Subscribe to our Best Free File Rename Utility
|
In a Hurry?
|
 Go straight to the Quick Selection Guide |
|
Introduction
|
|
In these days of MP3 libraries and vast collections of digital images, many of us have faced the necessity of renaming our files for organizational purposes. If you've come here looking for a solution we have some good news. There are great (and free!) programs to suit your needs. There are many different methods to achieve the desired result, from laboriously renaming files one at a time using Windows Explorer, to bulk renaming utilities that can pull out metadata or execute powerful Perl based regular expressions. Some programs focus on simplicity and others are designed for power users. Most of the renamers support a basic set of features such as crop, insert, remove, replace, case changes, and auto number. And some renamers have more powerful features that others don't. Because the programs reviewed here are designed for different purposes, there isn't a renamer that is vastly better overall but there is a renamer that is best for certain situations. These differences make it easy to find which file rename utility is right for you. |
|
Discussion
|
|
Bulk Rename Utility is easy to use, powerful, and highly functional with excellent help files, suggestions, and examples. However the interface is a little messy, only supports a few EXIF tags, and there is no support for ID3 v2. I noticed some bugginess when attempting to rename MP3 files by their ID3 tags when there was no ID3 v1 data.
A solid renamer altogether but not without some issues. For example, it could not find EXIF metadata for my images, there are no regular expression information or examples included in the help files, and it would be nice if the undo, subfolder, and logging features were included in the free version.
Lupus Rename is a well balanced program suitable for beginners and more technically inclined users. It features command line operation, undo, and supports ID3 v1, ID3 v2, EXIF, CDisplay Comic Reader, and regular expressions although I was unable to get the regular expressions to work on Vista or XP. Metadata tags are manually entered instead of choosing from a menu. Unfortunately, it appears Lupas Rename is no lnger actively developed.
The downside, affecting casual users for the most part, is that Siren has a steep learning curve compared to other renamers. With what is in essence a library of predefined tags the simplest rename will require a little studying of the help file. Technically minded users may pick up the syntax quickly enough to make it worth their while.
Its a little light on more powerful features but its easy to use. It only supports a handful of ID3 and EXIF tags and doesn't support regular expressions. A very nice undo feature allows you to choose from a list which changes to undo. You can stack commands, map illegal file name characters, automatically display metadata, and change file attributes. It has a picture preview, supports file change lists, and has very good help files. Selecting files from a list to rename is clunky, you cannot select which ones you want to change, you can only remove them from the list.
Stability is a question as the program crashed several times while I was using it. There are unexpected renaming results such as when I used EXIF data to rename a file the program generated an error because it tried to insert the illegal file name character, ':'.
Flexible Renamer v8.0 supports invalid character mapping, file attribute modification, metadata tags for documents, imaging, and audio. Also supports VB scripts, Javascript, and regular expressions. Learning curve is too steep for what you get out of it.
CKRename v1.08 has a simple design and you can change file names, extensions, case, auto number, and use sting substitution but it doesn't have many advanced features.
Rename-It! v3.05 is a very simple program with a just a few features. It has an intuitive interface and you can do simple cropping, case changes. It supports regular expressions and a few ID3 tags, both v1 and v2. Seems to work well for what it does but has less functionality than other renamers.
Ant Renamer v2.10 supports regular expressions, EXIF tags, and ID3 v1 tags. You can also change names from an imported file list. File change preview is limited to a single file and you cannot simultaneously view the commands and the file listing. No ID3 v2 support. Irritating bugs, for example, just open "Options", change anything and the language also changes. |
|
Related Products and Links
|
|
Suggested programs currently pending review: |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
2.7.1.1 
Unrestricted Freeware 
Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, Vista, 2003, 2008
Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Please rate this article
Thank you for File Renamer Basic. It is great (just renamed some files, which i sorted by date) with changing the suffix. It is easy to use, not like the one on the first place.
Rename-It!
Does not support UNC paths.
Requires the use of drive letters.
Pretty much useless.
Ken Rename has been updated to version 0.88 for anyone interested! Beyond many stability fixes there's a wealth of new features. More information here:
http://myprogramspace.blogspot.com/
Some notable additions include:
* Automatically replace invalid characters option
* Presets in context menu
* Multi-level Undo
* Advanced Filtering
* Drag-n-drop folders to rename their containing files
... and the list goes on!
