Tag: rename

KuKnet FileRenamer: Freeware File Renamer

KuKnet FileRenamer (Version: 3.4) is a freeware file renamer. It is portable and does not require installation.

The first step in using KuKnet FileRenamer is to add files or folders to be renamed, click the upper add button and choose any files or folders. Move the files up and down or remove those not needed. The next step is to add renaming rules, click the lower add button and choose all those required. Multiple operations can be added, and rearranged, which will then be applied to file names in the order they appear.

The renaming rules are divided into three categories. Text, Metadata and Other. The text operations available are Replace, File extension, Truncate, Numeration, Numeration (letter), Prefix/Suffix, Regular expression, Upper/Lower case, Insert and Delete. The metadata operations include Date/Time, MP3 ID3 tag, WMA tag, Vorbis comment, Exif and File size. The Other category adds hash or UUID info to renamed files.

The text rules or operations each have their own options. For example Truncate can remove letter(s) from beginning or end of file names, Insert can add or insert text at any position in the file name, Delete can delete letters from and to any position in the file name, Numeration is similar to applying increments and Numeration (letter) can replace the file name with letters in upper or lower case.

There are also variables that can be inserted into file names and they are available from the drop down in the different Edit Rule windows. These variables are %n% which is the ‘now’ file name, this is the equivalent of keeping the file name of the file at the time a rule is being applied to it. %o% is the very original, pre any renaming rules, file name. %d% is the name of the file’s parent folder and %p% is the file path.

After done adding rules a preview is available as is an export feature to save a list of files (right click anywhere on the file list). Rules can be saved for re-use later.

It requires the .NET Framework 4, KuKnet FileRenamer runs on XP and newer.

April 15, 2013
Black: Minimalist File Manager

Black (Version: 1.40) is a no install, lightweight and less than 100KB unzipped freeware file manager. It is two pane and only supports a subset of features common to most file managers but at its size it’s a reasonable option.

Its basic features are copy, move, rename and delete. The rename operation can be applied to a group of files. This requires choosing the files by selecting them all (the red icon) or by right clicking a set – which turns the file names red. Rename rules include increment, counter, extension, size, time, date and case.

The program’s search tool is not the fastest and seems to only find exact matches, including extensions, by default. See images below for search results when I searched for ‘homer’.

It includes shortcuts to few systems folders and the command prompt.

Black should run on all Windows versions.

February 28, 2013
Siren: Infinite Ways To Rename And Organize Files

Siren (Version: 3.01) is a freeware file renamer, it features many ways to rename, move and copy files using expressions to create renaming rules.

The expressions can be any in number or combination and use almost any file attribute one can think of. One can change the case, remove parts of the file name, use file paths, extensions, audio file tags, modified dates, checksums and lots more. It can use and read attributes belonging to many audio, video, image and other kinds of files.

Siren works by loading a folder and checking off or selecting files to work on or alternatively work on all files and subdirectories. The next step would be to click on the right hand side of the Expression text field to add rules. The first (tag icon) presents all the options available, the second (magic wand icon) helps test and build expressions. When done the new file name(s) will be shown and one can click Rename (play icon) to rename the files. The Create copies (fast forward icon) button will create copies first then apply the rename rules.

The filter option at the top right lets the user filter visible files. Filters can be any combination of file types and regular expressions too. For example to filter down to “jpg”, “bmp” or files beginning with a letter use *.jpg;*.bmp;[A-Z]*

The Favourites menu lets the user save expressions or rules to re-use later. It is also possible to test the expressions and renaming rules with a “testbed” that is available under the ? menu, the same menu also includes Siren’s detailed help file which includes examples.

Siren has some command line support, works on Windows XP and newer and doesn’t require installation.

January 10, 2013
BImageStudio: Freeware Simple Image Editor

BImageStudio (Version: 1.2.1 tested) is a freeware and simple image editor with some basic tools and an unusual method of working with images.

Features or tools that are included are edit, resize, crop, rotate, flip, watermark (image and text), rename and convert. BImageStudio can work in batch as well. What is somewhat different about BImageStudio is how this is done. One must add individual or folder of images using the add button or drag and drop them. The black and white interface and larger than usual interface of the program shows thumb previews of the image(s) and the buttons under the preview(s) allow the user to view them in pane (like windows explorer), gallery (like windows’ flimstrip) and details (like an explorer list).

