About

Introduction Install & Uninstall Developer Contact Register What's New?

Basic Usage

Interface Layout Settings Format Tags

Functions

Add Counter Add & Remove Casing Filename Editor Filetype Detection Find & Replace Format Filename ID3 Writer Mp3 Renaming Presets Re-Number Set Attributes Set Date & Time Scripts Space Trimming Tag Cleaner Zero Pad Numbers

Appendix

Tips & Tricks

Regular Expressions Keyboard Shortcuts Portable Version Command Line Dates Known Issues
1999-2008 RL Vision

FLASH RENAMER 6.0 USER MANUAL

Introduction
Everybody has a lot of files these days, be it digital photos, music, movies or documents. Keeping them tidy and organized is important so you can easily find what you are looking for. Think about how much time you spend managing your files, fiddling with their filenames to make them fit your personal taste. What if it could be done automatically? Now you can. With Flash Renamer your renaming days are gone! Flash Renamer contains everything you need to master your filenames. Transform them from unreadable junk to perfectly manicured filenames in a matter of seconds! Features:

Fast as lightning! Renames thousands of files in a matter of seconds. Set casing to UPPER CASE, lower case or First Letter Case. Rename Mp3s using their tags and properties. Read data from jpeg Exif tags. Excellent for digital camera users. Search and replace strings within filenames. Set or clear file attributes, such as 'read only' and 'hidden'. Set date & time using various sources, such as image Exif date. Add or Remove strings from specified positions. Add counters to files that are related, such as photo sessions. Extract meta-data from media, such as width/height and duration. Realtime preview shows the new filenames before you rename. Works on files, folder and sub-folders. Easily manage your photo collection by using the thumbnail mode. Add zeros to numbers to make files sort correctly in every situation. Re-order parts within filenames the way you want it. Context menus allows you to quickly launch FR when you need it.

Whether you're a photographer, webmaster, a power downloader, or simply just have a lot of files, you will love the power Flash Renamer brings you. And you will love it even more afterwards, when you realize how much time and effort it has saved you. Let Flash Renamer do the work for you. You'll never rename more that one file by hand ever again, that's a promise!

Install & Uninstall

Flash Renamer is downloaded as a setup file called FlashRenamerXX_Setup.exe, where XX is the major version number. Start the setup exe-file to begin the installation wizard that will guide you through the setup process. All needed files will be installed during the setup. A complete un-installer will also be installed that you can later use if you wish to remove the program from your system. You may need to restart your computer after installing/uninstalling, because some files may be locked by Windows so the installer can not modify them. Note for Windows Vista users: the uninstaller might not be able remove all settings files. The files that are left will be stored in this folder: %userprofile%\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\RL Vision\Flash Renamer\" Each user that has used Flash Renamer will have a folder like this. (read more about settings below) Note for Windows 95/NT4 users: Flash Renamer requires a few files that are not included in the installation packages. Most systems have these installed by default, but Windows 95/NT4 users may need to install them separately. The files are most easily obtained by installing Microsoft Internet Explorer version 4 of later. If they are not found, Flash Renamer will crash when trying to start.

Upgrade
To upgrade Flash Renamer you simply need to download the new version and install over the old one. You settings will be kept (except for modification made to files located in the Flash Renamer program folder such as FlashRen.ini).

Settings Location
Flash Renamer stores its settings in the "common appdata" folder (typcally %ALLUSERSPROFILE% \Application Data\RL Vision\Flash Renamer\). All users share these settings (except in Vista, see below). Settings will be kept even if you update Flash Renamer. Note: Versions up to 5.1 stored the settings in the Windows registry, and all users had unique settings. Versions 5.2 and above do not store anything in the registry. Windows Vista Windows Vista is a bit different. Because the setup program copies the settings to the common appdata folder, the files will inherit setups admin privelidges, so only a real admin (ie with UAC turned off) will be able to modify them. Vista has a solution called Virtualizing that will automatically make copies of the files to a VistualStore folder (typically %userprofile%\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\RL Vision\Flash Renamer\). This means that all users will have unique settings. If you don't like this, you can change the read/write privileges on the original files (typically stored in C:\ProgramData \RL Vision\Flash Renamer\) and give standard users write privelidges. Ini-Files

Flash Renamer contains a few additional settings that are not accessible from the GUI. The settings are stored in the files FlashRen.ini, Exif.ini, waveformat.txt and Codecs.txt. The files are located in the folder where Flash Renamer was installed (typically c:\Program Files\Flash Renamer\). Power user might want to edit these files. The files will be overwritten each time you install or upgrade Flash Renamer. Store Settings Locally It is possible to make Flash Renamer to store the settings in its application folder instead. First create an empty file in the Flash Renamer program folder (typically c:\Program Files\Flash Renamer) and name it LOCAL_SETTINGS. Now run the utility ImportSettings.exe to copy your settings. Done! Also read about portable mode

Developer Contact

www.rlvision.com Flash Renamer is developed by Dan of RL Vision. We are a small group of software & game developer enthusiasts. Please visit our homepage for more information about us and other products that we have developed. Feel free to contact us with comments and suggestions for Flash Renamer! Click here for contact information.

Asking for Help & Reporting Bugs If you have a question or find a bug that you want to report, please follow these guidelines to make it easier for us to help you:
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Many problems can be solved by clearing the program settings. For this I have created a special utility: Find the Flash Renamer program folder (usually located in c:\program files\Flash Renamer\) and run the program unreg. exe. This little utility will remove all Flash Renamer settings (except for your registration info) and hopefully fix your problems! Describe the problem as carefully as possible. The more information we get, the easier it will be for us to help you! Give many "before & after" filename examples, if applicable. Screenshots can be very helpful since they often provide more information to us than is possible to descibe in words. You may attach several screenshots to show different events that happens. Please save screenshots as jpg/gif/png images, no more than 100kb each. If a bug occurs, try to describe exactly when it happens, and what happens before and after. When reporting bugs, always include information about your system, such as Flash Renamer version and Windows version. In the Flash Renamer settings folder (typically c:\Documents And Settings\All Users\Application Data\RL Vision\Flash Renamer\) a file called errors.txt can be found. Normally this file should

not contain anything, but if something goes wrong the program will sometimes write log data here. If it contains data please include it in your bug report.

Acknowledgements

Installer provided by Inno Setup, Copyright (c) 1998-2007 Jordan Russell. All rights reserved. This software uses the FreeImage open source image library. See http://freeimage.sourceforge.net for details. FreeImage is used under the FIPL version 1.0. A big thank you to Planet Source Code and all its contributors, and VB Accelerator for some great code.! And finally, thank you all who have registered Flash Renamer! Your support means a lot!

Register
Flash Renamer is Shareware. You may try it out for free, but if you decide to keep it you must register your copy. The registration free is only $19.95! Click here to register Flash Renamer! The unregistered version is not limited in any way, but each time you start the program a shareware window will appear, reminding you to register. There are many benefits when registering:

The annoying shareware window will disappear forever! You'll get a warm fuzzy feeling that you did the right thing. You'll support the developers, who can then bring you more updates and other cool software. You'll get free tech support by email! Registration includes free updates of Flash Renamer!

You can register in several ways. The easiest and fastest is to buy online using your credit card. All major credit cards are accepted and the transaction is 100% secure with money back guarantee, handled by BMT Micro, a well known and trusted e-affiliate. You may also register in various other ways, including PayPal, Switch/Solo, Mail/Fax, Cash check, Wire transfer & Visa/MC debit cards. Please visit the registration page for more info about the ordering options. When you register a serial number will be sent to you by email. This should be entered into Flash Renamer by choosing "Enter Code" from the shareware window that appears when you start the program. The program will instantly enter registered mode! Click here to register Flash Renamer!

Personal Note: Hi! My name is Dan and I'm the developer of Flash Renamer. Since 1999 I have spent thousands of hours of my spare time developing this program. It started out as a fun little freeware project, and has since grown into a fully fledged application. I still like to work on it, but sometimes it's hard to find the motivation. What keeps me going is that people show their appreciation by registering the program. I want you to know that your support means a lot to me! You'll be pleased to know, that your money does not fund another multinational corporation trying to take over the world. The little pocket money I get is mostly spent on computer stuff (and the occasional beer :-) , so I can continue to develop Flash Renamer and other software. Support independent developers!

Version History
v6.0 BETA 1 (2007-12-03)

Added ID3 Writer function! Added Renumber function! Added Scripting function! Added Tag Cleaner function! New file list column: Date image taken New manual layout for faster & easier navigation! Flash Renamer is now available to download as portable application too! Shell extension: Right click menu now contains a copy to clipboard feature New format tags: <JpgComment> , <NumFiles> , <ExifDate-> Included script: "Insert Space Before Caps" Included script: "Create Mp3 Playlist" ...and of course many tweaks and bugfixes!

v5.3 (2007-07-15)

New mp3-library: Should be more accurate and also adds 40+ new ID3v2 Mp3 format tags! New thumbnail generator: Faster, better looking thumbnails in 20+ image formats! Added 'ask' format tag. Very useful for presets! Added 'parent-n' format tag that will return the n:th parent folder name! Improved 'rnd#' format tag so that it can now take high and low values! Improved 'date', 'adate' & 'cdate' format tags to allow user define date formats . Added 'copy to folder' and 'move to folder' to the right click menu. The log in the rename window can now be hidden. The log file can now be disabled. All columns can now be individually turned on/off Column order is now saved 25+ tweaks & bugfixes.

v5.2 (2007-05-19)

Added context menu when right clicking in Windows Explorer! Added ability to delete files from disk directly from file browser! Added dropdown menu with history on all input boxes! Improved <tag> selection menu. Improved compatability with Windows Vista. Setup should be able to keep all settings between versions from now on. Added some new good looking icons. Fifteen or so bugfixes & tweaks.

v5.11 (2006-12-23)

Fixed three bugs and made the Visual Assist dropdown larger.

v5.1 (2006-12-17)

Added regular expressions!