Page not found
Thanks for pointing out that it required one more click to get there - I've changed the link now to the right page.
File Renamer Basic should really have a licence type of "Feature-Restricted Freeware", instead of "Unrestricted Freeware".
Glad to see the list has been FINALLY updated to include popular products such as FRB and KR.
Edit: I just noticed 0.5/5 for Ant Renamer?! I know it's not perfect but it's definitely one of the best renamers I've used, and certainly better than Bulk Renamer. I think you're being unfair.
Personally I'd give it a 3.5/5.
~Yaser
2X
The last release date of Ken rename is 4/7/2009 not 2008
I wonder why ALL editors here manage to choose Bulk Rename Utility for #1 ? I cannot believe an app with such an awfull, overcrowded and counterintuitive interface manages to be #1 in TSA, i would probably use it if there was any REAL advantage over any other similar util !
I agree, there are far better products out there imo.
I think everyone agrees that Bulk Rename Utility has an ugly interface. But that is not necessarily a bad thing. As another poster pointed out, everything you need is right in front of you without having to navigate menus or tabs.
It would really help these reviews if each one would state explicitly whether a program has to be installed (including registry changes) or whether it works as a "portable" app that can just be copied to a folder and run without any installation or registry changes. There are many programs I'll try only if they don't require an installation that changes the registry.
You are right, I will try to include that information in an update. Thanks for the suggestion.
The review does not make justice for Ken Rename. It is the easiest renamer I have used. It never crashed on me and it does not produce weird renaming results. I think is unfair to give it a bad rating just because it crashes on you computer when on others it does not. Maybe you should try the latest beta...
I think it is quite fair to ask for stability and to be able to rename images from EXIF metadata.
Just to make sure something didn't go wrong in the download/install, I redid the whole process using the same version and the result was the same. It was the only renamer to crash on me and it crashed frequently.
When I tried to rename a large batch of images with EXIF metadata, which may contain characters that are not allowed in file names, an error was generated that caused my batch rename to stop. Because of the error, none of the images were renamed even though many of them didn't have the illegal character problem.
The other renamers, for the most part, don't allow you insert illegal file name characters. For example, Lupas Rename automatically replaces all illegal characters with an underscore.
I agree that Ken Rename has potential to be a very good renamer, and I plan to review it again soon as I believe these problems will be worked out with continued refinement. But for now, IMO, these problems I encountered were significant enough to knock it down a few notches.
Can you please provide some information on how to reproduce the bugs so I can report it to the developer? What exif field produces the problem? What are illegal characters (these? !,@,#,$,%,^,&,*)?
I don't know of a specific way to reproduce the crashing. It crashed at random times and events.
To reproduce the illegal character problem, simply rename a file using the EXIF date. It usually contains a ':'. Or, look in the metadata for other illegal characters, then try to rename based on that.
Here is a good reference on Windows file naming conventions:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365247.aspx
Great post, joel. Wish we had more xrefs & links to MSDN.
My camera (Olympus) produces filenames with month, day and incremental number. Unfortunately for the month it uses the letters A, B and C for months 10,11 and 12.
Are any of these renamers flexible enough to change the single character month into 01, 02 etc. and add a 2-digit year in front?
E.G. If the file name is MDDnnnn it will become YYMMDD_nnnn.
Regards
David
If your files are always in the same format, MDDnnnn.ext, then it will be fairly simple to rename them, assuming they are digitally created and you have EXIF data for them. For example, with Lupas Rename:
Left crop n chars:3Insert before the filename:<E:DateTime:Y><E:DateTime:M><E:DateTime:D>_This crops out the 'MDD', then extracts the EXIF date data and inserts it in the form YYYYMMDD while also adding the underscore.
Then simply replace YYYY with YY, or keep the YYYY format because it may make your life easier in the long run.
Any rename utility that supports regular expressions will be able to perform this. One of them is Ken Rename. If you are not familiar with regular expressions just ask in the forums or maybe at techguy.com. I'm not that familiar with them either... :(
edit: Now that I think of it again it may be easier than it looks. Try using the exiff button and then the date in the macro tab of ken rename.
