jamesandrews@me.com
07-31-2008, 07:45 PM
FL 2 looks great and I'm very excited. However one of the features of FL that I use quite a bit is batch renaming and it has the potential to be really powerful. Unfortunately I often find I'm trying to rename a lot of files in the same way that exist in many subdirectories and this using the current interface is very tedious.
My thoughts:
1/ There is no option to batch rename files in a subdirectory. It would be great if you selected any directories there was an option to operate on subdirectories. Then the Original/Preview columns would include all files including subdirectories and those files contained within them.
2/ It doesn't remember previous selections for the drop downs, such as changing 'name with extension' and particular patterns. Perhaps if the renaming rules could be saved as named jobs and reapplied whenever required, this would make it easier, but at the moment I have to fill in 3 or more fields in exactly the same way over and over for each subdirectory.
3/ Hitting enter doesn't actually execute the rename (although it looks like it's trying to do something), you have to click the Rename button to rename and close the window. This seems to be a bug.
A requirement for option 2 would be somewhat mitigated by the ability to do 1 as you would only have to type your change in once and then hit apply. At the moment I have to do the same thing over and over for each subdirectory.
Subdirectory support (or saved jobs) would be particularly useful for programming, applying common meta-data to a sub-directory structure (such as tags) or reorganising the naming of photos or video organised in subdirectories.
Also, 4/ Another more advanced feature: allow smart renaming through being able to refer to elements such as creation date as variables. e.g. {creationdate[yyyy-mm-dd]} or to be able to do the following:
Replace {name}.{extension} with {name}-{extension}-{creationdate[yyyymmdd]}.jpg
If there was just one of these implemented then I'd love it to be option 1 (though I think 3 should be fixed too).
Thanks for a great product.
James
My thoughts:
1/ There is no option to batch rename files in a subdirectory. It would be great if you selected any directories there was an option to operate on subdirectories. Then the Original/Preview columns would include all files including subdirectories and those files contained within them.
2/ It doesn't remember previous selections for the drop downs, such as changing 'name with extension' and particular patterns. Perhaps if the renaming rules could be saved as named jobs and reapplied whenever required, this would make it easier, but at the moment I have to fill in 3 or more fields in exactly the same way over and over for each subdirectory.
3/ Hitting enter doesn't actually execute the rename (although it looks like it's trying to do something), you have to click the Rename button to rename and close the window. This seems to be a bug.
A requirement for option 2 would be somewhat mitigated by the ability to do 1 as you would only have to type your change in once and then hit apply. At the moment I have to do the same thing over and over for each subdirectory.
Subdirectory support (or saved jobs) would be particularly useful for programming, applying common meta-data to a sub-directory structure (such as tags) or reorganising the naming of photos or video organised in subdirectories.
Also, 4/ Another more advanced feature: allow smart renaming through being able to refer to elements such as creation date as variables. e.g. {creationdate[yyyy-mm-dd]} or to be able to do the following:
Replace {name}.{extension} with {name}-{extension}-{creationdate[yyyymmdd]}.jpg
If there was just one of these implemented then I'd love it to be option 1 (though I think 3 should be fixed too).
Thanks for a great product.
James