Undo is now unlimited! Added overwrite mode in Add function! Some new settings. A few tweaks and bugfixes.

v5.06 (2006-11-04)

Now you can load a file list at startup using the command line!

v5.05 (2006-09-19)

Added "running counter" to the "add counter" function! Fixed some tricky bugs.

v5.03 (2006-06-29)

Fixed a tiny bug & tweaked tabstops.

v5.02 (2006-06-03)

Folder brower is now resizable! Fixed some bugs.

v5.01 (2006-05-20)

Fixed a bug when entering registration code. Fixed a rare bug when reading Exif tags.

v5.0 (2006-05-14)

Added Presets! Added filename Editor! XP Theme support & other interface ehancements. Wildcard support in Replace! All <tags> can now be used in all functions that use tags, as well as the Replace, Add & Edit functions. Now supports unlimited number of files & folders. Added tag: Mp3 Bitrate Mode (CBR/VBR). Added FlashRen.ini file with more settings for advanced users. Image format tags now read Tga images. Improved command line support. Added Quickstart window. Many tweaks & bug fixes.

v4.81 (2005-07-11)

A couple of bugs fixed.

v4.8 (2005-04-24)

Added support for reading Exif date & tags in Jpeg files! Added "Source" in the "Set Date" function with 6 different options!

Some tweaks and fixes, as usual.

v4.71 (2005-02-06)

Middle mouse button now triggers manual rename! A few bugfixes and tweaks.

v4.7 (2005-01-25)

Added filter options to "set date". "Set date" can now modify folder dates too (NT systems only). New option in settings window: "Get folder icons too". Default "batch replace" list now contains almost 100 items! Included "invalid_chars.txt" & "time_date_format.txt" for users who want more control. Everything should now work flawless over Windows networks. Optimized file reading routines for faster loading times. Major optimizations to "restore selelection" and "restore order" after renames! Some visual enhancements. About 35 bugs fixed. About 30 other enhancements and tweaks "under the hood".

v4.62 (2004-02-08)

Added Format tag: "Created Date". Added Format tag: "Created Time". Added Format tag: "Accessed Date". Added Format tag: "Accessed Time". Added 7 new ways to "Copy to Clipboard". Included default "batch replace" list. Made some enhancements to the interface. Fixed about 15 bugs.

v4.61 (2003-09-21)

Sequential renaming now accepts negative values. Should look ok now when using "large fonts" in Windows. Fixed a few bugs...

v4.6 (2003-08-03)

Added option to auto-close log window. Added option to disable re-sorting of files after execution. Added support for TIFF, ILBM/IFF, PSD & PSP images in the Format tags. 30 or so bug fixes and smaller changes.

v4.5 (2003-01-27)

Added Batch Replace mode! Added start option to Find & Replace Added count option to Find & Replace Added "Visual Assist" window to make the interface more intuitive! Improved command line support! Added "copy filelist" to popup menu!

Added "select files with/without preview" to popup menu! Added Format tag: First letter in filename Added Format tag: First letter in filename incl. Numbers Added Format tag: First letter in filename inlc. Number Substitute Added option to rename all files if no file is selected when only rename selected is enabled. A lot of bug fixes, nothing serious though...

v4.11 (2002-10-07)

Fixed a crash bug when using treview!

v4.1 (2002-09-21)

Added thumbnail view! Added history dropdown on for path input Added "Select All / None / Invert" to popup menus Added progress indicator when building listview Directories are automatically sorted correctly Selections are now preserved between renames File order is now preserved between renames File listings & renaming can now be cancelled by presing escape Slight changes to crop function to make it more logical Changed Format with Parts to work better for cases near end of filename. Added CTRL+C on listviews to copy filename. Space trimming now works again(!) Fixed some bugs with "only rename selected" Did a lot of tweaking to the interface Fixed many other small bugs

v4.0 (2002-07-21)

Added Listviews! Added Drag & Drop mode! Added Instant Preview! Added "Set Date & Time" funcion (Only files for now) Added "Only process selected" option Added "Enum reset between dirs" option Added Manual rename in listviews Added popup menus to listviews Added Refresh button (Shortcut "F9") Added Parent Dir button (Shortcut "Backspace") Added Mp3 ID3v2 Support! Added Mp3 tag "Layer" (Now separated from "Mpeg") Added Mp3 tag "Normalized Track Number" Added Mp3 tag "Composer" Added Mp3 tag "Original Artist" Added Mp3 tag "Copyright" Added Mp3 tag "Encoded By" Added Mp3 tag "BPM" Added Mp3 tag "Move to Subdir" Added Format tag: "Move to Subdir" Added Format tag: Number of Files in Dir. Added Format tag: Number of Dirs. in Dir.

Added Format tag: Size of Files in Dir. (Auto) Added Format tag: Size of Files in Dir. (Bytes) Added Format tag: Number of Files in Dir. & SubDirs Added Format tag: Number of Dirs. in Dir. & SubDirs Added Format tag: Size of Files in Dir. & SubDirs (Auto) Added Format tag: Size of Files in Dir. & SubDirs (Bytes) Added Format tag: Image/Movie Width Added Format tag: Image/Movie Height Added Format tag: Image/Movie Color Depth (Cols) Added Format tag: Image/Movie Color Depth (Bits) Added Format tag: Movie/Wave Length (Long) Added Format tag: Movie/Wave Length (Short) Added Format tag: Movie Framerate Added Format tag: Movie Bitrate (kBps) Added Format tag: Movie Compression Added Format tag: Movie Has Sound? Added Format tag: Movie/Wave Audio Stereo Mode Added Format tag: Movie/Wave Audio Freq. (Hz) Added Format tag: Movie/Wave Audio Freq. (kHz) Added Format tag: Movie/Wave Audio Bits Added Format tag: Movie/Wave Audio Bitrate (kBps) Added Format tag: Movie/Wave Audio Format Added Format tag: Html Title Added global log file (log.txt) Added Statusbar Added "Startup in last dir" option Added "Uncheck subdirs at startup" option Added "Hide system folders" option Changed installer to Inno Setup Listviews & treeview now shows system icons! Rewritten "Enum" function. Now works inside the main gui! Doubleclick to open files Main window is now resizable Much improved error handling Number normalize will now also strip zeros to reach desired length. Number normalize will now remove all numbers if zero padding is 0. Flash Renamer is now Shareware. Plus hundreds of smaller enhancements and fixes!

v3.02 (2001-08-04)

Oops! Forgot to remove some debug code. Format with Parts should work again!

v3.01 (2001-07-29)

Some bug fixes

v3.0 (2001-07-14)

Added space trimming functions Added file detection function Added advanced free format functions Added enumeration functions

Added normalize numbers function Added position to add/crop Added case convert exceptions Added explorer shell integration Added random options to case convert Added ability to use file patterns Added swap mode to find/replace Added save log feature Added option to show full path in log window Added settings window Added option to always show directories in treeview for easier navigation Added splash screen Added options to choose whether to just rename filename, file extension or both Added counter that shows total number of files & directories renamed with Flash Renamer Added track number & file extension to mp3 rename Now ships with complete installer/uninstaller Re-wrote the find/replace function. Works better and faster now Right click on treeview to copy name to clipboard All commands now available through keyboard (Press F5 to execute) New windows style directory requester New logotype Speeded up simulation mode Small speed enhancements Fixed quite serious (although harmless) bug when renaming dirs. Plus many other bug fixes & interface enhancements... Flash Renamer is now released through RL Vision.

v2.1 (2000-12-30)

Added command line interface! Fixed some bugs.

v2.01 (2000-12-09)

Fixed a couple of minor things.

v2.0 (2000-12-03)

Added "Mp3" tab! Added "Add & Crop" tab! Added manual path input! Wrote this manual. Added "Invert" to convert case tab. All settings are now saved in Windows registry. Complete status is saved in settings. Added skipped items to log. Added minimize button. Slight speed improvement. Some enhancements & bug fixes. Better error handling.

v1.3 (1999-03-21)

Fixed quite serious "Find & Replace" bug! Minor enhancements & bug fixes.

v1.2 (1999-03-15)

Fixed a "case sensitive" bug. Added "No Change" to "Case Convert" tab. Better tabbing through controls. Added ability to process files with "system" attribute set. Added simulation mode.

v1.1 (1999-03-11)

Minor bug fixes. Lots of visual improvements. Small changes to manual.

v1.0 (1999-03-06)

First public release

v0.9 (1999-03-05)

Beta release, friends only

Interface

1 3

4 5
The Flash Renamer interface can be divided into five parts. On the right is the file list (1). On the left you'll find the common options (2), rename settings (3) and the execute buttons (4). Finally there's the status bar (5), stretching across the bottom of the window. Read more about the parts here: 1. File List - Here you see the files and folder that are to be processed by the program. The second column shows a preview of the filename after the current rename options have been applied. Tip: Click with the right mouse button on an item in the file list to show a popup menu with useful options. By default Flash Renamer will sort files based on their filenames. You can click on the column headers above the file lists to sort the files after that column instead. To begin with only three columns are visible, but you can enable additional columns in the settings. Above the file list is a checkbox that allows you to enter thumbnail mode. In thumbnail mode image files will show as a small preview of the image. Most common image formats are supported, including BMP, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, PNG and Photoshop PSD. At the top you see three tabs, "Browser", "Free Select" and "Presets". Browser and Free Select are two different file modes:
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File Browser Mode - This mode will process an entire folder. You can choose to include files, folders & subfolders, by manipulating the checkboxes found in the common options (2).

