filenames

Organize your images with PixName

Anyone who uses a digital camera with any regularity knows that tools to help you manage and organize your images are a necessity, and that there are plenty of options to choose from. PixName is a tool that specializes in renaming images and organizing them by date. Although for the most part it performed as it was supposed to, it's neither the most powerful nor the easiest-to-use program of this sort that we've seen.

PixName's interface was not particularly intuitive or attractive, and we had to consult the Help file several times to figure out how to … Read more

Addressing OS X file extensions reverting after change

While the launch services in OS X use file name extensions to associate files with various applications, generally users do not need to interact with these extensions and the system keeps them hidden by default; however, you can have the extensions shown, either globally or for specific files. If you edit the extension the system should prompt you for confirmation and then change the extension, but sometimes the system may revert the file name back or continually append the old file name to the new one.

For example, if you have a script file such as a JavaScript routine that … Read more

Web site searcher

Finding just the right line of text or code in a Web site can be frustrating, especially if the site is large or has many links and pages. Browser-style search tools and basic editors often aren't up to the job, particularly if you're looking for more than one type of file. Inspyder Finder is a Web crawler utility that can search for specific content anywhere on a Web site. It can search CSS and JavaScript files as well as HTML content.

This interesting tool is basically a Web crawler with sophisticated search capabilities, though you might think of … Read more

Not worth the price

This program offers people the ability to rename large batches of files in one fell swoop. After we put it to the test, we were left disappointed by its poorly designed user interface and trial limitations.

Batch FileName Editor claims to have an easy-to-use interface, but we found it to be just the opposite. The bright command buttons are vague and don't offer users much direction. We selected a folder that contained the files that we wanted to rename. The Insert command introduced a new window that was just as vague and confusing. We finally found our bearings, but … Read more

Rename files with ease

Batch File Renamer could've been called Easy File Renamer, because although it's cursed with a bland layout, that belies the effortless renaming of massive quantities of files.

The features combined with the tiny size make this one of the best freeware file renamers around. You can set entire directories to rename, and select all files, or filter out the ones you don't want to change by their extension. A handful of presets let you convert filenames to upper or lowercase instantly, as well as replace characters in the filenames, add a number sequence to the name, and for advanced users you can even run your own command line on source directory files.