ReNamer review

excellent
key review info
application features
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If you're a professional that works with loads of files daily and needs to organize them, a solution might be renaming all of them in a customized way, so that you can keep track of every single one.

Since renaming many files manually would mean tons of time (precious time) I think it's time we find an automated solution that does this for you.

I have come across a tiny application that does the job nice and clean. It's called ReNamer, and it was developed by Denis Kozlov.

The basics

The main purpose of this program is to help you rename your files, and it can do this to thousands and thousands of files at once. It can also rename folders for you.

The whole renaming operation is divided into four parts: first you have to add your files, then you have to set the rules by which the renaming is made; after this step you can preview your files with a before/after-style look (to avoid any mistakes, this step is mandatory); the last, but certainly the most important, is the renaming action. It's as simple as that.

To rename, or not to rename...

When opening the program you get a nice and simple main window with a design that guides you through the whole process.

There's an action area, at the top, followed by the rules section. Just below is the file zone, that shows the files you've loaded for renaming, and the new file names (when you want to preview).

If you're working with few files, you can load them individually, using the Add files feature. But, there's also the option of loading all the files from a certain folder, using the Add folder button. This is a great feature if you're planning on renaming files from a folder that has many subdirectories.

Once you've added the files, it's time to think about the correct name that you want to assign to all of them. You can change the current one, and make slight modifications, but you can completely change the name of the files too. In order to do this, you must setup some rules. There's no limit as to how many rules you may add, and there are plenty to choose from. Should you make a combination of more rules that apply for your files, you have to keep in mind that they will apply in a logical sequence. This gives the program an unlimited processing potential.

An option for you to use, is inserting text in the filename. You can add it as a prefix, as a suffix, or anywhere in the filename (you have to specify the position for this).

On the other hand, if you want to remove a part of the name, you have the replace option that will take care of this issue. Surely you'll agree that manually renaming a file and deleting a part of the name is not the easiest task in the world, with the operation being so thorough even for a single file.

Even though it's not recommended, you can also change files' extensions in a snap.

A burden that's often encountered is the fact that some files contain special characters in their name. This is not a problem anymore, because ReNamer can strip the filename of these characters (numbers, brackets, symbols, or any other character that you define).

There are even some advanced rules, such as finding content brackets, dots, commas, percent symbols, and so on, and replacing them with spaces. This can turn out to be quite an annoying job to do with no assistance. But, again, ReNamer will take care of it for you in a click.

If you're dealing with diacritical characters (such as the ones in the Russian alphabet), you can convert them into correspondent English letters.

Another toy you can play with is the case of the letters/words in the name. There are many options you can work will, and nothing will get past this feature.

If none of the above has impressed you, have no worries: you are free to insert your own PascalScript code that will complete the set of available rules.

Once you have finished defining your rules, you can move on to the next step, and see how your files will be named, using the preview feature. If there are certain files that have dodged one of your rules, you can simply edit the output name of the file, and it will be renamed just as you wish.

Let's review what we've done so far: we have loaded the files for renaming, we've added the customized rules, and we've previewed the output filenames. All you have to do now is hit the Rename button, sit back, and wait for the program to do the work for you. But don't get your hopes up: renaming thousands of files takes no longer than a few seconds, which means you won't get to sit back for long and you'll have to get back to work.

The Good

I like this program because it's a good solution for batch renaming, and it does this job really fast and really good. It has many rules to combine and choose from.

The Bad

I really cannot think of anything bad about this program, so I don't see a reason why you shouldn't use it.

The Truth

What more can I say, once you've used this program, you'll never right click a file to rename it! It's worth trying, and it's Free!

Here are some shots of the program:

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user interface 5
features 5
ease of use 5
pricing / value 5


final rating 5
Editor's review
excellent
 
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