The base path is entered in the textbox above the file list. Next to the path is the pattern textbox, where you can chose to enter a search pattern. E.g. *.mp3 would only include files with an mp3 extension. Type *.* to includes all files.
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Free Select Mode - This mode allows you to process files from different loations at once. To add file, either:

Drag and drop files from Windows Explorer Click on the "add files" button above the list view Right click on one or more files in "file browser mode", and choose "add to free select" from the popup menu. Create a textfile containing the filenames you wish to import, and start Flash Renamer using the /l switch. Read about command lines for more info.

Preset Manager - The preset manager is also located here. Read more about presets here.

Manual Rename - Press F2 or click with the middle mouse button on an item in the file view to start manual rename. Just like in Windows Explorer you can enter a new name and press enter to rename the file. But Flash Renamer is smarter than Windows! It will figure out where the filename ends and the extension begins, and place the cursor there. And when you press enter to rename the file, Flash Renamer will automatically jump to the next item in the file list! Instant Preview - When instant preview is enabled, the second column in the file list will show a what the filenames looks like after applying the current rename options. This way you can always be sure that the result is what you want, before actually renaming your files! The preview is updated in real time when you change the settings. 2. Common Options - Here you can choose what items to include and how the program should work. Some of these options will be disabled depending on what mode you are currently in.
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Files - Files will be processed. (File browser mode only) Folders - Folders will be processed. (File browser mode only) Subfolders - All files and/or folders underneath the "base path" will be included. A warning here: Listing large folder structures can take a while list, so only use this when you know what you want. (File browser mode only) Process Name - The filename will be included in the rename operation. The filename is everything except the file extension. Process Extension - The file extension will be included in the rename operation. The extension is everything from the last period (".") and to the end of the name. Only Rename Selected - Only the items that are selected will be renamed when this is checked. However, if no items are selected, all items will be renamed. This can be turned off in the settings.

3. Rename Settings - The program follows certain patterns when renaming files. These patterns are set using the tabs in this part of the interface. There are many different tabs with options, each with a unique way of renaming. They are discussed in detail in the "Functions" section of this manual. 4. Execute Buttons
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Rename - This will execute a rename operation with the currently selected options. During this the Log window will be shown, where you can see what is happening. If this button is disabled there is something wrong with the current settings that prevents the program from

executing, e.g. the are no files to rename. Tip: You can also press F5 to rename your files!
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Undo - Each time you press the rename button undo data is saved so you can revert to your old filenames. Undo can step back all renamings made since you started the program (provided that no other program has changed the filenames in between). BUT: Instead of relying on the undo function I recommend that you carefully watch the "preview column" and make sure that you new filenames are ok before you press the rename button. Note: The ID3 Write function and the Un-Tag function do not support undo! About - Shows information about Flash Renamer. Here you can for example see how many files and folders you have renamed! Settings - Opens the Settings window where you can edit the program settings.

5. Status Bar - The status bar shows useful information about the status of the program and the number of files & folders currently included.

Problem: You want to create a list of all the image files in a folder, and also display the width & height properties of the images. Solution: First open the folder in Flash Renamer and use the "Format" function to create a suitable combination, e.g. "<FULLNAME> ( <WIDTH> x <HEIGHT> )". Do not press the Rename button. Instead, right click on the file list, go to "Copy to Clipboard" and choose "All Previews". This will generate a list and put it in the Windows Clipboard, which you can then paste into any text editor or word processor!

Problem: You want to sort your image files according to the date stored in the Exif tag, before using the "Add Counter" function. Solution: Choose the "Format" function and type "<EXIFDATE><EXIFTIME>". Note that the Exif date will now appear in the Preview column, next to the filenames. Above the preview column is the column header (the place where it says "preview"). Click on this header. The files will sort according to the Exif date! Now you can change to the "Add Counter" function and continue working there!

Note: To learn where settings are stored, please read the bottom of this page.

Settings :: General
Shell Integration Shell Integration means that you can access Flash Renamer functions directly from Windows Explorer. When you right click on files or folders you will see a Flash Renamer menu, from which you can quickly access functions or start the program. Very handy!

Do nothing - Turns off the shell integration. Show "Start Flash Renamer" (only folders only) - This will show a single menu item that allows you to start Flash Renamer directly from the selected folder. (This is the "old" shell extenstion option in previous versions of Flash Renamer.) Show Flash Renamer menu - This will show a full menu with all available options. Recommended. Note 1: When using Windows Vista (or NT4/2000/XP with limited access, but not 9x/Me), these options may require privelidges to write to the registry. Guest privelidges will not work. In Vista there is an option to "Run as Administrator" if you right click on application that you can use. Note 2: When using the third option (the full menu), files will be processed in the order that Windows Explorer sends them to Flash Renamer. It is important to understand that a selection of files in Windows Explorer also marks a file as the primary file. The primary file is the file that you

right click on to bring up the menu. This file will alwasy be sent to Flash Renamer first. After this, the rest of the selected files are sent in correct order. I recommend that you always right click on the top-most file to avoid problems with this slightly weird behaviour of Windows Explorer... Privacy

Open last folder at startup - If this is checked, Flash Renamer will at startup automatically go to the last folder you worked in. Clear path history on exit - The path history contains the 20 last visited folder. If you are concerned about privacy you can enable this option. Keep log file - If this is enabled, Flash Renamer will write down all filename changes to a log file.

Misc.

Warn about chaning file extensions. - Since changing the file extension may cause files to not open correctly, Flash Renamer normally gives a warning when you attempt to do this. If you do not know what a file extension is, I do not recommend turning this option off, nor changing any file extensions! Rename all if nothing is selected when 'only rename selected' is on. - If 'only rename selected' is on and no files are selected, all files will be renamed anyway if this is on. Having both these options turned on is the most intuitive way of working.

Settings :: Interface 1
File List

Show Guidelines - Guidelines helps you see the list content more clearly. Full Row Select - Normally you must click on the filename to select it. This option allows you to click anywhere on the row to select the file. Draw gray background on every other row - Makes it easier to follow the list rows across the screen. Columns - Here you can enable addition columns if you want more information about your files. By default the three columns "Filename", "Preview" and "Path" are on.

Misc.

Keep file order after execution - If you want the program to remember the order of the files after execution you can mark this option. Note that this can be quite slow if you have more that a couple of hundred files. If you don't move any files around the program will however not try to re-order them, so normally you can have this option turned on without any slowdowns. Always show folder icons - Checking this option will allow you to navigate your harddrive using the listview even if folders are not selected to be processed. Only works in file browser mode.

Settings :: Interface 2

System Icons & Thumbnails

Enable system icons & thumbnails - Each registered filetype in Windows has an icon associated with it. Flash Renamer can read this icon and show it in the file lists, making it look just like Windows Explorer. It can also read images and show them as thumbnails. If you uncheck this options, a default icon will be used instead. There are two reasons why you would want to do this: 1) To speed up folder listings. 2) Each unique icon & thumbnail loaded into Flash Renamer takes up system resources. In Windows 95/98 & Me, system resources are limited. If your system resources are very low, you should turn system icons off. In Windows NT/2000/XP this limitation does not exists. Read folder icons - Like files, folders can also have different icons. But where files with the same extension will share the same icon image, each folder is unique and will have it's own icon. The memory where Flash Renamer stores the icons and thumbnails is limited, and when working with many folders this memory can sometimes be filled up. Disabling this option will reduces the risk of running out of image memory & system resources when having lots of folders, and also make the folder listing go a little bit faster. Add black border to thumbnails - This option adds a nice looking black border to each thumbnail. Thumbnail Size - Choose desired size to be used for displaying thumbnails.

Rename Window

Show log - If you don't want to see the list of files that are renamed, uncheck this box. Show full path in log - This can be useful if you are saving the log and want to know exactly what happened. Note: The global log always stores full paths. Automaticall close log window after execution - If you think it's annoying to have to close the log window by hand after each execution you can mark this option and the program will do it for you! Don't close if an error occured - To make sure that you don't miss when error occur, enable this.

Settings :: File System

Pattern Mask

Apply to Files / Folders - With the pattern mask you can decide which files and folders to process. For example *.jpg will only process files with an jpg extension. The default *.* will processes all files. Here in the settings window you can choose if the pattern should affect files or folders, or both. Note: You edit the pattern mask itself in the main window at the top right, next to the path.

Reset to *.* at startup - The file patters determines what kind of files are to be listed. Usually it is set to *.* which lists all files, but sometimes you may want to change it to e.g. *.jpg or similar. It is a common mistake to forget resetting it afterwards, and when you start it up again you can't figure out why Flash Renamer is not listing all files. This options fixes that problem for you!

