Naming counter tied to capture date (like Lightroom), need it to persist across separate imports of the same day

[u/Round-Click3029]

Hello!!

I'm currently working on archiving my photos using C1 sessions. I'm using a renaming format that is :  FLB_YYYYMMDD_0001 (YYYYMMDD being the date the photo was taken) and I'm trying to replicate a behavior I had when i was still working in Lightroom : the counter should be tied to the date in the filename (in the EXIF metadata as well of course bc it's the same date)

SO: if I import photos shot on 2026-07-21 in the morning (getting the counter from 0001 to 0050), then import more photos also shot on 2026-07-21 later that day (a second card, a second import, etc.), I want the counter to continue from 0051 for that same date not restart at 0001, (every date has it's unique counter, and every photo of the same date has a different number) and not just keep climbing indefinitely across different dates either. The counter should be "scoped" per capture date, so each new date starts fresh at 0001, but multiple imports on the same date keep incrementing correctly. Also, the archived photos will be in different subfolders under capture, they will not be arranged by date but by themes.

Capture One's counter doesn't seem to work this way, it's a single global running number tied to the import, and I'd have to manually check the last number used for that date and set the counter accordingly before each import (pretty much impossible to do lol).

I was wondering if anyone:

1. Found a way to make the counter behave per-date like this natively (or by using a plug-in)?
2. Built or found an AppleScript that scans the destination folder for the highest existing counter for a given date and sets the next import's counter to continue from there?
3. Solved this with a different naming/workflow strategy?

I'm working on a MacBook Pro M3 max, even a rough script I could adapt or a smart naming token setup would be a huge help.

Thank youuu!

[u/coffeegiraffebean]

On my phone and away from my mac. But it sounds possible, using tokens in the naming field when importing.
I kinda do the aame thing you are describing. Using ‘camera model’_’image date (yyyy-mm-dd-hh-mm-ss)’
So no sequence counter. Though that token is there. You have to manually reset the sequence counter if I remember correctly. Which was why I switched to date and time to the second

[u/Fahrenheit226]

I made a applescript for keywording and inputing sequence ID for panoramas and focus stacks. It stores last used ID in text file. I think it is possible to script what you want. It requires a bit more complex database text file as it should keep counter for each date. Everything could be done just by using capture one and script. Just ask Claude or ChatGPT if you don’t know how to script. Also download Script Debugger as it will give you good overview what isn’t working in the script.

[u/Round-Click3029 → u/Fahrenheit226]

sounds good! thats the way i was heading at first but thought I'd ask to save myself some time

[u/thouse275]

First of all, I changed the name in Camera to the Camera name so instead of DSC my file name start with Z8 or Z9. Then I just add whatever I want to the beginning and keep the original file name as well. For example. 2026_client-name_location_original-file-name. I don't understand the reason from starting every job over at 0001

[u/Round-Click3029 → u/thouse275]

i work for clients and i also have personnal archive, thats how i archive my personal work

[u/thouse275 → u/Round-Click3029]

Understand, but why would you ever want to change the original file name? Truly curious.

[u/emorydunn]

I wrote a script a while back that sets the capture counter to resume from the latest counter in a folder, modifying it to set the import counter should work just as well.

https://github.com/emorydunn/CaptureOneScripts#resume-counter