I just thought I'd put in my 2 cents about Bulk Rename Utility, since I've been using it for more than 2 or 3 years now.
I've played around with a few utilities on numerous OSes, but honestly I still like BRU for myself the most. Partly because I do a lot of web and script programming, and therefore writing a reg expression for a find and replace is really pretty intuitive, and thankfully it supports grouping and using those groups in the resulting rename. Most of the rest offer similar functionality with various improvements on the GUI and the like, but I haven't found one that has all the functions of BRU.
This wasn't covered in the review but BRU supports a file rename based on a text file, which when combined with it's copy and paste options(copy just selected files, files+extensions, directories+files, directories+files+extensions) and a program like notepad++ enables the creation of nifty files that you can use both ways, to rename the files, and revert them later, you just have the file names stored twice in reverse order, since it only replaces matching files. (Useful to rename files back for a torrent or something similar) The only tool that does it differently I've found is Ant, and what it does while useful, I think would be more of a corner case, which if I encountered I would just download ant and use it for.
Actually after using BRU for a while, I appreciate that all the options are there in one place, and there's no menu tree or the like to navigate. That way I can see what all the various renaming options have as their current status. It's not pretty in the slightest but for utility it's actually much better than it seems at first blush.
Negatively, it doesn't have as extensive an MP3 tag support as some others might, but honestly if you're gonna do mostly audio file renaming there are more specialized tools out there for you, which unlike any of the ones I've tested have support for other audio formats like FLAC and not just mp3. Same thing for pictures, video files, etc.
Could I put in a favourable mention for Cylog Software's WildRename, written by Kostas Symeonidis. It is in v2.15 (2008) as a stand-alone application that needs no installer. It doesn't do Tag stuff, but it is v flexible with quite a lot of easy-to-understand customisation, and it has a useful Simulation Mode. It can sort before processing, and has an undo facility.
Found at: http://www.cylog.org/utilities/wildrename.jsp
IainC
For those willing to try Ken Rename here is a link to the latest beta version: http://tinyurl.com/r2huz2
Here are the new features from 0.78 (I have not included bug fixes):
+Favorites Organize can Move up and down
+Multi-level undo support
+preset for RegEx
+Append Original Filename extension when Import List(New filename only)
+Add option of double clicking on file list
+Locate file when press a Key on file list
+Advanced Filtering: Filename length, Filesize, Modified, Created, Accessed Date
+drag-n-drop folders to rename their containing files.
+Copy/Move renamed files
+replace multiple words/phrases with semicolon
*Windows-1252 Code page conversion
Please feel free to contribute to the ken forums the author is very responsive and is open to suggestions. I am under the name "Marios Taki" in the forum and the following features were added because of my request:
+Advanced Filtering: Filename length, Filesize, Modified, Created, Accessed Date
+drag-n-drop folders to rename their containing files.
+Copy/Move renamed files
+replace multiple words/phrases with semicolon
+Multi-level undo support (it still needs some work)
Does Ken Rename support rules like ReNamer? If so, then I'm new user.
If you mean performing multiple actions yes they are supported. In Ken Rename they are simply called "actions". You just press the button "Add Action" and add it to a list which is then performed when you press the rename button. You can also save the actions like Presets
Sorry, but is it possible to save presets as shortcuts, so droping files on them will rename that files (no windows, no messages, no nothing, maybe just successful sound)?
I'm afraid that is not possible :( I don't know of any free renamer that can do this but I promise to make a request to the developer and we'll see if he can implement it in a future release. BTW this sounds like the commercial utility "Better File Rename", I'm I right? Don't know of any other utility with this kind of feature...
ReNamer can do that, too (that's why I asked). First make preset, then "create links" ... that's it. I just want more (free) utilities to have this feature.
But what is so usefull about this feature anyway. If you are renaming many files you'll need about the same amount of time whether you use the links or if you load the preset in the program window. IMO maybe using the links will take more time as you first need to navigate to the folder where the links are located and then the folder where the files you need to rename are located.
This is just my opinion but maybe you can tell me a scenario where the links are more useful
No problem. First scenario: Put your links in SendTo folder
Second scenario: I use CMenuExtender, so I made ReNamer submenu on my right click menu which have all the links(auto renaming presets) I use.
For begginers is the first, but for more (slightly) advanced users is the second scenario. What do you think?