File Attributes Here you can choose if Flash Renamer should include files & folders with certain attributes set, when using file browser mode. By defualt, Flash Renamer will include write protected files & folders, but not System or Hidden. Misc.

Hide System Folders - This option will prevent Flash Renamer to work on certain folders, such as the windows folder (eg "c:\windows") or your program folder (eg "c:\program files"). You should not use Flash Renamer on your system folders unless you know exactly what you are doing. Uncheck "Subfolders" at startup - Listing subfolders can be very slow, due to the large amount of files they can contain. This security option will always turn off the subfolder feature, thus reducing the risk of painfully long startup times.

Settings :: Casing Exceptions

Exceptions are words that should always be spelled with a certain case. This is typically used for abbreviations, such a DJ and CD. Also roman numbers, eg III should always be spelled with large letters. Here you can create a list of such words. The list is used by the Casing function.

Settings :: Batch Replace

Batch replace works the same way as Find & Replace, but you can run several replaces in one go! From the settings window you can manage the list of replace commands, by adding, deleting or editing the commands. You can also move them up of down in the list, which can be useful if you want certain commands to be executed before others. The batch replace is executed from the first item and them stepping down in the list.

Format Tags
Many functions in Flash Renamer support format tags. A format tag is a special word that tells Flash Renamer to replace it with something else, usually related to the file currently being processed. Here is an example: The size of this file is <size>. Here, <size> is the tag. When running this in Flash Renamer it will become something like this: The size of this file is 5MB. As you can see, <size> has been replaced with the actual size of the file! Tags are always enclosed in < and >. You can see where you are allowed to use tags by looking for a small button with an arrow (4). Click on the button to open up a menu with all the available tags:

Configuring Tags Some tags have settings. The settings are configured on specific function tabs as noted below. These setting will then affect the tags in a global manner.

Mp3: All mp3-related tags obey the rules on the Mp3 function tab. Counter: The <counter> tag is configured ionn the Counter function tab. Format Parts: The part tags (for example <%1>) are defined on the Format function tab. All tags also obey the checkbox on the Format tab that says Only rename if all tags are available. The only exception to this are the mp3-related tags, since they have an identical checkbox on the mp3 function tab.

Notes

Some tags handle dates. If you want to have full control of dates you should read this page.

Tags that read image data support the following image formats: BMP, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, PNG, PSD, PSP, AGP, ILBM/IFF, TGA & PCX. Tags that read movie data support the following movie formats: AVI and MPEG. Exif tags are used by most digital cameras to supply useful information about the images. The tag is stored inside each jpeg image and contains a variety of fields. Some Exif fields return formatted text. If you are unhappy with the returned text it is possible to modify the return values by editing the file exif.ini, located in the Flash Renamer program folder. Exif tags support only jpeg images. Tiff image tags, MakerNotes & GPS tags are currently not supported.

Add Counter

This function will add a number sequence to your filenames. The first file will get the initial number and then this number is increased for each file. You can drag files up and down in the listview to change the file order and thus the enumeration index for the file.

Format - You can freely choose how the number sequence should be added to your files. By adding "tags" and separators you can edit how the final names should look like. For example, <COUNTER>_<FULLNAME> will add the number first, then a "_" and finally the original filename. The outcome could look like this: 001_firstfile.ext 002_secondfile.ext 003_thirdfile.ext Further reading: How to use format tags

Start Value - Select the initial value that the sequence will have. Usually 0 or 1.
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Running counter - If you enable this the start value will automatically be updated after each rename operation. The new value will be the number that would have been next in line if the counter had continued the renaming process. This is useful when e.g. handling large catalogs of files that you rename in different sessions. Reset each folder - The number sequence will restart from the "start value" each time the folder changes during a rename operation.

Step - Usually each number in the sequence is increased by 1, but this can be changed by modofying this value. Zero Padding - It can often be useful to add zeros to the beginning of the numbers. For example this will make the numbers sort correctly when viewing in lists (such as Windows Explorer). The number you enter here is the number of digits you want the final numbers to have. For example 3

digits would result in "001", "010" and "100". Set zero padding to 0 if you don't want any zeros.
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Auto - This will cause the program to automatically add the necessary amount of zeros to the numbers. I recommend using this.

Problem: You have a music album on your harddrive, but the filenames are missing track numbers and are thus unsorted. You want to display them in the correct order when viewing in Windows Explorer. Solution: Use the Add Counter function to add numbers to the beginning of the filenames. A typical format would be <COUNTER> - <FULLNAME>. Select "Auto Zero Padding" to make the filenames sort better.

Add & Remove

The Add & Remove function allows you to either add certain strings to filenames or delete a number of characters from filenames.

Add Textbox - Enter the string you wish to add to the filenames. You are allowed to use <tags> here. Remove Textbox - Enter the number of characters you wish to remove from the filenames. Beginning / End - Select if "Add" respectively "Remove" should work from the beginning or the end of the filename. Pos - Enter the position from which the "Add" or "Remove" operation should begin. Use this together with the Beginning/End switch to gain full control of the operation! Position 0 indicates the very beginning/end of the filename. Tip: Press the button with an eye icon (or use the shortcut F3) to open the Visual Assist window that allows you to visually set the position and length of the add or remove function!

Hint: You can use the "Process Name" and "Process Extension" (above the rename options) to you advantage here. For example add "Name" to the end of "File.Ext". Here the ending of the filename would change depending on if the "Process Extension" was used or not. The result would be either "FileName.Ext" or "File.ExtName".

Problem: You have a folder full of files to burn to a CD. If the filenames are too long the CDBurner program will shorten them to fit on the CD, so you want to make sure that all filenames are within the legal length. Solution: The allowed length of the filenames depends on the file-format of the CD. A common limit is 64 character. This includes the file extension. Using Flash Renamer you can easily check your filenames before burning! Begin by unchecking "Process Extension" from the common options at the top. Next choose the "Remove" function and set it to "Remove 999 chars at Pos 60 from The Beginning of the filename". Now something interesting happens! The preview view will begin to show only files that have names that are too long. This makes it really easy to find and correct the filenames! The best way is to work your way through the preview field, manually renaming the files. Once they disappear from the preview list, they are safe to burn! Hints: To manually rename files press F2! The above example assumes that the length of the filename extension is 3. If your files have longer or shorter extensions you will have to compensate for this.

Cave Convert

This function allows you to change casing (large or small) of the letters within filenames.

Casing or Filename - The settings here only affects the filename. Casing or File Extension - The settings here only affects the file extension, ie everything after the last period sign (.) Exceptions - Exceptions are words that should always be spelled with a certain case. This is typically used for abbreviations, such a DJ and CD. Also Roman numbers, eg III should always be spelled with large letters. Click on the button to edit the list of exceptions.

Hint! The list of exceptions can be found in the file exceptions.txtin the Flash Renamer settings folder.

Filename Editor

The filename editor contains a simple text editor that allows you to manually type in your new filenames. The first line in the text editor corresponds to the first file in your list, and so on. Besides text you can also enter <tags> here.

Problem: You have a document, or found a web page the contains the names you want your files to have. Solution: Copy the new names to the clipboard and then paste it in to the filename editor!

Note: The content of the text editor is saved in the file edit.txt located in the Flash Renamer settings folder.

Detect Filetype

Format Detection will read inside the files to try and figure out what kind of file it is. If a file is recognized the correct file extension will be added to the filename. This can be useful if you e.g. download a file with an incorrect or non-existing file extension, or if you somehow have deleted the extension from your filenames. Currently Flash Renamer correctly identifies 30 file formats: ZIP, GIF, EXE, JPG, HTML, MP3, BMP, TIF, PSD, RAR, ARJ, PSP, 7Z, FLV, MID, AGP, PNG, ASF, CAB, AI, SWF, MPG, LZH, MOV, IFF, AVI, WAV, ACE, EMF & TGA!

Keep Old Extension - If the filename already contain a file extension it will be kept and the new extension will be added after it. Otherwise the old extension will be replace with the new one. Advanced Detection - If the normal detection should fail, Flash Renamer can try to detect some types using special routines:
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Text/Html - Detecting text will scan the first 64 bytes of the file, and if they are all readable it will be assumed that it is a text file. Note that many non text files, such as configuration files, actually contain readable text and will be renamed using this. Detecting Html is similar to text, but instead searches for <HTML inside the first 64 bytes. Mp3 - Detecting Mp3 will try to find an Mp3 frame inside the file. If one is found it will locate the next frame to verify that the file actually contains Mp3 data. This will identify 99.9% of all Mp3 files, but sometimes other files are identifies as Mp3 as well. Don't use this unless you suspect the files contain Mp3 music.

For Advanced Users: The recognized file formats are stored in a file called "filetypes.txt" and can be found in the Flash Renamer settings folder. You can add file types by yourself, instructions are found in the file. If you should mess things up, simply delete the file and it will be automatically recreated the next time you start the program. If you add useful file types please send them to me and I will add them to the next release!

Find & Replace

The Replace function allows you to look for a certain string within filenames and replace it with another string.

Look For - Enter the string you wish to search for. The following wildcards are allowed:
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Matches zero or more characters: * Matches one or more characters: : Matches exactly one character: ?

Hint: Press the button with an eye icon (or hit F3) to open the Visual Assist window that allows you to visually select the text you want to find!

