An Objective-C application for
the batch renaming of files in OS X 10.3 & 10.4
jun
10
Filewrangler Update
First, I want to thank everyone who has ever donated money to Filewrangler development. Even to this day I am occasionally surprised to see a PayPal deposit from a generous individual for whom Filewrangler has helped her/him. I also want to assure everyone who has come to rely on Filewrangler in any way that development on this project is not dead.
In fact, Filewrangler 2 is on the drawing board even now, and I believe I have an interesting new take on the interface that will make it more accessible, yet also expand its power and utility.
Unfortunately, due to a catastrophic hard drive crash, this project must begin from scratch. So, I'm taking the time to reorganize, rethink, replan, and otherwise restructure FileWrangler into something much, much better.
Do you have anything you'd like to see in the next version? Drop me a line!
What Does Filewrangler Do?
As much as many of us enjoy using Mac OS X, there are certainly issues that the current user interface does not accommodate. One such missing feature is the ability to modify large groups of files at once. Sure, this could be done in Terminal with UNIX commands, but that solution can alienate those who were drawn to the Mac for it’s GUI (graphical user interface) and overall ease of use. Automator offers some interesting, if simplistic, tools for doing similar things. At the same time, OS X now prefers we adhere to certain UNIX naming conventions, where we previously had no need to do so. How can we quickly apply extensions to our legacy files?
For that matter, OS X users sharing files with OS 9 users run into an interesting problem. OS X allows filenames up to 256 characters long. OS 9 only allows 31 characters. How can I take a folder of files I want to share and get their names to play nicely with OS 9, without having to manually rename each individual file by hand?
Picture another scenario. You’ve taken a bunch of vacation photos with your digital camera. The filenames, as supplied by the camera, are not human-friendly. If I have a folder of these vacation photos, how can I give them names that make sense to me, without having to rename each file individually?
These are the kinds of file manipulation problems addressed by FileWrangler.
What Others Have Said About Filewrangler
I'm fortunate to have been able to produce a piece of software that has helped many, many people. By my count, based on personal website statistics, VersionTracker download statistics, and MacUpdate download statistics, Filewrangler seems to have enjoyed well over 20,000 downloads. Additionally, it was featured on the cover disk for the German Macintosh publication MacUp.
Very complete program and fast. I think it may be more complete and easier than Renamer4Mac.
-- MacUpdate reviewer
It saved me a lot of time today and I would highly recommend it. I did not need to read the manual and was able to use it intuitively.
-- VersionTracker reviewer
I find that FileWrangler does exactly what I want it to do, and I rather like it better than A Better Finder Rename.
-- Allen W, via email
Thank you for an excellent program, one of the most useful utilities I have. For what it does there is no match.
-- Steve P, via email
filewrangler