I forgot, when you use second scenario you don't need link files(shortcuts), because they are just commands like this "E:\ProgFiles\ReNamer 5.50\ReNamer.exe" /rename "preset1"
Ok that sounds sensible enough. I will ask the developer and we'll see what will come out of this. But I don't guarantee you anything
You suggestion has been added to the to-do list(http://preview.tinyurl.com/r2huz2). The implementation is a bit different from what you originally suggested. More info here: http://preview.tinyurl.com/lsszmv
Another one to consider is THE Rename
File Renamer Basic is the best choice for the average user. Powerful enough and extremely user friendly.
Why is it not in this list?
I am wondering the same thing. The review needs some major maintenance. BTW I was using File Renamer Basic Before but I recently changed to Ken Rename. The auto-preview feature sold me :)
I am in the process of reviewing the current and pending list of Best Free File Rename Utilities, so hopefully I will have some results soon.
Another great utility (one of the best actually among both freeware and shareware) is KEN Rename.
Features:
- Filter files with wildcard
- Use multi-actions to rename and can change order
- Create a numbered file list
- Convert to upper or lowercase
- Replace a string with a different string
- Use regular expression with Replace
- Keep only certain letters of the file name
- Remove a string between 2 string or before or after a string
- Can undo rename
- Unicode support
- Convert of code page
- ID3v1 ID3v2 support
- EXIF support
- Set File Attribute
- Multi-Language support
- Select directory in file explorer with context menu
- Preview rename results are shown immediately
- Export and import rename file list
- Save actions as preset
- Picture preview
- Custom keyboard shortcuts
- VBScript support
Homepage: http://myprogramspace.blogspot.com/2008/07/krename-multi-file-rename-too...
Screenshot: http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/797/kenrenamescr.jpg
I've used Lupas rename for a long time.
BRU is ok, but the interface is gross...
I've used The Rename too.. but most of my stuff has been ok to do with Lupas. There are a few shortcomings to the prog though.
1. it can't rename based on a list.
2. It can't rename files based on folder names.(any suggestions for that one?)
1. Ken Rename will do this
2. Ken Rename will do this too
It's free http://myprogramspace.blogspot.com/2008/07/krename-multi-file-rename-too...
not that you are in any way affiliated with that package (rollseyes)
After trying plenty of file renamers I found those two are the best suited for my purposes:
1) File Renamer Basic
Remarkably easy-to-use and has a all the features I need, I'm surprised that it's not included in the review.
2) Ant Renamer
It could take a lil getting used to a first but it's definitely one of the best I've tried so far.
~Yaser
Have you tried Ken Rename?
No, I haven't heard about it until now but I will try it since it seems getting a lot of positive opinions.
Will let you know what I think after testing.
~Yaser
Edit: I tried "Ken Rename" and I stand corrected, it's definitly the best I rtied so far, I especially LOVED those features:
1) Instant (live) preview
2) The queue system
It's very easy to use, a simple interface, very nice indeed.
BUT, there's only flaw, for some reason it crashed on me while I was working, but that's no big deal.
All in all I give it 4.5/5 :)
~Yaser
That's strange because it has never crashed on me. No need to worry as it is actively developed.
Well, the crash problem only happened once, so it's not an issue.
But after further testing it I found the "Import List" is rather retarded, all I want is to rename some files based on a list in a text files with the new names, I don't want to manually format the list!
So far THE only program I tried that did exactly that without any fuzz is Ant Renamer, I wish they'd change in Ken's to be like Ant's, it would be much easier especially if it's a long list.
~Yaser
How exactly the formatting of your list look?
EDIT
OK I downloaded ant renamer and now I get what you meant. Each line represents an new name by the looks of it
Yes, that's exactly what I need, it's simple and works like it should.
Ken's method will take too long for me to manually format each line/name especially if it's a long list.
Ant's method the best IMHO, each line represnts a new name for a corresponding file (it counts, 1st file for 1st name..etc) and it offers a useful option to append the old file extension to the new name.
I wish they'd make it that simple in Ken's or at least make it an option, for instance:
Option > Import List >
Simple (Ant's method)
Advanced (Ken's method)
That way people would have a choice between either, just my 2 cents :)
~Yaser
Post new comment