Replace With - If the search string is found, it will be replaced with this string. You are allowed to enter <tags> here too! Hint: Leave this box empty to delete the search string!.

Case Sensitive - If you want an exact match, check this one. Otherwise, for example "Flash" and "flash" will be interpreted as the same word. Use this if you for example want to change the character case within a single word. Swap Mode - Swap mode is a special case where, in addition to "Look" being replaced by "Replace", "Replace" is also replaced by "Look". In other words, the two search strings will be swapped. Note: Swap mode will be ignored if wildcards are used in the find box, since it is not logically possible to conbine the both. Start - The value you enter here determines the starting position for the replace operation within the filename. Count - You can limit the number of replaces to perform within each filename by entering a value

here. Enter 0 for unlimited.

Regular Expression - Enable this to turn on regular expressions in the find box (instead of just simple wildcards). RegExp is an advanced method for finding patterns in text. You can think of it like wildcards on steroids. For a reference on how to use regular expression in Flash Renamer, please read this page. RegExp in Flash Renamer supports capturing patterns. You can then use the captured patterns in the replace box by entering $1-$9. Here is an example:
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Find: (don)[ `]?(t)

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Replace: $1'$2

This example is taken from the default batch replace list included in Flash Renamer It will match all of these: "dont" "don t" "don`t" "dont", plus different caption variations, and replace it with "don't" in the same caption as the original! Although regular expressions look intimidating, they are actually quite easy to construct if you have a basic sense for logic. Take it easy and build them step by step. Remember that regexp are extremely logical, and if you don't get the result you expect you have probably made a mistake.

Problem: All your filenames have underscore "_" instead of spaces! Solution: Use the Replace function and enter "_" in the search box and " " (space) in the replace box to tidy up your filenames! (Note: Do not type the " characters.)

Batch Replace

With Batch Replace you can run several Replace commands in one go! Use this for replace operations that you perform all the time. You can modify the list of replace commands from the Settings window. You can also add the current Replace function settings to the list by pressing the button with an exclamation mark! Note: By default the batch replace list is loaded with words that often need to be corrected! It is recommended that you go through the list before using this function, so you know what words are included.

Problem: You want to replace "Im" with "I'm", but not if it is part of another word, e.g. "Swimming". Solution: Add a space " " before and after both words, like this: " Im " and " I'm ".

Format

Format Filename is an advanced function that can extract information from files/filenames and then rename them using a user defined pattern where this information is used.

Format - Here you edit the look of the new filenames by adding <tags>. The tags will be replaced by unique information for each file when renaming. Click on the button to the left of the input field to view and add tags. Further reading: How to use format tags Define Parts Here you can show Flash Renamer how your filenames are structured. This is done by separating the different parts with certain characters. You can then use these parts in the format input field and eg rearrange the filename. Here is an example:
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Original Filename: 01. Metallica (S&M) Nothing Else Matters Define Parts: <%1>. <%2> (<%3>) <%4> Format Filename: <%2> - <%4> Filename After Renaming: Metallica - Nothing Else Matters

Note: If you don't use any part tag in the Format text field (or somewhere else), define parts will not do anything. Note: "Process Name" and "Process Extension" apply to Define Parts, but not to other Format tags. Note: "Define Parts" is not case sensitive by default. (This can be changed by editing FlashRen.

ini).

Only rename if all tag are available - The program will not rename files unless all used tags contain valid data.

Problem: Your webcamera takes a picture every few minutes that is stored in a subfolder and named 0001.jpg, then 0002.jpg and so on. The subfolder itself is named after the current date. Each day the webcamera will create a new subfolder to store the images, and at the same time it will begin with 0001.jpg again: May10 0001.jpg 0001.jpg 0002.jpg 0002.jpg 0003.jpg 0003.jpg ... ... Now you want to have all image in one single folder. But since the filenames in each subfolder is the same, this is not possible! Solution: Use "Format Filename" to add the subfolders name to the filenames. The format string could be <PARENT>_<FULLNAME>. Now the files will have unique names and you can store them all in one folder: May09_0001.jpg May09_0002.jpg May09_0003.jpg May10_0001.jpg May10_0002.jpg May10_0003.jpg ... May09

Mp3 Tagger
ID3 tags are metadata inside Mp3 music files that contain information about the artist, song, album etc. It is the recommended way to store this kind of information, since it is more "durable" that for example the filename. Most mp3-software & hardware use the ID3 tags for displaying song information. There are two versions of the tag, and Flash Renamer can write them both: ID3v1 The original ID3 tag is very simple and can only hold 32 characters per field, making it hard to fit all wanted information. On the plus side is that it is small and has great software support. ID3v2 Version two is a major update that has more fields and contains no size limits. It is however slower and more bulky to use, and software support is not as good as for v1. Choosing fields Next to each ID3 field (e.g. "Artist") you will see a checkbox. If you do not enable this, the field will not be written and the current value (assuming there is one) will be left intact.

How do I write the tags based on the filenames? Assume that your mp3s have their filenames structured like this: artist - album - title. Now, go to the format functiontab and find define parts. Enter this: <%1> - <%2> - <%3>. This means that the <%>tags will be "loaded" with different parts of the filename. Now you can simply use these tags a input in the Mp3 tagger function!

Important! This function does not have any undo!

Mp3 Renaming

The Mp3 function allows you to extract information from Mp3 files and rename the file according to a user defined pattern. The information is based on the ID3 tag contain within many Mp3 files. Also you can extract some information about the structure of the Mp3 file, such as the bitrate.

Format - Here you choose how the filename will be constructed. A pattern is built up using <tags> and combining them with other characters. The tags are then replaced with information extracted from the Mp3 file. By clicking on the button to the right of the textbox, you will see a list of all tags. Click on one to add it to your pattern. Further reading: How to use format tags

Add .mp3 to end of filename - Check this to automatically add .mp3 to the final filename. You could also choose to write it manually in your pattern. Only rename if all used tags are available - If a tag you have defined in your pattern does not exist within a file, the renaming will be cancelled when this is checked. But if you un-check this box the renaming will continue, and the missing tag will be replaced by for example "Unknown Artist". Note that not all Mp3 files have an ID3 tag! Use ID3v2 if available - There are two versions of the ID3 tag. The first version is limited to 32 characters per field, which is sometimes not enough. Version two removes this limit, and also adds new fields. ID3v1 is still the most commonly used tag, although ID3v2 is increasing in popularity. By marking this checkbox, you tell Flash Renamer to always use the ID3v2 field if it can be found within the file.

Problem: You have a large music collection and want to organize it. Solution: By using the SubFolder <\>tag you can move your files into subfolders named after different properties of the file. Put all your Mp3's in one folder and enter this Mp3 format string: <ARTIST><\><ALBUM><\><TITLE> Now all your will end up in nicely organized folders, sorted by artist and album name. Or try entering <GENRE><\><FULLNAME> to sort your music according to their genre. You decide! Note: For this to work it requires all your files to have valid ID3 tags.

Presets

A Preset is a collection of rename functions that are grouped together and can be executed in one go. This allows you save time by placing common rename tasks into presets and then easily run them whenever you need to! For example, say that you always rename your new files in a certain way: First you remove underscores and replace with spaces. Then you set the casing of the files. Finally you remove the write protected attributes. This requires you to perform three different tasks. With the preset system you can gather these three tasks into one Preset, and then run the preset instead! The preset system is divided into two parts, Manage & Run: Preset Manager The Preset Manager is located at a tab in the top right corner of the program, next to the "Browser" and "Free Select" tabs. This is where you add, delete and modify your presets. Press the "New" button to create a new, empty preset. To add a rename function, do like you would have normally done when you use the function (select the function's tab and make the settings). When you are done (this is where you normally would have pressed the rename button) press the "Add" button to add the function to your preset! Repeat this for all functions you wish to add to the preset. Since the rename commands in a Preset is executed from top to bottom, the order in which they appear can be important. Use the "Up" and "Down" buttons to move rename commands. Run Preset Now that you have a preset it is time to execute it. Among the rename functions (the tabs to the left) you will find a "Preset" tab. On this tab simply select the preset you want to run and press the rename button! All the functions stored in your preset will be executed in a single run!

Shell Extension The preset system is also used in the shell extension system. When you right click on one or more files in Windows Explorer, a Flash Renamer menu will appear. From here you can choose to rename the selected files using one of your presets. This is a fast and convinient way to rename your files without having to manually start Flash Renamer each time you need to rename some files!

Re-Number
The renumber function can pinpoint numbers inside your filenames and process them in ways that are not possible with other functions. It is very intuitive to use. First you select which numbers to include. Then you can optionally limit the numbers within a certain range, for example 0 to 100. Finally you select what to do with the number. You can replace it with something else, insert string before and after and even perform mathematical operations on the numbers! Tip: To remove a number, simple choose "replace with" and leave the input field empty!

Set Attributes

The Set Attributes function allows you to change the attributes of files and folders. To keep the current attributes, set the checkboxes to gray (shows in XP as a 'full' box) for the attribute you don't want to change.

Write Protected - Indicates that the file may not be changed. (Note however that this is not 100% secure, as individual software may ignore this and simply remove the write protection before modifying to the file.) Hidden - Indicates that the file is to be treated as hidden. Programs like Windows Explorer do not show these files unless you change the default settings. System - Indicates that the file is part of the operating system and should not be modified by users. Archive - Indicates that the file has been changed since the last backup was performed and thus is scheduled to be included in the next one. Backup software will reset this attribute after a successful backup. If a file is modified this attribute is automatically set.

