EOS Utility 2, download pics without subfolder?

[BBWolf]

On behalf of my non-tech-savvy brother, as I'm his go-to for tech support: 

My brother has a Cannon EOS 70D, his current computer runs windows 11, and since the software from his original disc that came with the camera wouldn't even install anymore (except for DPP, but that ran into issues when running), I ended up getting him set up with EOS Utility 2 (actually, a 64-bit Win10 version, but it works under Win11) and DPP 4.

Thing is... well, when I say my brother is "non tech-savvy" I really should clarify, he's not autistic but definitely on the spectrum; on his previous computer he could just connect the camera, it'd start up Utility (at least, I think it was Utility, but there is a chance that it might have been another program that existed before Utility) and that would download the pictures he took into a single folder. recently he resumed his hobby, photographing just about anything that exists in our neighborhood, but the current setup has Utility by default donload the pictures into subfolders sorted by date, and my brother can't work with that.

I've gone through the settings in Utility, and there is no way that I see to change this. I did read some comment somewhere that said it could be done with a script or batchfile, I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty on that kind of stuff but I'll need to find some specifics as it's not something I do every day, so would anyone be able to point me twards more details about setting up such a powershell script or batch file, or a way to make Utility just stick all pics into a single folder without subfolders?

(I already tried to guide my brother into a workaround of simply using other software, but the results weren't exactly great... to him, it's either working with Utility because that's what he knows and he refuses/is unable to learn anything else even if it only **looks** slightly different, or yeeting his entire setup in the trash.)

[Waddizzle]

I have not used that app in a decade.   Does EOS Utility 2 allow you to sort the files by camera model or serial number?

[normadel]

EOS Utility complicates things for getting pictures to computer.

First, disable EU automatically opening. when connecting camera to computer. Or close it when it does open.

Then, open My PC (Win10) or This PC (Win11) and you will see the camera mounted as a drive. Open IT, and there will be a DCIM folder that contains everything on the memory card. There may be dated subfolders, depending on how the camera is setup. Then just move image files to the computer wherever you want them to be......all into one folder, or into multiple folders to sort them. This is called "File Management".

A potential  problem is that there may be files on the camera in different subfolders that have duplicate names. This depends on how the camera is set, to name files continuously or reset the numbering. See the  70D instruction manual page 80 to learn about File Numbering Methods. If you don't have the manual, download it from Canon Support.

[jrhoffman75 · Accepted solution]

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@BBWolf wrote:

On behalf of my non-tech-savvy brother, as I'm his go-to for tech support: 

My brother has a Cannon EOS 70D, his current computer runs windows 11, and since the software from his original disc that came with the camera wouldn't even install anymore (except for DPP, but that ran into issues when running), I ended up getting him set up with EOS Utility 2 (actually, a 64-bit Win10 version, but it works under Win11) and DPP 4.

Thing is... well, when I say my brother is "non tech-savvy" I really should clarify, he's not autistic but definitely on the spectrum; on his previous computer he could just connect the camera, it'd start up Utility (at least, I think it was Utility, but there is a chance that it might have been another program that existed before Utility) and that would download the pictures he took into a single folder. recently he resumed his hobby, photographing just about anything that exists in our neighborhood, but the current setup has Utility by default donload the pictures into subfolders sorted by date, and my brother can't work with that.

I've gone through the settings in Utility, and there is no way that I see to change this. I did read some comment somewhere that said it could be done with a script or batchfile, I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty on that kind of stuff but I'll need to find some specifics as it's not something I do every day, so would anyone be able to point me twards more details about setting up such a powershell script or batch file, or a way to make Utility just stick all pics into a single folder without subfolders?

(I already tried to guide my brother into a workaround of simply using other software, but the results weren't exactly great... to him, it's either working with Utility because that's what he knows and he refuses/is unable to learn anything else even if it only **looks** slightly different, or yeeting his entire setup in the trash.)

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I don't have EU2 but see if you can get to this using EOSU2.

1. Double-click the application EOS Utility 2

2. Select "Preferences" and see if you get the window I posted. If so, uncheck the date folder option and input the folder you want in the destination option.

 

[Waddizzle]

“ EOS Utility complicates things for getting pictures to computer.

First, disable EU automatically opening. when connecting camera to computer. Or close it when it does open. “

If people want to use the EOS Utility, then I don’t discourage them.  I find the options to automatically create new folders, renaming files, and automatically sorting them by ratings, camera model or serial number to be very useful. It is a much faster process than doing it by hand, especially when you have multiple cameras and hundreds of photos. 

I use the EOS Utility to download files.  I use LR/PS to process files.  Just my two cents. 

[p4pictures · Accepted solution]

You can setup EOS Utility to automatically download new images that have not been downloaded when the camera connects. Secondly you can choose to have the images put in a folder of your choosing with no subfolders. 

EOS Utility looks much the same on Windows as it does on a Mac - and I don't have a Windows computer - so here's the screens to check that I captured on my Mac. They look very similar to the Windows ones.

Step 1 - set EOS Utility to automatically download when the camera is connected. Do this in the preferences

Step 2 - make sure that the folder to download in to does not create additional sub folders

It is really important to uncheck the box to "Create a subfolder in this folder and save images" 

Step 3 - optional but helpful - create new filenames to avoid duplicates

Fro the filename preferences I would prepend the two digit year and month to the filename, here's how I do that.

Here's the section of the manual 

https://cam.start.canon/en/S003/manual/html/UG-01_Import_0010.html