Here is a great program I found recently while trying to solve a problem. The problem was that I had over 100 Garmin GPS track files that I had created over the past 10 years while riding ATVs in the Nevada desert, and I was trying to get them sorted by name instead of date. The files were mostly named with the date first and then followed by the name of the location, similar to this: 2012-08-10 Mina.gpx. In order to get all of the Mina files together, I needed to move the date to the end of the name. I was looking for an automated way to do this. My search led me to try a program called “A Better Finder Rename 11.” I contacted the company, and it responded in less than 24 hours—awesome. The programmer helped me create a multi-step rename to do what I needed.
I could download a fully functional trial version to try out and read the manual. It would do exactly what I wanted it to do, so I purchased it to convert those GPS files. In addition, I have used it many additional times, changing other file names or getting all the file names in a directory in the same format. This program is really powerful. This app is not available in the Mac App Store. It is only available at their website: A Better Finder Rename 11
So what types of things can this program do for renaming files? Here are the categories you can access, with many choices for each. The best way to see all it can do is to go to their website.
- text
- character
- character position and ranges
- conversion
- truncation
- sequential numbering
- Roman numerals
- date and time
- alphabetical sequence
- image dimensions
- mp3/aac
- parent folder
- paths
- tags
- advanced (allows you to combine two or more into an action)
Here is another, more complicated example:
Maybe the best thing about the entire program is that you can combine two or more of these categories into what is called an Action. This allows you to create, save, and run complicated renaming processes. Almost anything can be done.
The cool thing about this is that you can see the renaming process in real-time. As you change or update the logic, it is applied in a window, and you see its effect in real-time and you can see how the name will be output. Knowing that it will do what you want before you convert the names is fantastic and saves a lot of time and rework. The current version is 11.57.
Available for Mac only.
Cost: $22.95, which includes minor updates, or $59.90, which includes upgrades forever. I purchased the forever package. They also offer some bundle deals.
Recommendation: BUY IT
