Wanna help a new convert?
First post.......just been playing with macbook for a week now nice machine! I am figuring things out fairly quick, very intuitive OS.
I have 2 questions
In xp you can highlight a bunch of files (pis movies etc) and rename them all at once. It will make them all say trip, then next file trip(2) then trip(3) Can this be done on a mac or should I transfer the files back to one of my many xp machines and do it there?
The library in iphoto has all my movies so I searched in spotlight (very inpressive BTW) for movies and moved them into the movies folder in finder. Now they are in both locations and I dont want them in with my pictures.
Thanx
pete
I have 2 questions
In xp you can highlight a bunch of files (pis movies etc) and rename them all at once. It will make them all say trip, then next file trip(2) then trip(3) Can this be done on a mac or should I transfer the files back to one of my many xp machines and do it there?
The library in iphoto has all my movies so I searched in spotlight (very inpressive BTW) for movies and moved them into the movies folder in finder. Now they are in both locations and I dont want them in with my pictures.
Thanx
pete
Comments
Select the files you want to rename. Right click or command click on the group and scroll down to "Automator" in the contextual menu, and choose "Create Workflow".
In the "Actions" column in the left hand pane of the Automator window, scroll down to "Rename finder items". Drag that over to the right hand pane that shows the files you selected. You'll get a dialogue box asking if you want to add a step copying the current files before you rename them. Your choice.
The "Rename Files" box has lots of options for exactly how the files get renamed, if you want you can duplicate the "new name with sequential numbers" thing you're used to.
Once your sure everything is as you want it, hit the "Run" arrow in the top right corner of the app window.
There are also quite a few third party apps out there, I've never used them.
Actually, OS X has far more batch rename functionality than Windows, which is limited to the "Rename all the files with the same name and append sequential numbers" process you noted.
Yeah, what the hell is that about. I tried batch renaming a set of files in Windows thinking if I changed the extension it would mirror the change in all the files i.e add the extension to all of them. Instead, it named all files the same and I couldn't undo it. Who would ever need every file to have the same name?
I personally use A Better Finder Rename for OS X. I tried Automator but it doesn't give a preview of what the names will look like, which is very handy for avoiding mistakes.
will learn how the automator works......another app I havent had a chance to check out...
Yeah, what the hell is that about. I tried batch renaming a set of files in Windows thinking if I changed the extension it would mirror the change in all the files i.e add the extension to all of them. Instead, it named all files the same and I couldn't undo it. Who would ever need every file to have the same name?
I personally use A Better Finder Rename for OS X. I tried Automator but it doesn't give a preview of what the names will look like, which is very handy for avoiding mistakes.
I had looked at A Better Finder Rename, didn't realize it gave a preview, which sounds good. I'll check it out.
Apple's Automator is one of the least understood, unheralded programs, but it is incredibly powerful!
to use automator, just select the app from the list, select the funtion, drag onto the workflow, and repeat. when done remeber to save as app is you want to use it without opening automator.
tip: if you have a "requires file" funtion at the top, (example archive finder items) when you save as an app, dragging a file on top will run the funtion inputing the file.
a good use of this is to make a workflow like this:
archive finder items, select destination as your external hd, and save as app on desktop. Now drag a file on to it , and it is archived on your external hd! Voila!
automator is like apple script - 1000 years of confusion.
to use automator, just select the app from the list, select the funtion, drag onto the workflow, and repeat. when done remeber to save as app is you want to use it without opening automator.
tip: if you have a "requires file" funtion at the top, (example archive finder items) when you save as an app, dragging a file on top will run the funtion inputing the file.
a good use of this is to make a workflow like this:
archive finder items, select destination as your external hd, and save as app on desktop. Now drag a file on to it , and it is archived on your external hd! Voila!
Scripting is still baffling to me, even though I had a year of programming in AppleBasic waaaaaaaay back in high school. I've learned to admit I cannot grasp the concepts behind programming and I feel much better for it.
Automator is one of those apps that may be interesting to an extremely narrow audience, usually the person with enough programming skills that they'd rather just lift the hood and work directly in Terminal anyway.