You are filing from the sideline with a wire deadline running, and the difference between a caption that ships and one that gets kicked back is whether the name, number and position are right. SnapCaption builds the roster file for both teams in about a minute, and the same file loads into Photo Mechanic and GalleryID Desktop.
Free. No account required to build and download a file.
Every sport breaks a roster file in its own way. These are the ones that bite in NFL.
Practice squad elevations, injury designations and mid-week signings all land before kickoff. Pull the roster the morning of the game rather than trusting a file you built last month.
You are shooting the visitors as much as the home team. Give each a prefix, export once, and stop maintaining two files that you have to swap between.
Getty, AP and Reuters all want name, number, position and team formatted consistently. Long-form columns build that string for you so the caption is right the first time.
The export is not locked to one program. The same NFL roster file loads into Photo Mechanic and into GalleryID Desktop, with identical shortcodes either way.
Edit > Settings > Set Code Replacements > Load, then pick the file. The shortcodes are live in the caption fields immediately.
Code Replacement is the name Camera Bits, Inc. gives the feature in Photo Mechanic's own documentation, which is why this file is often called a code replacement roster file.
Attach the same file as a roster and the identical shortcodes expand while you caption. Nothing about the export changes.
GalleryID Desktop goes further than shortcodes — it identifies athletes by facial recognition and writes the names into the photo, so there is no code to type at all. See GalleryID Desktop
The h is the prefix you assigned the home team, 15 the jersey number. Head coaches and staff get their own codes because they have no number to key off.
You choose the columns. The export is a tab-separated file, so anything that reads a tab-delimited roster can use it.
32 teams, kept current from in-season sources. Pick any two and build one file for the whole game.
In Photo Mechanic, go to Edit > Settings > Set Code Replacements, click Load, and pick the downloaded file. The shortcodes work in the caption fields right away. GalleryID Desktop takes the same file as a roster with no changes to the export.
Rosters sync from current-season sources, so building the file on game day gives you the roster as it stands that morning rather than whenever you last maintained a spreadsheet.
Yes. Coaches and staff get their own shortcodes, separate from the jersey-number codes, because they have no number. You can also edit any row before exporting.
Names are written in US-ASCII so they pass through Photo Mechanic and on to the wires without mangled characters.
Pick your teams, set your codes, download the file. Free, and no account required.
Open the roster builder