Author Topic: Review of File Renamers — let's make a list (Read 66300 times)

brotherS · « **Reply #50 on:** April 13, 2006, 10:44 PM »

[...] 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.
-zridling (April 13, 2006, 04:40 PM)

Don't forget to mention the great and free Locate here

https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=1385.0 has all the info, it's blazing fast and brought the fun back to searches!

vegas · « **Reply #51 on:** May 15, 2006, 10:12 AM »

One of the better ones has been updated 2006-05-14, Flash Renamer http://www.rlvision....lashren/whatsnew.asp

zridling · « **Reply #52 on:** May 15, 2006, 05:52 PM »

I noticed that, too. Flash Renamer is a solid renamer. Just to do basic renaming, though, start at the 'numbers' tab. I like how it returns to the same place every time, and yes, has a keyboard shortcut for the rename operation.

vegas · « **Reply #53 on:** May 28, 2006, 03:56 PM »

I don't know how far along you are with your review, but I also noticed some good renaming capabilities of the free G6 Utilities from Gene6 http://www.gene6.com/ (mid-way down the page).

zridling · « **Reply #54 on:** May 28, 2006, 10:55 PM »

Thanks for the suggestion Vegas. However, between being sick on and off for the past six weeks, travel time between Chicago and Missouri, and now that summer is here, I will be too busy to complete this review. I had worked through a few when I felt well, and after listing 15 — 15! — criteria that goes into making a good renamer, decided the job was too overwhelming. Thus I won't be doing this review after all.

Most renamers do not share a commonly recognizable (or transferable) interface, and it was taking longer than I expected to learn those I was unfamiliar with. So I admit defeat! I apologize for letting you guys down. If I did continue it, I'd need another six months just to find the time now.

- Zaine Ridling

________________________________________________

mouser · « **Reply #55 on:** May 28, 2006, 11:27 PM »

i know i speak for everyone when i say we'd rather have a healthy zaine and no review than a review and an institutionalized zaine...

anyone want to pick up the torch and continue this review?

ur1sn00per · « **Reply #56 on:** October 23, 2006, 05:47 AM »

p3do Explorer [www.senosoft.com] uses Pattern Renamer plugin to rename *thumbnails*. If you are renaming images this is very convenient and covers most requirements very simply. Discovering this was a mammoth event.

superboyac · « **Reply #57 on:** October 23, 2006, 09:23 AM »

I feel your pain, Z. These reviews are hard work.

Renegade · « **Reply #58 on:** October 23, 2006, 10:19 AM »

I've used Flash Renamer before, and found it quite good.

But holy mother! There are just soooo many. It would be easier for me to create my own than to review them and choose a decent one.

So - for lazy/busy ol' me - what's the final verdict? Directory Opus looks a bit ugly... Is the power worth it?

superboyac · « **Reply #59 on:** October 23, 2006, 01:07 PM »

I've used Flash Renamer before, and found it quite good.

But holy mother! There are just soooo many. It would be easier for me to create my own than to review them and choose a decent one.

So - for lazy/busy ol' me - what's the final verdict? Directory Opus looks a bit ugly... Is the power worth it?
-Renegade (October 23, 2006, 10:19 AM)

I love Directory Opus, but I have to say that I can't figure out the renamer tool, it's just too wild and complicated. All those (./*) symbols I couldn't figure out, nor could I find much help in the help file about it. I can do simple things, but as soon as I start tweaking and needing to use those symbols, I'm lost. It's one of those things where the programmers have felt that to maximize the power of the renamer, they have to make it as raw as possible. Actually, if there is a concise tutorial about the DOpus method, I'd be very interested. But emphasis on concise.

f0dder · « **Reply #60 on:** March 09, 2007, 08:43 AM »

*bump*.

Anybody's going to finish the review?

iphigenie · « **Reply #61 on:** March 09, 2007, 09:13 AM »

I tried at least 15 of the ones mentioned and the oneI use and often pass around is FlexRenamer (11) / the live preview means I could give it to designers to do their own image file name cleanups

f0dder · « **Reply #62 on:** March 09, 2007, 09:42 AM »

Preview is definitely a must in such an app, and so is regular expressions. I checked out 1-4a renamer which did the job for the simple rename I needed, but wouldn't recommend that app - super messy interface.

The screenshots for FlexRename look a bit messy because of all the japanese + bugs

MerleOne · « **Reply #63 on:** March 09, 2007, 10:49 AM »

I use a lot the file multiple-renaming capability of Total Commander, which is very powerful (wildcards, regex - I think, and so on). Not easy to use at first, but when one get a hand on this, it's so convenient.

To activate it : select files then press Ctrl-M

iphigenie · « **Reply #64 on:** March 10, 2007, 06:35 AM »

They all seem to have slightly quirky interface $:-\$

If you want non japanese screenies of FlexRename I can make some.
That program has far more features than I have ever used

* regexp and wildcard and char-2-char replace
* lots of "pre-canned" renames which are configurable and help you without having to do a regex (dates, cleanup operations like removing "copy n of" or "shortcut to"
* renames based on meta information, iptc, exif, music tags (not ogg yet), office meta tags (MS, not the open office format), html meta tags
* save your options as preset, retrieve them
* all the usual options move-and-rename, copy-and-rename but also delete-what-matches (technically not a rename). change or don't change the date etc.
* files selected by folder, or drag-and-drop to build the list
* add to context menu to run the program or a search from normal explorer use

But mostly I like it because the listing of the files even with subfolders is very fast and so is the preview of whatever transformation you are asking. It feels instantaneous to me. That's the killer feature.

I'm sure many of the other tools in the list have similar features, but once I found this one I kept coming back to it. It's free too.

PlayPhil · « **Reply #65 on:** March 10, 2007, 09:38 AM »

Greetings, just joined. By far the best renamer I've ever used is Lupas Rename...

http://rename.lupasfreeware.org/

Why he gives it away for zip is beyond me.

Darwin · « **Reply #66 on:** March 10, 2007, 09:46 AM »

I've been using Bulk Rename Utility for years and it does everything that I need. I'm a big fan. I was using The Rename before that and liked it enough to make a donation, but BRU blows it away (yes, have donated to BRU too!).

PlayPhil · « **Reply #67 on:** March 10, 2007, 09:52 AM »

Hmmm, very interesting, esp the command line version...

PhilB66 · « **Reply #68 on:** March 22, 2008, 12:43 AM »

Adding Métamorphose (free and open source) to the long list of file and folder renaming tools and utilities.

Curt · « **Reply #69 on:** June 18, 2008, 08:25 AM »

Métamorphose-1 was just updated to version 1.1.1, and Métamorphose-2 to version 0.4.3 Beta.

Also, I like to use both the free ReNamer by den4b and the pretty $20 File Renamer Deluxe by Kristianix.