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Review of File Renamers — let's make a list
brotherS:
Added NIYoW, Name It Your Way as perhaps the last app considered for the review. That gives us an even 20 apps and we'll see if we can make it interesting.
-zridling (April 13, 2006, 03:48 AM)
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I'm really looking forward to the review! While I don't rename files every day such a tool can save huge amounts of time and reduce your stress-level at the same moment.
:)
superboyac:
RJ, your comment is quite common in my email this week. Seems most people use other tools, viz., their file managers like Total Commander or Directory Opus to rename files on the fly. This fact of utilization will need to be noted within the review, I believe.
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True. I use Directory Opus for my renaming needs, and befor that, I used Total Commander. I'm sure, that the standalone apps are more powerful, but since I've used it, I've never had to go beyond the ability of Dopus or TC.
zridling:
Once again, superboyac makes a good point that must be acknowledged: What tool do people use to rename files? I'll include a brief section on this, and superboyac, et al. if you will send me a note on what you like, and what is good about the renaming component of Total Commander, Directory Opus, and so on, I'd be grateful for the info.
Although its another review of utility software (for me), like brotherS made me think about, I think a file renamer gives you direct control over your files and folders. If you know where to find it or its name, then you can use either your desktop search client or a utility like FileLocator Pro to get there fast.
superboyac:
Yeah, sometimes I find myself to be a little hypocritical. If you read my posts, you'll often see me violently opposed to all-in-one applications, and I always generalize that single-task power applications are always better than one application that tries to do everything. That's just the nature of things. You can't do everything well, but it's easy to do one thing really well.
So, I guess I sound like a hypocrite when I say I use my file manager as my file renamer. But, upon closer inspection, it's not as hypocritical as it seems. I still believe that a standalone file renamer is probably much better than what is available in DOpus or TC. But the reason I use DOpus is because it does what I need it to do perfectly well, so I have no desire to explore or even use a separate application for it.
To answer your request, zridling, I'll describe how the renaming works in DOpus. Once you open the window, you have all sorts of options of how to rename the file using regxp, or just search and replace, or series numbering, etc. Basic stuff. There's a preview pane to see the results before you commit. It's pretty powerful, I would say I've only used about 10% of what is capable of doing. I can't even relate to people who need something more powerful, but I acknowledge that my needs are much simpler than some other people.
The renamer for Total Commander is pretty much the same as DOpus, it seems like they are equally powerful. I'll say this much, I thought the interface for TC was slightly easier to use and understand that DOpus. That's about all I can say about file renaming from my experience.
zridling:
...the reason I use DOpus is because it does what I need it to do perfectly well,....-superboyac (April 13, 2006, 06:27 PM)
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Exactly, and if it fills your needs, then it is perfect for you. Many people search for alternatives to programs like Microsoft Word because they don't need to write dissertations; just memos, letters, and short documents. Thanks for the description, that's a great help. I just noticed that the Rename feature in Directory Opus is so powerful because it not only uses Regular Expressions, but autofills them for you! Freakin' awesome! It even allows you to input and save any other form of renaming you want if you want.
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