File Manager - FreeCommander XE 730 beta

When I do a fresh install of windows, there a few utilities that are on my "gotta have" list and I install right away.

FreeCommander is one of them!

I could give you a long list of reasons why I chose FreeCommander as my file manager of choice. The website has a long list of features, but I'll give you my top 5. You can explore more of the features after you download it.

1. Multi-view display
You can have single or dual windows and multiple tabs for each window. Each tab representing a folder. Quick visual access to multiple folders is what power users are looking for.

2. Customizable
With a bit of time spent, you can alter so much of the display and behavior of the program. Add your own shorcuts to programs and take advantage of parameters that FreeCommander can pass on to those programs. Very powerful option indeed!  My newest configuration is shown below.

3. Expandable
Through the use of totalcommander plugins and support for 3rd party programs, you can use FC XE to act as a smart program launcher or perform file management options that would typically require an additional program to use.

4. Current
Marek, the author of FreeCommander has been diligently doing updates. The forum is active and has users ready to help new people take full advantage of this great software. That being said, the author does listen to requests and adds features with each new release.

5. Free
That's right. FREE. But donating to the author provides with you the latest donor version which includes the latest enhancements and bug fixes.

Quick Summary

the default explorer file manager that comes with windows is fine for basic functions. But for power users, the need to have multiple windows, multiple tabs becomes something that can save you LOTS of time. Though there are other freeware file managers out there, nothing has catered to my needs as well as FreeCommander. So go download it (portable version available) and try it out for yourself. I will be posting some "how to" for using this file manager in the near future!

Free Renaming – A Second Look

Sometimes people leave things thinking that they know the limitations of it. Thinking, that because they knew it or used it, or was a part of it for so long, that they knew all about it. The fact is that people make mistakes. Sometimes, if we look again, deeper into things we once knew, we can come away with more than what we expected or hoped. This can be true in many things, including relationships, friendships, or in this case, my old renaming utility Lupas Rename!
I think it’s important to right whatever wrongs we may have caused, so today, I am writing a few corrections for users who may have put Lupas Rename “out to pasture”, so to speak.
Let’s call this a re-review! While looking a bit more in depth at LR2000’s features, I came across a couple things that proved worth sharing.

1. LR2005 supports renaming files based on a list! Though the option was there, I somehow missed it!

To access the list feature, select the text editor button.

With the editor open, you can import text (file-->open) or use some of the other features to tweak your file list from the Import menu.

I’m just going to type my list as an example. And click the “X” button to close the window and return to the main screen.

Now in the main screen, we have to specify that we want to use the text in the text editor. We select The “replace text” option and RIGHT-CLICK to access a menu of available variables.

This context menu has lots of options, so, explore it! Really, i would like to see access to these options, a little bit more obvious. like a drop down list in the text box field or something. Because, if you don’t use a utility like this all the time, you’ll forget about this functionality.
You can see in this window, my modified list… with the <T> variable showing at the bottom.

With the variables available, you can get really creative options going. Also, using the “flatten folders” option, allows you to work on files stored in multiple folders! (it’s the folder tree symbol left of the text editor button.)
For example, i renamed 1300 PDFs that were separated into 40 different folders with different names in each folder. Each PDF was renamed to match the folder’s name and had a sequential number after the name. Total time to do the operation, just over 1 minute!
So, go check it out, LUPAS RENAME 2000.

Freeware Renaming Utilities

Everyone at some point has to rename files. But if you have to rename multiple files, a renaming utility can be your best friend. I recommend two utilities.

Option 1

LUPAS RENAME 2000 Lupas Rename was one of those utilities I’ve been using for a long time. It’s small and quick and should serve the needs of most of your renaming chores.
The Good	Free Windows context menu support can be portable easy to learn interface can create bat files
The Bad	No longer being updated since 2005 Using tags for MP3 renaming is not intuitive Cannot rename files based on a list

Option 2

ReNamer by Den4b It takes a bit of time to learn the interface, but it’s probably one of the most versatile renaming utilities available. I wanted to find a small simple utility that could rename files based on a list. This is it!
The Good	Free Windows context menu support Can be portable Rename based on custom list! Save and Load “presets” renaming functions Powerful renaming functions using Pascal scripting Still being developed
The Bad	Terrible name (if you don’t know Den4b!) scripting is geared for programmers Interface for selection/filter mode is clunky

They’re both free, and relatively small installs. I use both of these tools on a regular basis. From renaming drawings and PDF files to renaming MP3s.