Filed under: Friday Favorite
Friday Favorite: R-Name
R-Name is a simple, single-purpose application that takes the names of files and folders on your Mac and renames them one at a time or in batches. I use it almost every day. Yes, there are a dozen ways to batch rename files. I like R-Name for a few reasons:
- It's fast, both in loading and renaming
- Easy to rename just files, folders or recurse folder
- Hard to mess things up because you have to preview the new names before committing
- Drag and drop (Apple forgets how important this feature is all too frequently)
Oh, and did I mention: it's donationware! The author asks you to make a donation to UNICEF. Unfortunately, R-Name appears to be abandonware -- the author's site is currently down (thus the source code is unavailable) and best I can tell the app is only supported to 10.3. But it works for me. What renaming tool or workflow do you use?
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
cmuska902 said 3:25PM on 2-27-2009
Automator.
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Ethan said 8:16AM on 2-28-2009
Ditto to that.
Kory said 3:26PM on 2-27-2009
ok i'm confused? so is this about a cool app but we can no longer get? then what's the purpose?
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Victor Agreda, Jr. said 3:48PM on 2-27-2009
You can still get it. I use it all the time. Thus, a Friday Favorite -- but many TUAW bloggers swear by A Better Finder Rename.
The idea is to start the conversation about what everyone else uses ;)
tukan said 3:31PM on 2-27-2009
I'm a big fan of Name Mangler http://many-tricks.com/namemangler/ with it's super easy interface. Changed when Forklift (otherwise an excellent tool) has deleted some of my files when renaming (thank god there is time machine).
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G said 8:52PM on 2-27-2009
+1 for Name Mangler.
Much faster than Automator. Still alive. Zero problems. Donationware.
Kit said 11:15PM on 2-27-2009
Another vote for Name Mangler
Will said 12:46AM on 3-01-2009
Another vote for Name Mangler. Simple, fast and works the way you would expect. I tried several others but NM didn't do anything crazy with the renames. Perfect.
Tim said 10:21AM on 3-02-2009
NameMangler++
toddkrokowski said 3:32PM on 2-27-2009
I personally like: http://www.mrrsoftware.com/MRRSoftware/NameChanger.html
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loudestnoise said 3:34PM on 2-27-2009
Ya, no kidding Automator does this quite easily. You can even save particular jobs and re use them.
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tcc3 said 3:35PM on 2-27-2009
Has every post today been a software commercial? At least this isnt an iphone app...
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GCarden said 4:47PM on 2-27-2009
Shut up. It's donation/abandonware. The author of the post genuinely finds it helpful, and is letting others know about it. Go whine somewhere else.
tcc3 said 4:54PM on 2-27-2009
This is actually the most usefull of the posts. It unfortunately got the comment because it was the one on top.
My criticism stands. I understand if its slow news day, but this blog is (should be) better than a gloried app store commercial.
TMP said 3:37PM on 2-27-2009
You sure this isn't a malware scheme?
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Scott said 3:37PM on 2-27-2009
Seconding NameMangler. The best (free) renaming utility I've used.
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Coffeerob said 4:00PM on 2-27-2009
What is the use of telling us about an app that is only works in 10.3 and we can't download or use...
Some editing needed here guys!!!
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puhsitch said 7:29PM on 2-27-2009
It's only *supported* to 10.3, but it still works beyond that. And you can download the software from MacUpdate and VersionTracker -- it's linked in the article.
mjl said 3:46PM on 2-27-2009
Actually one can find the source on the net. Ask google for R-Name3src.zip -- perhaps someone wants to pick up the pieces and run with it?
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RR said 3:55PM on 2-27-2009
Make a donation to a wasteful, bloated, government agency that might very well be the least effective children's aid group in operation today? Umm, no thanks.
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