Problem: You just copied files from a CD to your harddrive. Since the CD is read only, all files have the write protected attribute set, making it impossible to work with the files. Solution: Using the "Set Attributes" function, simply uncheck the write protected checkbox. Leave all other checkboxes gray so you don't change them.

Set Date

Here you can change the date and time of files and folders. Each file & folder contains three dates: created, last modified & last accessed. All three can be changed using this function.

Source - Here you select from where to obtain the new date & time:
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Enter below - This is the default mode. Simply enter the desired new date & time in the input boxes underneath the source dropdown list. Get from Exif tag - Most jpeg images taken with digital cameras have an Exif tag with useful information about the image. Flash Renamer can extract the date contained in this tag and use it to set the date & time of the file. Use created date - This will use each files' created date & time as source. Use accessed date - This will use each files' accessed date & time as source. Use modified date - This will use each files' modified date & time as source. Start of rename - The source date & time will be when the rename button was pressed.

Change - The filter section allows you to choose what dates you want to modify:
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Created / Accessed / Modifed - Each file and folder keeps track of three different dates. These checkboxes allow you to choose which ones to modify. Year / Month / Day / Hour / Minute / Second - These filters allow you to choose exactly what parts of each date to change. You can for example choose to only change the hour, and leave the rest unchanged.

Note: The date format displayed depends on your system settings. Note: Setting the last accessed time is only supported on NTFS filesystems. FAT/FAT32 does not

keep track of last accessed time, only last accessed date. Note: Changing the time and date of folders is only supported on NT systems (NT/2000/XP and above). Note: Please be aware that the Windows filesystem has limitations when it comes file dates. Currently the dates are limited to be in between January 1st 1980 to December 31st 2099. If you try to set the date outside these limits, an error will occur. (Since this limit lies within the filesystem, it is possible that other filesystems allow dates outside this limit, although this has not been tested with Flash Renamer in any way.)

Problem: After editing your digital camera pictures with your image editor, the modified date of the files has been changed, and now the picture won't sort correctly. Solution: Use the "Set Date" function and have "Exif Date" as source. Uncheck "created" and "accessed" so that only the "modified" date is changed. Problem, continued: Unfortunately the digital camera was not correctly configured, and the date stored in the Exif tag did not have the correct year. All other dates where luckily correct though. Solution: Use the "Set Date" function again, and this time manually set the correct year using the input boxes below "Source". Uncheck all filters, except for "Year" and "Modified".

Scripting
Scripting is form of programming that allows you to extend Flash Renamer and give it new functions! It is not particular hard, but it requires some basic knowledge of computer programming. Scripts are simple textfiles with the file extension frs (Flash Renamer Script). All scripts must be put in the Script folder inside the settings folder. To begin making your own script, I recommend that you have a look at the example distributed with Flash Renamer, called Example - Base for New Script.frs.

If you create a useful script, send it to me and I might include it in the next version of Flash Renamer!

Flash Renamer use the Windows Script Host, which means that it can use any scripting language you have installed on your system. The default is VBScript. To use another language you must enter its name on the first line inside the script (see the example scripts). Functions When executing, Flash Renamer will call the following functions inside your script.

Init()

(Optional) The Init function runs first of all, before anything else. If you return anything from this function it will be printed to the log window.

Rename()

Flash Renamer will call this function for each file to rename. Return the desired new filename! Return an empty string to skip renaming the file.

Done()

(Optional) When all files have been renamed this function is called. If you return anything from this function it will be printed to the log window. Exposed variables & functions Flash Renamer exposes parameters and functions though the read-only object FlashRenamer. The following are available at the moment:

FlashRenamer.Filename

This is the string that Flash Renamer wants you to process. Note that it depends on the "Process Name" and "Process Extension" settings in Flash Renamer.

FlashRenamer.FullFilename

This always contains the full filename, including extension, in contrast to the above. Use it for reference.

FlashRenamer.Path

This is simply the path where the file is located.

FlashRenamer.Args

The arguments you can enter when you run a script in Flash Renamer are delivered through this variable.

FlashRenamer.FormatTags(myTag)

This is a function you can call to "render" a format string, just like format strings in Flash Renamer. For example, FlashRenamer.FormatTags("<size>") will return the size of the file!

FlashRenamer.Preview

This is a boolean value (true or false) that tells you if your script is being run to generate the preview or if it is the "real deal".

FlashRenamer.DiskName

When running presets, multiple functions process the filename before writing it to disk. Since the filename may have been changed previous to entering your script, you should use .DiskName if you want to access the file on disk.

FlashRenamer.NumItems

This always contains to total amount of files that are destined to be renamed

FlashRenamer.ItemOrder

This contains a zero padded id repressenting the order in which the current item is located, relative to the rest of the items being renamed.

FlashRenamer.BrowserPath

This contains the path that is currently loaded in the file browser in Flash Renamer. If using free select mode, this is empty. Notes

The second line of a scripting file may contain a short description of the script that will be displayed in Flash Renamer. You can't assume that you get the files in correct order when renaming. A way around this is to use the ItemOrder property (See the included script Create mp3 playlist for an example). Another way is to use the <counter> tag in a smart way.

Space Trimming

Space Trimming will remove unwanted spaces from you filename. There are three options:

Remove leading spaces - Removes spaces before the first character in the filename. Remove trailing spaces - Removes spaces after the last character in the filename. Shrink multiple spaces into one - If several spaces are found next to each other they will be replaced by a single one.

Tag Cleaner
This function removes metadata tags from inside files. Mp3 tags Mp3 tags usually contain information about the artist and song. You may want to remove it if it for example contains garbage data that messes up your mp3-player display. And if you are about to write new tags, it may be a good idea to remove the old ones first. Jpeg tags These tags are written to the files by digital cameras and photo editing software. Although mostly a useful compliment to the picture, there are many reasons why you would want to remove these tags to protect your privacy before publishing an image on the Internet. Read here for an in-depth article.

Important! This function does not have any undo!

Zero Padding

This function will add zeros to the beginning of any number found in the filename.

Zero Padding - The number you enter here is the number of digits all number found will have after the rename operation. Zeros will be used to fill the missing digits.

Problem: You have a folder filled with a sequence of files that all contain a number. The problem is that the files will not sort correctly in your file viewer: 1 10 2 Solution: Using the "Zero Pad Numbers" function will add zeros to the beginning of the numbers. This will allow the files to sort correctly when viewing in lists: 01 02 10

Tips & Tricks

On this page I have collected useful information that will help you become a master at using Flash Renamer!

Manual Rename (F2) Batch renaming in all its glory, but sometimes you just need to do it by hand to get the result you want. But Flash Renamer is still your best friend! Mark a file and press F2 to start manual rename. Enter the new name and press Enter. Now Flash Renamer will automatically jump to the next file and let you rename that too!

Automating batch renaming If you tend to do the same kind of renaming over and over again, then you should have a look at the following functions to make life a bit easier:

Presets allow you to save several rename command into one single command! Don't forget to store your common Find & Replace commands in the Batch Replace function! By using Regular Expressions you can greatly enhance the power of your Find & Replace commands!

Asking for user input <ask>is a special tag that is replaced at runtime by a string that the user gets to enter each time. This way you can create general functions that adapt to the situation. A good example is the included presets called Add prefix to filename. It it simply the Add functionthat adds <ask>to the beginning of the filename!

Custom file order sorting If you want to sort you files in a special way, then you might be able to use the preview column to your advantage. For example: Choose the Formatfunction and type <EXIFDATE><EXIFTIME>. Now the Exif date will appear in the preview column. Above the preview column is the column header (the place where it says "preview"). Click on this header. The files will sort according to the Exif date!

More fun with the preview column As mentioned in the above tip, the preview columns can be used to display all kinds of information. If you right click on the file list you will get a popup menu, and there you can choose to copy the preview to the Windows clipboard. Now you can use this information in any other program you like, or paste it into Notepad and save it as a text file!

How long are my filenames? You can figure out how long your filenames are by using the Removefunction. This can be useful

if you have a limit on how long they can be, for example when burning Cd's. Set the function to remove 999 chars at pos NN from The beginning of the filename, where NN is the number of letters you have set as maximum. Make sure that both "process filename" and "process extension" are enabled. Now look at the preview column. Any file being listed there is longer than NN!

Easy music album track names Amazon, Wikipedia and other sites can be a great place to find titles for the tracks on your music albums. If you have all the tracks from an album, but the filenames are bad, simply look up the album on a site and copy the track names to the clipboard. Now start Flash Renamer and paste the names into the filename editorand rename your music!

Move your files! Did you know that Flash Renamer has some limited file moving capabilities? Here's how: Use the formatfunction and add the tag <\>. It can be used several times, and each time it will move the file into a sub-folder. Example: <ARTIST><\>will move each mp3 into a sub-folder named after the artist!

Windows Explorer right click menu does not load files in the correct order! When you right click on files in Windows Explorer to send them to Flash Renamer, the files arrive in the order that Explorer sends them in. A problem is that Explorer will always send all files in the order shown, except for the first file! The first file will instead be the file that you right clicked on. There is not much Flash Renamer can do about this, but here is a tip on how to avoid this problem: After you have selected files in Windows Explorer, alwaysright click on the first file! This will make sure that the files are processed in the correct order. This is a good habit to learn, since it applies to all programs, not just Flash Renamer!