When one or more image is selected the operations are chosen from the left hand side. Everything can be done from this left hand side, however to ‘set filter’ – use the brightness, contracts, saturation, hue and gamma sliders – is left to a separate window.

The watermark is also added in a separate window and lets the user choose a position for the watermark, either set to a corner or a custom one. Renaming is basic and simple using a file name, separator and increment or counter.

Finally one must click the process button to start the operation. BImageStudio prompts the user to choose which operation to do first, second and later. For example if images are being renamed and resized the user must choose which of the two BImageStudio processes first.

BImageStudio works on Windows XP and newer.

June 17, 2012
Ken Rename: Freeware Rename Utility

Ken Rename (Version: 1.02) is a rename utility with a good number of features. It presents an immediate preview of renaming results. Choosing files or folders to be renamed can be done either by the buttons or menu near the top, drag and drop or selecting a folder from the explorer tree.

The Macro tab is first and offers a bunch of options and actions to create very flexible renaming rules. The user can use the buttons to include original file name, a counter (by any starting point and increment), date, EXIF and folder name (1st, 2nd or 3rd parent folder) in the renamed files. File filtering is available to include or exclude system, archive, hidden, read only or folders plus the option to include or exclude subfolders and some file types.

The Replace tab offers to replace matching letters in the original with something else, it has regex and match case support. It can save the replace/with combination to a preset to be re-loaded for use later on.

The Change Case tab has options to capitalize, sentence, upper or lower case renamed files. It can be set to include or exclude either the file name or extension when it renames files.

The Remove tab removes letters from file name and can again work on either or both the file name and extension.

The Insert tab adds letter(s) to different positions within the file name or extension.

The Script tab comes with several ready made (VBScript) ones to further customize renaming options. One can add other scripts as well and save them for future use. For example one of the included scripts is “reverse.vbs” to reverse the file name (eg. hello.jpg to olleh.jpg):

Function Rename(strPath, strName, strExt, bIsFolder)

If bIsFolder Then
Rename = strName + strExt
Else
Rename = StrReverse(strName) + strExt
End If

End Function

Code page and Decode work on Unicode and other formats to convert to different encoding and characters. This was not tested for this review.

The Import list tab can import a text or list type file format (lst, txt, ini, wpl, m3u or pls). An existing file list can be loaded and worked on here.

Ken Rename supports Unicode file names and reading ID3 tags, it has some command line support as well. It is available both in a zipped portable and installer.

March 3, 2012
Search My Files Is Search Unlimited

SMF or Search my Files is as its name indicates a search utility and a good one at that but the developer’s site mentions ‘duplicate files finder’ first. Of course that is not important as SMF does both and is also a copy and erase tool.

After an initialization during startup one finds a busy interface. It presents one of the most number of options and checkboxes seen in one window. A search begins by choosing the desired search path in the tree and optionally including network drives. The search filters are then checked and include the common date modified, created and others, additionally one can use the ‘pre-filter files to search’ button to narrow these filters down further by size, attribute and specific date. Then come the almost dizzying number of options available for the results. The search results can include almost everything about the files or folders, for example if ‘file islocked’, ‘filepath is ansi’ or its ‘associated exe’ (see image).

The search itself is available for both files and folders and contents, with search string regex and wild card support. A check mark activates the duplicate search feature.

The progress tab is visible when an operation is in progress and presents information about the directory being searched, number of files being worked on and a live match or results count.

The show report window provides comprehensive information and is configurable to show as many as the information collected as possible, in columns (see image below). As SMF is SQLite based a lot can be done with the results. Right click on the results grid to send to clipboard, delete, copy, open with, create a zip file of and many more. SMF features third party tools to view files in a hex editor, split them using HJSplit or to rename them.

The results tab also shows some of the other features available such as export results to HTML or XML or save them in a SMF database.

The settings tab has options to set CPU priority for the program, add IrfanView integration and more. There is also a pick of two file erase methods but, as with the copying feature, it is not very clear where the files to be deleted are chosen. There is really no indication if the results window (via right click) is the only place or not.

Search my Files is open source, should work on XP and newer versions of Windows.

