Recommend a File Renamer

Factual Questions
1

Does anyone know a file renaming program for Windows that can read the Date Modified and add it in to the file name? I’ve seen ones that let you change the dates, add the current date to the name, etc but that isn’t quite what I want.

I have a lot of video files taken with my digicam, and video has the disadvantage of not supporting metadata in the file the way photos do. Date Modified is the only way to keep track of when they were taken, and if do something like transcode them to another format, I lose that info. One solution then is to get the date into the file name so it doesn’t get lost.

2

Bulk Rename Utility. Its interface is hilarious to look at (“explosion in a widget factory” is how Dan describes it there), but it actually works.

3

AppleScript is good at this sort of thing:


-- ADD a date string to filenames on the left or right, depending on the value of the flag 'prepend'

set src to (choose folder) as string -- this is the folder that CONTAINS the files
display dialog ("Process " & src as string) & " ?" -- double check

set prepend to true -- true is add on left, false is add on right
set filenames to {}
set modates to {}

tell application "Finder"
    copy ((name of every file of the folder src) as list) to filenames
    copy (modification date of every file of the folder src) as list to modates
    
    
    set numfiles to the number of files in the folder src
    --display dialog numfiles
    set n to 1
    repeat while n is less than or equal to numfiles
        set oldnam to item n of filenames as string
        set shortdate to short date string of (item n of modates)
        if prepend is true then
            set newname to shortdate & " " & oldnam
        else
            set newname to oldnam & " " & shortdate
        end if
        set the name of file oldnam of the folder src to newname
        set n to n + 1
    end repeat
end tell

return
4

Also Bulk Rename Utility for me. Tried a few and this is the one that stood out.

The only little little problem I had is that you have to select the files in the name window for the change to take effect on them. That aside, it’s pretty easy to get immediately.

5

Yup, BRU. If you have a couple hundred thousand files and want it to hit everything in the directory structure (like for changing the create/mod/last access date or time), it can take a while, but it does get the job done. And yes, the interface could be described as unrefined and “busy”, but damn if the author doesn’t pack in more functionality per pixel than any other program I’ve seen.

6

Thanks, that was just the thing I needed.

7

Lupas Rename is easy to use and powerful. I like the preview feature.
I’ve used Lupas for years.

http://rename.lupasfreeware.org/

8

I have found that Bulk Rename Utility works well. :smiley: It can easily insert the Date Modified in any number of formats.