Regular Expressions
The Find & Replace function in Flash Renamer supports Regular Expressions, which is an advanced method for finding patterns in text. You can think of it like wildcards on steroids. Although regular expressions look intimidating, they are actually quite easy to construct if you have a basic sense for logic. Take it easy and build them step by step. Remember that regular expressions are extremely logical, and if you don't get the result you expect you have probably made a mistake.

Examples
A regular expression is a pattern of text that consists of ordinary characters (for example, letters a through z) and special characters, known as metacharacters. The pattern describes one or more strings to match when searching a body of text. Here are some some example Regular Expressions:

Matches an HTML tag: <(.*)>.*<\/\1>

Matches a complete line containing either "one", "two" or "three": ^.*(one|two|three).*$

Matches most email addresses: .+@[^\.].+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,7}

Matches a date in the format yyyy-mm-dd, in between 1900-01-01 and 2099-12-31, with a choice of three separators (-/.): (19|20)\d\d[-/.](0[1-9]|1[012])[-/.](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])

Capturing Patterns
RegExp in Flash Renamer supports capturing patterns. You can then use the captured patterns in the replace box by entering $1-$9. Here is an example:

Find: (don)[ `]?(t) Replace: $1'$2

This example is taken from the default batch replace list included in Flash Renamer It will match all of these: "dont" "don t" "don`t" "dont", plus different caption variations, and replace it with "don't" in the same caption as the original!

Reference

The following table contains the complete list of metacharacters and their behavior in the context of regular expressions: Character Description Marks the next character as either a special character, a literal, a backreference, or an octal escape. For example, 'n' matches the character "n". '\n' matches a newline character. The sequence '\\' matches "\" and "\(" matches "(". Matches the position at the beginning of the input string. Matches the position at the end of the input string. Matches the preceding subexpression zero or more times. For example, zo* matches "z" and "zoo". * is equivalent to {0,}. Matches the preceding subexpression one or more times. For example, 'zo+' matches "zo" and "zoo", but not "z". + is equivalent to {1,}. Matches the preceding subexpression zero or one time. For example, "do(es)?" matches the "do" in "do" or "does". ? is equivalent to {0,1} n is a nonnegative integer. Matches exactly n times. For example, 'o {2}' does not match the 'o' in "Bob," but matches the two o's in "food". n is a nonnegative integer. Matches at least n times. For example, 'o {2,}' does not match the "o" in "Bob" and matches all the o's in "foooood". 'o{1,}' is equivalent to 'o+'. 'o{0,}' is equivalent to 'o*'. m and n are nonnegative integers, where n <= m. Matches at least n and at most m times. For example, "o{1,3}" matches the first three o's in "fooooood". 'o{0,1}' is equivalent to 'o?'. Note that you cannot put a space between the comma and the numbers. When this character immediately follows any of the other quantifiers (*, +, ?, {n}, {n,}, {n,m}), the matching pattern is non-greedy. A nongreedy pattern matches as little of the searched string as possible, whereas the default greedy pattern matches as much of the searched string as possible. For example, in the string "oooo", 'o+?' matches a single "o", while 'o+' matches all 'o's. Matches any single character except "\n". To match any character including the '\n', use a pattern such as '[.\n]'. Matches pattern and captures the match for later use in a back reference. Matches pattern but does not capture the match, that is, it is a noncapturing match that is not stored for possible later use. This is useful for combining parts of a pattern with the "or" character (|). For example, 'industr(?:y|ies) is a more economical expression than 'industry|industries'.

^ $ * + ? {n}

{n,}

{n,m}

. (pattern)

(?:pattern)

Positive lookahead matches the search string at any point where a string matching pattern begins. This is a non-capturing match, that is, the match is not captured for possible later use. For example 'Windows (?=95|98|NT|2000)' matches "Windows" in "Windows 2000" but not (?=pattern) "Windows" in "Windows 3.1". Lookaheads do not consume characters, that is, after a match occurs, the search for the next match begins immediately following the last match, not after the characters that comprised the lookahead. Negative lookahead matches the search string at any point where a string not matching pattern begins. This is a non-capturing match, that is, the match is not captured for possible later use. For example 'Windows (?!95|98|NT|2000)' matches "Windows" in "Windows 3.1" but does not match "Windows" in "Windows 2000". Lookaheads do not consume characters, that is, after a match occurs, the search for the next match begins immediately following the last match, not after the characters that comprised the lookahead. Matches either x or y. For example, 'z|food' matches "z" or "food". '(z|f) ood' matches "zood" or "food". A character set. Matches any one of the enclosed characters. For example, '[abc]' matches the 'a' in "plain". A negative character set. Matches any character not enclosed. For example, '[^abc]' matches the 'p' in "plain". A range of characters. Matches any character in the specified range. For example, '[a-z]' matches any lowercase alphabetic character in the range 'a' through 'z'. A negative range characters. Matches any character not in the specified range. For example, '[^a-z]' matches any character not in the range 'a' through 'z'. Matches a word boundary, that is, the position between a word and a space. For example, 'er\b' matches the 'er' in "never" but not the 'er' in "verb". Matches a nonword boundary. 'er\B' matches the 'er' in "verb" but not the 'er' in "never". Matches the control character indicated by x. For example, \cM matches a Control-M or carriage return character. The value of x must be in the range of A-Z or a-z. If not, c is assumed to be a literal 'c' character. Matches a digit character. Equivalent to [0-9]. Matches a nondigit character. Equivalent to [^0-9]. Matches a form-feed character. Equivalent to \x0c and \cL. Matches a newline character. Equivalent to \x0a and \cJ. Matches a carriage return character. Equivalent to \x0d and \cM. Matches any whitespace character including space, tab, form-feed, etc. Equivalent to [ \f\n\r\t\v].

(?!pattern)

x|y [xyz] [^xyz]

[a-z]

[^a-z]

\b

\B

\cx

\d \D \f \n \r \s

\S \t \v \w \W

Matches any non-white space character. Equivalent to [^ \f\n\r\t\v]. Matches a tab character. Equivalent to \x09 and \cI. Matches a vertical tab character. Equivalent to \x0b and \cK. Matches any word character including underscore. Equivalent to '[AZa-z0-9_]'. Matches any nonword character. Equivalent to '[^A-Za-z0-9_]'. Matches n, where n is a hexadecimal escape value. Hexadecimal escape values must be exactly two digits long. For example, '\x41' matches "A". '\x041' is equivalent to '\x04' & "1". Allows ASCII codes to be used in regular expressions. Matches num, where num is a positive integer. A reference back to captured matches. For example, '(.)\1' matches two consecutive identical characters. Identifies either an octal escape value or a backreference. If \n is preceded by at least n captured subexpressions, n is a backreference. Otherwise, n is an octal escape value if n is an octal digit (0-7). Identifies either an octal escape value or a backreference. If \nm is preceded by at least nm captured subexpressions, nm is a backreference. If \nm is preceded by at least n captures, n is a backreference followed by literal m. If neither of the preceding conditions exists, \nm matches octal escape value nm when n and m are octal digits (0-7). Matches octal escape value nml when n is an octal digit (0-3) and m and l are octal digits (0-7).

\xn

\num

\n

\nm

\nml

Further Reading
For more information, tutorials and examples, I can recommend a visit to www.regular-expressions.info.

Keyboard Shortcuts
In order to use Flash Renamer the most efficient way you should learn the hotkeys for command you use regularly:

F2 - When a file is selected, press F2 to manually rename it. F3 - Opens the Visual Assist window where available, which is a built in utility that visually helps you to set various rename options. F5 - This is the same as pressing the Rename button! F6 - Sets focus on the adress input box, so you can type a new path for the file browser. F9 - Refreshes the current file listing. (Browser file mode only) F12 - Opens the folder browser so you can select a new working path. (Browser file mode only) Enter & Backspace - Navigate the file structure with these two and the arrow keys. (Browser file mode only) Delete - Delete the specified files from disk (to the recycle bin). (Browser file mode only. When using the Free Select mode, the files will not be deleted from disk, only from the list.) Tab - Step to the next "control" (e.g. an input box or button) using the tab key.

Portable Mode
Flash Renamer is also available as a Portable Application in a separate download from its homepage. The following is different when running in portable mode:

Settings (if any) are stored in the application folder. Saving settings can optionally be disabled. You can not create any shell extension menu (ie the menu that appears when you right click on items in Windows Explorer). All privacy features are turned on. (se settings)

Tip: If you have a normally installed version of Flash Renamer on your computer, then you can copy that versions' settings & registration information to the portable ones by running the supplied utility ImportSettings.exe.

What is a portable application? A portable application is a program designed to run on any computer without the need to install it there first. It should not leave any trace behind, such as saving settings in the computers registry. It should be able to run from any kind device, such as usb memory stick or a cd-rom. Portable applications are useful since you can easily take your favourite programs with you and run on any computer you encounter, without having to worry about installation and privacy issues.

