to be the solution.

[Mij]

If you leave the output directory box empty you need to check Create subfolders in destination folder in the advanced options. That is necessary even if the folders already exist if you want the original folder structure copied to the output file names. If you want to overwrite exising files with the same names you need to check Overwrite existing files also. Be careful if you do that though. Once they are overwritten you cannot get the originals back.

[Trance-M]

Thank you Mij,

that fixed it . It was already mentioned by Barkitten I see now, but because it didn't make sense as all directories already existed, I forgot to try.
I know the risk, but I have a backup of all files, just in case.

So this would be it to reduce file-size of pictures in multiple directories using batch conversion (pictures will be overwritten):

1. Start Irfanview or Irfan Thumbnails
2. Hit Ctrl-F or Options->Search Files...
3. Filename pattern: *.jpg and select the directory to search in with the 'Browse' button (e.g. D:\Archive\Music)
4. Hit 'Start Seach' button.
5. Check your results and remove any unwanted with the 'Remove from results' button.
6. Hit the 'Show all in Thumbnails' button and all your pictures should be present.
7. 'Ctrl-a' to select all and hit 'B' for batch mode.
8. Check "Batch conversion", "Batch rename" or "Batch conversion - Rename result files"
9. Select 'Output format': JPG
10. Select 'Options': I use 'Save quality' = 80% to reduce picture files size (not resolution)
11. Check the 'Use advanced options' and click the 'Advanced' button
12. Select at MISCELLANEOUS 'Overwrite existing files' and 'Create subfolders in the destination folder', and optional 'Save files with original date/time' and hit 'OK' WARNING: THIS WILL OVERWRITE EXISTING FILES
MAKE SURE ANYTHING ELSE (e.g. CROP or RESIZE) IS NOT SELECTED AS IT WILL BE APPLIED ALSO!!!
13. Important: LEAVE THE OUTPUT DIRECTORY EMPTY!!!!!! If there is something there, click on it and backspace, delete or erase it.
14. Hit the 'Start Batch' button.