February 17, 2012
Freeware Shorts: Métamorphose (File And Folder Renamer)

Métamorphose (Version: 2 (0.8.2 beta) as of this post. That is a beta of version 2) is a powerful, some may say somewhat complicated, renamer program. It works well whether working with few or thousands of files.

The first step is to pick the files and/or folders to be renamed using the Picker tab. Here filters on file types (dropdown immediately below the browse dropdown), case sensitivity and unicode file names (right of the aforementioned file type drowdown) can be picked. Also the recursive option checked to work on subfolders to any number of depths.

The Renamer tab can support any number of operations. Available renaming operations include putting the directory path into the file name, inserting text in any position in the files, replacing text, swapping text, modifying text (to upper case, removing certain characters, etc.) and more. Each time the operation can occur based on regular expressions, for example if a file name includes upper case it can be ignored.

All operations can be sorted to occur in different sequences and also ‘destroyed’ to be deleted. There are options for incremental numbering and date based renaming as well (see image below). A preview is immediately shown when at least one operation is chosen.

The Sorting panel or tab lets files be sorted manually or automatically, this basically lets the user choose to do the renaming operations in different order, for example in descending or ascending file name.

The Help menu has examples, a help file and a page on regular expressions that may be used with the program. Métamorphose is cross platform, works on Windows 2000 and newer and is available via Ubuntu’s Update Manager among other places.

December 3, 2011
Freeware Shorts: File Renamer

File Renamer is a small yet powerful utility to batch rename files. It has several options that make for many different ways of renaming files. A combination of renaming rules can be saved as a script to be re-used later. To begin start by clicking the – unlabeled in this case (see image) – browse button to navigate to the folder where the soon to be renamed files are and if necessary use the accompanying filter to narrow down to specific file types.

The scripting is done via the New script button at the bottom of the program. Click on a rename option and then click Add Line, add as many as needed and then Save And Exit. Each option or line can be edited and removed as well.

Whether using a script or working on a set of files for one time only the options available in File Renamer are the same and they include adding character(s) anywhere in a file name, removing characters or words, replacing a word with another, capitalizing, making all upper case, trimming character(s) from beginning, end or elsewhere in the file name and adding an incremental prefix or suffix to the file name. One can just create all new file names too.

One can also change the attribute of a file – to hidden, system, read only or archives. File Renamer can also rename files using their created or modified dates as new names.

File Renamer should work on all Windows versions.

November 4, 2011
Freeware Shorts: Bram (Batch File Renamer)

Bram stands for Batch Renamer and Mover. It is a simple tool that does what its name says.

It works both with folders (and optionally its subfolders with configurable depth) and if required with files alone skipping any folders that may exist along side them. Bram can also filter to specific file types and ignore others and one can also select only the files needed using the native windows’ method utilizing the Shift and Ctrl keys.

The renaming part can configured using the Parts button with any combination of sequential numbers, current file name, file extension, parent’s folder name and date format. The date format itself has many options accessed via the Change Date Format button and includes variations on how the date is written for the renamed files based on the files’ own created or last modified dates.

The user can preview the results and finally to complete the renaming to click Apply which has its own set of actions (click on the arrow to the right of apply to view and choose one.) These actions are rename, copy and rename, move and rename, rename then copy, only move, only copy, and delete. The actions are explained on a dedicated page. Of them rename then copy might cause confusion and the aforementioned page describes it as “Rename then Copy renames the original items, then it copies them to a location you specify. (So both the originals and the new copies are renamed.)”

There is an undo feature to revert the last set of files to their original state and also a log file for review as well. Bram requires the .NET framework.

October 23, 2011
Freeware Shorts: Advanced Renamer, FBackup

Advanced Renamer (Version: 3.05 as of this post) is an all free file renaming utility. It supports eight different methods for renaming all types of files. These include renaming based on tags, IDs, EXIF, MP3 information and other file information such as timestamps. There is also an undo feature to return the file names to their previous state.

FBackup (Version 4.6.250 as of this post) is a backup app that lets you back up files to a USB device or local or network location. The backups can be compressed as well. You can set up a backup task – choose files to backup and choose the destination – and run it quickly every time. With FBackup it is also possible to make the computer shut down after a task is done. FBackup can even backup open files and supports plugins to make certain backups easier so the user doesn’t have to know where important to be backed up program settings are stored.

April 20, 2011