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Review of File Renamers — let's make a list
rjbull:
Please let's not overlook drawbacks and problems.
The company I work for have gimmicked the networked computers so that many applications are unable to see the C: drive (IT Dept. trying to force you to use networked drives only). This is true of both Bulk Rename Utility (BRU) and Oscar's, for example. I e-mailed Jim Willsher, BRU's author, and he replied:
Yes, they will have implemented Group Policy to restrict access to the drive. My utility reads the Shell Namespace, which will honour the restrictions. Your other utilities will operate on the drive directly.
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My "other" relevant utilities that do work are the multi-rename tool built into Total Commander (thank goodness), 1-4a and Lupas Rename.
rjbull:
Here's another interesting sideline from TinyApps blog
Question about drag & drop with auto incrementing of filenames #
Is there a method for dragging and dropping a list of files with the same name into a new folder and have them automatically increment the filenames rather than give an overwrite warning? Two instances where I've seen this work: when dragging files from a search result window into Nero (screenshot) and when dragging email messages from Outlook Express into Explorer. I'm not looking for a renamer to change the original filenames, but rather a way to create new files with incremented names. Answers sent to "mail AT tinyapps DOT org" will be appended to this post.
UPDATE: Jorg Kliemann has kindly crafted a solution.
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Continuing, here's the solution:
DROP++ #
Jorg Kliemann has generously crafted DROP++ (source available here) using AutoIt (itself a mostly open source project) to address the drag & drop overwrite problem mentioned recently. Simply drag and drop a group of files from search results or any other Explorer window onto its icon; DROP++ will copy the files and autoincrement the resulting filenames. If you're tired of seeing "Confirm File Replace - This folder already contains a file named foo. Would you like to replace the existing file with this one?", give DROP++ a try. (By the way, holding Shift while clicking No to the above dialog behaves like "No to All", which is otherwise not provided.)
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zridling:
RJ, I'm at a disadvantage, since I'm neither on a networked computer nor can I imagine why a rename utility would need to override permissions on a network. Virtually every corporation/company I've ever worked for severely restricts what users can see and do these days. Also, I don't understand what the TinyApps blog entry quote is trying to say with regard to file rename utilities. Help me out. Finally, any idea if there are other utilities exist other than 1-4a and Lupas Rename that can do what you say?
Let us know, thanks!
rjbull:
Virtually every corporation/company I've ever worked for severely restricts what users can see and do
-zridling (April 04, 2006, 05:05 AM)
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Security is a common justification for paranoia, but in this case I don't think its strictly speaking a security (as in hack attack) issue. The IT Dept. try to force us to use networked directories beause they claim to back those up, whereas they can't back up the directories on your local hard disk. But they don't understand what real users need to do.
I don't understand what the TinyApps blog entry quote is trying to say with regard to file rename utilities.
--- End quote ---
I think he's trying to say, suppose you have a directory with a file called foo.bar in it, and you're about to copy it to another directory. But, that directory already contains a different file with the same name, and you want to keep both of them intact. The idea is to avoid conflicts or overwrites by renaming files on the fly, adding suffix numbers to the file names if source and target names are the same. Rather a specialised trick.
any idea if there are other utilities exist other than 1-4a and Lupas Rename that can do what you say?
--- End quote ---
I haven't looked at many other renamers. RenameFiles 2.42 at http://renamefiles.it-falke.com can see my C: drive, though it's more basic than some mentioned so far (but available in German as well as English, for our small but honourable German contingent). Many other sorts of programs work fine, such as the excellent DoubleKiller. In both these cases you can just type in the path you want, and the program will go there. This doesn't work with BRU, where nothing happens.
zridling:
Thanks RJ, that's clearer to me now. It's a shame that any company/IT fool would restrict all access to your C-drive. Hey, and some of my favorite software (and operas) originate from Deutschland! One thing that is that Bulk Rename Utility admits is its limitations when reading its forum or Help File. For example, BRU cannot rename files using mp3 track information. Its developer, Jim Willsher, holds that mp3 extraction slows down the program too much and recommends specific mp3 renamers for that purpose.
For many, that's a significant negative; for others, it's good because the program doesn't sacrifice speed. It's funny you mention Jan Falke's RenameFiles utility. When you open it up, it does 90% of what most people do with a renamer on the fly. I love his description of Preview: (for cowards!)
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