Advanced users might be interested to know that there are three directives involved in portable mode: PORTABLE - This enabled all portable features. LOCAL_SETTINGS - This is automatically enabled in portable mode, but you can use it otherwise too if you would like to store the settings in the application folder instead of in your Windows profile. (read more about the location of the settings here) DONT_SAVE_SETTINGS - If you do not want settings to be save, enable this. Works independent of the above directives. To enabled a directive, simply create an empty file in the Flash Renamer application folder and name it like the directive. (This works for the "normal" version of Flash Renamer too!)

Command Line
If you start Flash Renamer from a command prompt or .bat script you may give a number of arguments. This allows you to automate Flash Renamer. This means that you can tell Flash Renamer to load a path with files and then run one of your presets on this path.

/p - Sets the startup path for Flash Renamer. If you include anything else than a valid folder at the end (e.g. "*.mp3") this will be loaded as the file pattern. /l - Allows you to specify a text file containing files and folders (full paths, one file or folder per line). The files and folders will be loaded into the Free Select mode. /r - The name of the Preset you want to execute. You must type the full name, including spaces.

/f - Include files. (only when using /p) /d - Include folders. (only when using /p)

/s - Include subfolders. (only when using /p)

/k - If the /l switch was used, this switch will instruct Flash Renamer to delete the "/l file" after it has been read. /x - Normally when you automate Flash Renamer it will automatically close when it has finished renaming. Use this switch to prevent that happening.

Notes:

If your path, preset name, or filename contains spaces, you must encapsulate the string using quotes, like this: "example name" If you don't specify neither the /f switch nor the /d switch, Flash Renamer will use the last used settings. If you specify both a path (/p) and a file list (/l), the file list will take precedence. If you don't include a preset (/r), Flash Renamer will start as normal and then load the specified path (/p) or file list (/l). The command line switches use a normal "slash" (/), as opposed to paths in Windows that use the "backslash" (\). Don't confuse these two!

Problem: Each night you computer downloads a bunch of files, but they all have nasty looking filenames! Solution: First create a preset that makes your filenames look good. Let's call it my preset. Then use the Windows Task Scheduler to launch Flash Renamer every moring with the following command line: FlashRen.exe /p c:\download\*.* /r "my preset" /f

Date Reference
Dates & times are by default returned in the format yyyy-mm-dd Hh:Mm:Ss, for example 1977-0509 10:18:00. This is an ISO standard for formatting dates (ISO 8601) and the most useful since you can easily sort according to it. Advanced users who want to change this can edit the file FlashRen.ini, located in the Flash Renamer program folder. Below is a table describing how to create dates in Flash Renamer. This works in the above mentioned file, and also in some tags that allow you to create custom dates. You can either use one of the predefined named formats, or construct your own by piecing together a custom format! Examples: The tag <Date-> allows you to create a custom date tag. Here are two examples of what it can look like: <Date-Short Date> <Date-dddd m mmmm>

Named time/date formats Display a date and/or time. For real numbers, display a date and time, for example, 4/3/93 05:34 PM.If there is no fractional part, display only a date, for example, 4/3/93. If there is no integer part, display time only, for example, 05:34 PM. Date display is determined by your system settings. Display a date according to your system's long date format. Display a date using the medium date format appropriate for the language version of thehost application. Display a date using your system's short date format. Display a time using your system's long time format; includes hours, minutes, seconds. Display time in 12-hour format using hours and minutes and the AM/PM designator. Display a time using the 24-hour format, for example, 17:45. User defined time/date formats Time separator. In somelocales, other characters may be used to represent the time separator. The time separator separates hours, minutes, and seconds when time values are formatted. The actual character used as the time separator in formatted output is determined by your system settings.

General Date

Long Date Medium Date Short Date Long Time Medium Time Short Time

Date separator. In some locales, other characters may be used to represent the date separator. The date separator separates the day, month, and year when date values are formatted. The actual character used as the date separator in formatted output is determined by your system settings. Display the date as ddddd and display the time as ttttt, in that order. Display only date information if there is no fractional part to the date serial number; display only time information if there is no integer portion. Display the day as a number without a leading zero (1 - 31). Display the day as a number with a leading zero (01 - 31). Display the day as an abbreviation (Sun - Sat). Display the day as a full name (Sunday - Saturday). Display the date as a complete date (including day, month, and year), formatted according to your system's short date format setting. The default short date format is m/d/yy. Display a date serial number as a complete date (including day, month, and year) formatted according to the long date setting recognized by your system. The default long date format is mmmm dd, yyyy. Display the day of the week as a number (1 for Sunday through 7 for Saturday). Display the week of the year as a number (1 - 54). Display the month as a number without a leading zero (1 - 12). If m immediately follows h or hh, the minute rather than the month is displayed. Display the month as a number with a leading zero (01 - 12). If m immediately follows h or hh, the minute rather than the month is displayed. Display the month as an abbreviation (Jan - Dec). Display the month as a full month name (January - December). Display the quarter of the year as a number (1 - 4). Display the day of the year as a number (1 - 366). Display the year as a 2-digit number (00 - 99). Display the year as a 4-digit number (100 - 9999). Display the hour as a number without leading zeros (0 - 23). Display the hour as a number with leading zeros (00 - 23). Display the minute as a number without leading zeros (0 - 59). Display the minute as a number with leading zeros (00 - 59). Display the second as a number without leading zeros (0 - 59).

d dd ddd dddd ddddd

dddddd

w ww m

mm mmm mmmm q y yy yyyy h Hh N Nn S

Ss

Display the second as a number with leading zeros (00 - 59). Display a time as a complete time (including hour, minute, and second), formatted using the time separator defined by the time format recognized by your system. A leading zero is displayed if the leading zero option is selected and the time is before 10:00 A.M. or P.M. The default time format is h:mm:ss. Use the 12-hour clock and display an uppercase AM with any hour before noon; display an uppercase PM with any hour between noon and 11:59 P.M. Use the 12-hour clock and display a lowercase AM with any hour before noon; display a lowercase PM with any hour between noon and 11:59 P. M. Use the 12-hour clock and display an uppercase A with any hour before noon; display an uppercase P with any hour between noon and 11:59 P. M. Use the 12-hour clock and display a lowercase A with any hour before noon; display a lowercase P with any hour between noon and 11:59 P.M. Use the 12-hour clock and display the AMstring literal as defined by your system with any hour before noon; display the PM string literal as defined by your system with any hour between noon and 11:59 P.M. AMPM can be either uppercase or lowercase, but the case of the string displayed matches the string as defined by your system settings. The default format is AM/PM.

ttttt

AM/PM

am/pm

A/P

a/p

AMPM

Known Issues
Flash Renamer is a very stable and safe program to use. There are however a few things that are useful to know about:

You must have permission to rename the specified files. Some user accounts may have restrictions on this. This is especially true in Windows Vista. The characters / * " \ ? : > < | are reserved by the filesystem and may not be used in filenames. Flash Renamer will not allow you to use these characters in filenames and they are automatically substituted with suitable characters. (Advanced users may what to change these replacement characters by editing the file "flashren.ini" in the Flash Renamer program folder.) It's not advisable to work on folders that may change in structure (e.g. by another program) while Flash Renamer is working. The undo feature will only work 100% if the file & folder structure remains the same between using Rename and Undo For some reason Flash Renamer will not work if you have enabled "Data Execution Protection" (DEP) for all processes in Windows. You should add Flash Renamer to the list of trusted programs to make it work. You can also go to the Flash Renamer program folder (typically "c:\program files\flash renamer") and remove the file "FlashRen.exe.manifest". Now it should work, although you will not get XP Theming in Flash Renamer. Listing and processing large folder, such as the entire harddrive can be slow... You should limit the amount of included items to prevent long waiting times. As a general advice I recommend you NOT to use the program on system folders, such as the windows folder (eg "c:\windows") or your program folder (eg "c:\program files"). By default, Flash Renamer will not allow you to process these folders. This can be changed in the settings window. There is no support unicode characters (e.g. Asian languages). Unfortunately I am unable to do anything about this, because Microsoft has decided not to update Visual Basic 6 (the programming language that I'm using) anymore. The only solution would be a complete rewrite in another language, and that's not an option at this moment... Due to limitations in the system I'm using, the program can only handle a limited number of thumnails. If you run out of memory the remaining thumbnails will get blank file icons. A way around this is select smaller thumnails in the settings. On computers with Windows 95/98/Me, the amount of system resources is limited. Flash Renamer needs this to store the file icons and thumbnails. If many program are open, and many thumbnails are loaded, these resources may run out and the system will become unstable. I do not recommend viewing large amounts of thumbnails if you have Windows 95/98/Me. This problem does not affect systems with Windows NT4/2000/XP and later. If you get the error message "error reading directory structure" it might be that you are trying to read a path that is too long (because in Windows you can actually sometimes create paths that are

longer than allowed...). Another possible cause is that you do not have permission to read the content of the folder.

Files over 4GB will not get correct file sizes, due to 32bit limits in the Visual Baisc 6 command FileLen(). Windows lets the user choose the font size to be used in the system. Flash Renamer must obey this, but some settings may cause display problems. Flash Renamer has been tested to work with the most common settings, "small fonts" (Windows default) and "large fonts", but if you have other settings, texts, buttons etc. may look weird and possibly be unavailable. This is however only a visual thing, and does not affect Flash Renamer otherwise. There have been reports that Flash Renamer does not work well with Novell networks. Since I don't have access to such a network I have not been able to confirm nor deny this. But Flash Renamer does work with the normal Windows network.