Upgrading from my old Leopard machine to a new Mini running Mountain Lion, I have just discovered an annoying change in the Finder.
Apple seems to have changed the behavior of the Finder where multiple items are dragged and dropped into some other application. It changes the order in which those items are presented to the other application.
I use an old app called R-Name to rename photos. A more modern app that also acts the same way with the new Finder is A Better Finder Rename. Most any file renamed could be used and would evidently have the same issue.
The scenario is like this:
This renaming method is valuable to me because the files are not always taken in the order that I would like them named. And no, I don't do things like dumping raw files into iPhoto and manage photo identification there, either. (Duh)
OK, this is how it worked in Leopard. Now, under Mountain Lion (and Lion, too?), the order of the files as dragged from the Finder into the renaming app is always in the order of the "Arrange By" attribute of that Finder window, not the order in which I picked them. If I set "arrange by" (and "sort by") to "None", the files are ordered by a lexicographic sort. Sometimes this could be a great behavior, but not in this case.
This messes up a very efficient and natural method for picking those files. I Apple had left the order to the order picked in the case where the Finder window's arrange by and sort by parameters set to 'None", that would have been the best of both worlds.
A workaround is to pick them and - one by one - drag them into the renamer file window. That works but is sooooo much more labor intensive, and it's not clear visually which files you've already selected. You don't see which ones have already been picked, so you can easily miss files amongst the mess of files you're renaming, causing another whole round of re-picking of files. Uck.
A modified workaround is to select a file, drag & drop it into the renamer file window and then drag & drop it into a holding folder; then do the next, and when finished, put them all back in the original folder and press "rename". It's even more labor intensive.
The old, Leopard way (for 10 files):
The new Lion/Mountain Lion way"
Uck...
I've considered using AppleScript, Folder Actions, or Automator to make this slightly less painful, but that would be like hitting a fly with a nuke - and slow.
This may seem like a minor point to others, but Apple really screwed up the Finder behavior in this case - at least to me!
Apple seems to have changed the behavior of the Finder where multiple items are dragged and dropped into some other application. It changes the order in which those items are presented to the other application.
I use an old app called R-Name to rename photos. A more modern app that also acts the same way with the new Finder is A Better Finder Rename. Most any file renamed could be used and would evidently have the same issue.
The scenario is like this:
- Take and import photos (or scans). They are named sequentially according to some standard written by the camera or scanner.
- Select some subset of the files in a Finder window (picking one after another using the shift or command key) in the order that I would like them named.
- Drag the set of files onto the R-Name file receptacle area.
- Type the prefix for the file names (and any options of how I'd like the numbered).
- The app renames the files (numerically in the order that I selected them in the Finder).
This renaming method is valuable to me because the files are not always taken in the order that I would like them named. And no, I don't do things like dumping raw files into iPhoto and manage photo identification there, either. (Duh)
OK, this is how it worked in Leopard. Now, under Mountain Lion (and Lion, too?), the order of the files as dragged from the Finder into the renaming app is always in the order of the "Arrange By" attribute of that Finder window, not the order in which I picked them. If I set "arrange by" (and "sort by") to "None", the files are ordered by a lexicographic sort. Sometimes this could be a great behavior, but not in this case.
This messes up a very efficient and natural method for picking those files. I Apple had left the order to the order picked in the case where the Finder window's arrange by and sort by parameters set to 'None", that would have been the best of both worlds.
A workaround is to pick them and - one by one - drag them into the renamer file window. That works but is sooooo much more labor intensive, and it's not clear visually which files you've already selected. You don't see which ones have already been picked, so you can easily miss files amongst the mess of files you're renaming, causing another whole round of re-picking of files. Uck.
A modified workaround is to select a file, drag & drop it into the renamer file window and then drag & drop it into a holding folder; then do the next, and when finished, put them all back in the original folder and press "rename". It's even more labor intensive.
The old, Leopard way (for 10 files):
- 1 press of the command key
- 10 mouse clicks
- 1 drag & drop
- Rename function
The new Lion/Mountain Lion way"
- Create or copy empty temp folder
- 20 drag and drops
- Open temp folder
- Select all
- Move to original folder
- Rename function
Uck...
I've considered using AppleScript, Folder Actions, or Automator to make this slightly less painful, but that would be like hitting a fly with a nuke - and slow.
This may seem like a minor point to others, but Apple really screwed up the Finder behavior in this case - at least to me!