Filed under: Software, First Look, Snow Leopard
First Look: Renamed Renamer renames files and folders
It's not often that I get to write such a delightfully alliterative title to a post. Philipp Mayerhofer, C.O.O. of Dare to be Creative, sent along a note this morning mentioning that his company's file renaming powerhouse had not only been renamed, but that it has a whole slew of new features.The application formerly known as Renamer4Mac is now simply called Renamer (US$29.00), and there's a new website at renamer.com to showcase the app. What does it do? (Hint: the name should tell you a lot) Well, Renamer is a bulk file renamer. When would you use a bulk file renamer? Here's an example -- often, I bring over a pile of photos from my iPhone 3GS using Image Capture, and I save them to a folder on my desktop. They all have really exciting names like IMG_0771.jpg, IMG_0772.jpg, ad infinitum. Read on for more information about Renamer.
Rather than sit down and retype the names on each one of the files, Renamer lets you set up a simple renaming scheme that can be applied to a range of files. Through a very straightforward interface (see below), you can display all of the files in a folder or nested set of folders. Once the files are displayed on the left side of the interface, you can determine what kind of presets to apply to the file names.
When a chain of renaming presets has been created, it can then be saved. A new feature of Renamer is that it allows you to do renaming not only from the application, but also from the Finder. There's a new system menu that you can use to apply your presets from the finder.
I felt it was much more informative to use the application for renaming. I can see exactly what the new file names are going to look like before applying my renaming presets, and if I do something wrong, there's an undo feature that will set all of the file names back to their original status.
If there's one complaint I have about Renamer 4, it's that it doesn't have a built-in help file. I was able to figure out most of the application's capabilities just by trial and error, but since I'm one of those odd people who actually does read manuals and help files when something's not clear to me, it would have helped to have had some clear instructions on how to use the app.
Renamer is great for photographers, writers, and anyone else who needs to make sense out of a large number of files with indecipherable names. It works smoothly with Mac OS X 10.6.1 Snow Leopard, and does what it's supposed to do in an efficient manner. What else could any Mac user hope for in an application?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Lars said 1:18PM on 9-17-2009
This is soooo easy to do in automator, and free..
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Stephen.4 said 1:22PM on 9-17-2009
It's just one of those simplicity things.
Dr. Who said 1:31PM on 9-17-2009
@Stephen.4: Except for the fact that it is soooo easy. It's the only thing I ever use Automator for even.
Dan said 1:22PM on 9-17-2009
This looks a tremendous amount like the free app Name Mangler
http://www.manytricks.com/namemangler/
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Dan Shewmaker said 1:32PM on 9-17-2009
Yes - I use Name Mangler regularly (formerly File List) and works great!
tukan said 1:36PM on 9-17-2009
my thoughts exactly - I only wish NameMangler (about which, ironically, I found out from a TUAW feature too http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/21/name-mangler-batch-rename-your-files/ ) had the ability to stack different operations, or lift some info from the metadata (exit or id3) of the file and apply it to the name
Jeremy said 1:48PM on 9-17-2009
I love Name Mangler for this too. Unfortunately, like all the other Many Tricks apps, it appears to be abandonware.
bward74 said 1:35PM on 9-17-2009
I really need to learn to use Automator.
However, even if people don't know how to use it, it amazes me that there would be people out there who would actually pay $30 just for an app that renames files. Shocking!
Anyone got a link on how to use Automator for such a task?
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Brett said 4:05PM on 9-17-2009
GraphicConverter does this, and LOADS more. Cheaper & better.
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Andrew said 1:49PM on 9-17-2009
You don't need to know how to use automator at all! Go to www.macosxautomation.com and go to the 'services' menu, then the 'download' menu, then download the "finder services" pack and install the pkg. Then go to the 'services' pref pane (Keyboard -> keyboard shortcuts) and make sure the item called ".... rename selected items" is ticked. Now when you select some finder items, right click and go to the services section and you will see this option. You get a little menu with loads of options. Maybe not quite as many as this app, but far more than I've ever needed.
Easy and Free!
(10.6 only I think)
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bward74 said 2:31PM on 9-17-2009
"Then go to the 'services' pref pane (Keyboard -> keyboard shortcuts) and make sure the item called ".... rename selected items" is ticked."
It went ok till I got to this bit. It installed fine, but "rename selected items" is nowhere to be found in the services pref pane. Should it be under the "Files and Folders"?
I have 10.6.1
Andrew said 2:41PM on 9-17-2009
Yeah, so if you look under the "Files and Folders" heading, there should be an item called "Disk Item • Rename Selected Items". I couldn't remember the exact name in my first post, hence the "..." sorry for any confusion.
bward74 said 2:49PM on 9-17-2009
Ah- found it! The installer said it would be put in the Home/Library/Services folder, so I checked and it wasn't there. It was, however, in the Macintosh HD/Library/Services folder. So I copied over to the Home/Library/Services folder and there it was in my services menu at last!
Thanks for the tip!
bward74 said 2:52PM on 9-17-2009
"Yeah, so if you look under the "Files and Folders" heading, there should be an item..."
Before I found the above, it definitely was not listed there. But now I have manually copied over the file to my Home folder, it is listed there like it should be.
Thanks again.
Tice said 2:13PM on 9-17-2009
I still have a (Universal) version from Renamer4Mac from the days it was freeware (November 2006), which works like a charm under Snow Leopard. : D
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Andy said 1:52PM on 9-17-2009
I love Name Mangler as well, except it takes forever (at least for me) on Snow Leopard. I'm guessing because Finder has been rewritten in Cocoa, it has trouble getting the file names. It does still work fine, just be prepared to wait while it gathers the file names.
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Michael A. said 4:49PM on 11-13-2009
I had the same problem with Name Mangler under Snow Leopard that others have reported; it loads files into its list at an unbearably slow speed, and I even force quitted it several times, convinced it had frozen. What solved it for me was turning off "Show icon previews for image files." This setting is in the General section of the preferences and applies to video files as well as image files; I noticed Name Mangler was fine if I dragged in non-video, non-image files like MP3s, and after turning this setting off, it's fine for video and images as well.
Yakov Hadash said 1:53PM on 9-17-2009
1) open automator
2) new "services" document
3) type "rename" in the little spotlight search panel to find the finder rename action
4) drag rename action over to the work panel
5) click "don't add" when the thing pops up
6) click on the dropdown, change to "change text"
7) search in extension
8) type the extensions that you want to change
9) save
now it will appear in the finder context menu. i use it to change mts to m2ts
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tuaw said 2:53PM on 9-17-2009
Not a bad app, but at $29 it's grossly overpriced. At $5 or $10 I'd consider buying it, but at its current price there's no way I'd buy it.
Name Mangler is abandonware? That's too bad, I really like it.
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David said 3:09PM on 9-17-2009
Yeah that price is ridicules. I loved Name Mangler too and was sorry to see it broken in 10.6, but now I just tried it again and it seems just fine! Don't know if it's been fixed in 10.6.1 maybe, cause the application has not been updated.