Transform multiple filenames with a click

The problem: you need to modify the names of a bazillion files. The bigger problem: it’s 2011, but the Finder is still built to edit just one filename at a time. Sure, you could fiddle with the Terminal to do the job, but better yet, you can use Renamer and stick with the OS X you know and love.

Renamer brings sweet, sweet order to filename chaos.

Renamer does more than just swap old filenames for new ones. You can change a filename’s case, replace or remove chunks of text and individual characters, or insert new text anywhere you like. Of course, these features can also be applied to file extensions to change file types. You can even use regular expressions to find variable strings—a range of numbers or letters, say—and replace them in filenames wherever they appear. Just drag your files into Renamer, then choose which actions to apply. Customize actions and arrange them in chains to apply multiple transformations, like numbering a collection of files while removing all spaces from their filenames. Renamer makes complex batch processing simple to do in a single pass.

Go nuts making revisions, too; changes are previewed as they’re made, and you can undo anything applied to your documents. For faster renaming, chains can be saved as presets to launch within Renamer or in the Finder from a menu bar icon. Unfortunately, the icon only appears while Renamer is running, and its menu can’t make the application active should you need to edit presets or create a new one on the fly. We were also a bit disappointed by Renamer’s lack of tooltips, which all but requires new users to peruse its help file to get started using the app.

The bottom line. At $25, Renamer isn’t the cheapest way to batch-rename files, but its many flexible features make the job easy.