Any way to rename multiple items?

[Dark Void]

Hello,

So, basically I would rather have my files named something like "blah1" or "blah2" instead of "blah1280x800" and have a lot of files to rename in such an order. I always just double click the name space one by one and rename them to my liking and have done this to at least thousands of files and my life hurts as a result of it.

Is there a way to rename multiple files at once with certain parameters in OS X? An app, maybe?

Thank you.

 

[GGJstudios]

Name Mangler is my favorite tool for this.

 

[Dark Void]

Name Mangler is my favorite tool for this.

nice, but how long is the trial?

anything you know of that does a good job that is free? maybe something you have used before name mangler?

thanks for the reply.

 

[GGJstudios]

nice, but how long is the trial?

anything you know of that does a good job that is free? maybe something you have used before name mangler?

thanks for the reply.

I got Name Mangler when it was still free. You can still use it free after the trial, with a few limitations:

Trial version: Name Mangler will work for 25 launches without limitation. After that, you won't be able to rename more than five files at a time, and you won't be able to create or use droplets until you purchase a license.

I'm sure there are other free apps out there. You might try searching the forum for something like "batch file renaming", as there have been several threads on this with quite a few recommendations.

 

[Dark Void]

alright, i'll probably stay away from that for now with such a trial. i'll try the forum search, thank you.

 

[Dark Void]

no luck on the forum search but i found NameChanger off of google. anyone use this? looks simple...maybe too simple to be effective.

 

[Adam0306]

There is a way to do it in automater but I can't thing of the way right now.

 

[GGJstudios]

alright, i'll probably stay away from that for now with such a trial. i'll try the forum search, thank you.

See if any of these help (some are older, but the apps recommended may still be viable options):
Can I batch rename in Finder
easiest way to remove backslash from many filenames
how to rename multiple files on the Mac
Help Changing Multiple File Names at Once in "Finder"

 

[ezramoore]

A Better Finder Rename 8 is the solution I settled on, I have a ton of TV episodes that I need to rename, fairly often. I love it. It has support for multi-step renames too, essentially creating an action or macro.

http://www.publicspace.net/ABetterFinderRename/

I have no affiliation with Public Space.

 

[Dark Void]

will take a look for sure.

i was looking at namechanger more in depth and it doesn't seem to be what i need. it looks very useful but it's more of renaming blah1-blah100 as blah0001-blah0100.

what i need is something where i have blah1-blah100 on my computer, i delete blah52 and blah68, and then it renames them as blah1-blah98.

anyone know anything like that? i know it's a stretch but i'd appreciate it if anyone could help me out.

 

[GGJstudios]

what i need is something where i have blah1-blah100 on my computer, i delete blah52 and blah68, and then it renames them as blah1-blah98.

anyone know anything like that? i know it's a stretch but i'd appreciate it if anyone could help me out.

I know Name Mangler does that easily, so I'm sure others must have the same functionality.

 

[Dark Void]

I know Name Mangler does that easily, so I'm sure others must have the same functionality.

i'm hoping i can find a free app that does that, if not then i will just have to use name mangler with 5 files at a time for those situations and name changer if i want to replace parts of the names but keep them in the same order. it beats my current method after all.

 

[GGJstudios]

i'm hoping i can find a free app that does that, if not then i will just have to use name mangler with 5 files at a time for those situations and name changer if i want to replace parts of the names but keep them in the same order. it beats my current method after all.

Remember you can use it unrestricted for 25 launches... just do a lot before you close the app, or just leave the app running, even when you're not using it. It won't consume much resources.

 

[miles01110]

i'm hoping i can find a free app that does that, if not then i will just have to use name mangler with 5 files at a time for those situations and name changer if i want to replace parts of the names but keep them in the same order. it beats my current method after all.

You already found one (NameChanger). Stop making this more difficult than it is.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Remember you can use it unrestricted for 25 launches... just do a lot before you close the app, or just leave the app running, even when you're not using it. It won't consume much resources.

Yep, no need to even close the application.
Sometimes I get up to 25 applications open and don't really realise it, until I use CMD+TAB (I rarely use it) or look at the Dock (I rarely use it, it is hidden by default). So if you are running your Mac for 10 days in a row (or longer) you can get almost a year of use out of it, until then you can have saved the 10 USD the application costs.

 

[Dark Void]

You already found one (NameChanger). Stop making this more difficult than it is.

does it do what i want it to? :\

in terms of name mangler, i'd rather not have it running even if it doesn't take up resources. just a preference thing. i'd rather just have a free app or the trial if i have to settle for it.

 

[Dark Void]

just making this post to recommend name changer to everyone that may search for this topic.

it's unreal, does everything i want and has tons of options. i shouldn't have judged it by the screenshot. it's one of the most simple, effective apps that i have used in os x.

thanks for the replies and suggestions everyone.

edit: errr, let it be known that this is not for renaming images. it basically turned all of my images into documents, which isn't necessarily ideal. time machine is a wonderful app : ) use cautiously!

edit again: so i tried it out again and it does a very nice job renaming images. you just have to have the image browser open when you hit "rename." took me a while and a time machine folder restore to get it but i got it and it's a great app. :]