For advanced user Siren can be a good freeware alternative:

http://www.scarabee-software.net/en/siren.html

It can be made portable and has a lot of functions, as well as regex like parameters...

#73: I will check the controls to make sure they are up to date. And I had already planned for a re-orginization of the help file in time for the next update (v6).

I know vb6 is old, but when I started out with Flash Renamer in 1999 it was brand spanking new! :-) It's simply too much work changing development platform now. After all, it still works fine on all platforms. (And I will fix the filesize problem by using API as soon as I get the time.)

#72, Dan, thanks for dropping by. I have some concerns about the code. I noticed it's installing SP4 controls, when SP6 was the last service pack (and a few controls had extended support updates post-SP6). Even the extended-support fixes are quite old; you really need to move on to newer code/tools (and the 4GB VB6 filesize limit is ridiculous; I work with much larger files daily). Flash Renamer appears quite versatile, but the Help file needs significant organization improvement (also noted by Swan in her review).

Hi everyone,

This is Dan from RL Vision, the maker of Flash Renamer. First of all, thank you to all who downloaded my program, and especially all the positive comments here!

However, it makes me sad to see all the negative comments from people who obviously haven't even looked at the program, and just blurb some crap about how meaningless it is or whatever. I have thousands of users to prove you wrong. If you don't want it, just don't download this *free* version. I welcome you to post constructive criticism, but please spare me you useless comments. This seems to be a general problem for the comments on this site, and I just think it's pathetic complaining about free stuff...

For those of you who have had problems with Installers launching, I'm afraid this is a bug in Windows Installer and there is to my knowledge nothing I can do about it. And Microsoft refuse to acknowledge the bug. Read more here.

For the people who have had other problems you are welcome to contact me and I will help you solve it!

Good luck renaming your files! A new version of Flash Renamer is on its way. Perhaps you'll see it featured here again sometime!

This is exactly what i needed ... just fantastic!
When you are working with thousands of files this really makes it easy!

#62 Curt:

I have the same problem. Flash Renamer is not at fault in my case. This seems to be a common error with Microsoft Office and Visual Basic programs. If you want to test it, find and run some other Visual Basic program on your computer. The same thing will happen then too, if that is the problem.

I'm looking for a fix for this, but haven't found it yet.
---------------------------------------------------

Flash Renamer seems to be a good program, although I don't have much need for it. I especially like the preview feature. I don't recall seeing that anywhere in a program like this before. I tried it on a few files, and was very pleased with it.

thumbs up (thank you #64)! this software doesn't deserve its low rating.

i like the preview feature..one can see what the files will look like when renamed.

the process seems instantaneous.

there is a lot here to explore.

my first try i highlighted the folder rather than opening the folder and doing the files and told it to 'do it', and it changed a bunch of something (which was on my desktop, but i can't find it..this is my beginner attempts and not the fault of the program). i hope i haven't goofed something up. my attempts after that have me very happy with this software.

Comment #66 was mine. I was still logged in to the forums so my post showed as "anonymous". I don't expect anyone to care, I just don't like posting anonymously.

#41 It's probably your computer, I download every day from this site and haven't had any problems. Sometimes the main link doesn't work so try mirror link.

International ۞

#46: Kindly spare us the lesson in manners. I'm sure the people who run this site are well aware that if they deleted every mention of alternative software their traffic would be reduced by about 90%. A very large number of people come here specifically to learn of software they may not know about yet.
Besides, the developers need to know how users feel about their software compared to other products, and the differences among them.
This is business, not charity. All the bowing and scraping and heart-warming declarations of undying gratitude add up to zero in dollars and cents.
Please pass this along to the rest of the Pep Squad.

Oh, I forgot to mention that Flash Renamer lets you set up your own batch criteria too! It allows the use of many built-in tags such as or plus many more. Set up a batch to add the date to a photo filename. Save it for the next time.

A problem that I have with my digital camera is...well, it's a problem because I don't set the date and time on the camera every time I change out the battery. I don't like the camera to automatically stamp my photos with the date anyway so it's faster to just accept the default date. But, when I download my photos, they all have a date created attribute of 1/1/00 which is not useful to me, especially if I wait a while before I work with the photos. Flash Renamer lets me batch change all of the created date attributes! Now, after I download my photos, I can run Flash Renamer and set their date attributes to the date the photo was actually taken, all at one time!

Well, after all of the negative comments here, I decided to download some of the free renamers that folks have listed. Those were really great. Then, I thought 'what the heck' and I downloaded the Flash Renamer, just to see how poorly it compared to those free renamers.

I was definitely surprised! Flash Renamer is awesome compared to those free ones, IMHO. Yes, it would cost someone $20 to buy it compared to the free ones and perhaps that is why those posters were pushing the free ones but I'd buy this one for the $20!

Yes, I am very computer literate. I know about the other ways to rename files and change attributes already on my computer. I also have had various renamer products in the past, most of them much better than the free ones that posters have listed here BTW. But Flash Renamer is just so incredibly easy to use. You can see a preview of exactly how the name change is going to look before you actually rename it. In fact, you can preview the change for all files in a folder before you rename them. And it's fast too! The preview changes as you type in your change criteria dynamically!

One thing that I really like about it is that I can choose to view thumbnails of images in the preview pane. So, since my digital camera names things like "img_07735.jpg", I can preview the actual images in Flash Renamer so that I know exactly which photo names that I'm editing at a glance.

Flash Renamer also allows you to individually change all the files in a folder via the "Editor" tab. It lists all of the filenames and you edit them in the list as you want them to be. Click "Rename" and all of your changes just happen!

Great product!

#6 - you need to remove the colon from your hotlink. Anyone using this link, remove the colon from the URL and the link works.

To me, Flash Renamer has been one big bug: Everytime I start it, Office 2003 will begin installing!!!

#46
If the food was actually spam (the meat in a can) but made to look like top quality steak wouldn't you say something? How about if they were charging $60 for spam that looked like steak?
or
If the food was deliberately poisoned wouldn't you say something? How about if they censored you for saying it was poisoned (and really was poisoned) and they never warn people about it being poisoned?
I come here to read the comments from people who don't know what they are doing to their computer. You don't get something for free.

Ref: comment #48 by Paul
Hi,
I have got the same problem, when I'll start FlashRen.exe, Microsoft Installer tries to reinstall another program that I already have on my disk. I just wrote about it in the forum hoping there will come some help.

graylox

Hello everyone!

I’ve posted today’s review - I hope you all enjoy reading it! Comments are always welcome on my web site.

Swan Reviews (Almost!) Everything

Thanks everyone!
~ Swan

“The day will come when machines and software will tell us whom to know; what to eat; what to wear; when to go to work and what profession to

pursue; when to sleep; what entertainments to enjoy and with whom to have any kind of relationship. It can’t be avoided and you will succumb.”
~ Swan

thought maybe, but no artist rename for mp3 files.(remove 'the' ).....

Using the demo version of Flash Renamer and I absolutely recommend it if you want to rename Mp3's

Mp3's is a "little" part of the capabilites but for me that's all i use it for.

cheers.

Dave

Does exactly what it says on the tin - great stuff - absolutely no problems at all.

This kinda program is very useful. I wrote my own several years back, noddy VB app. Still use it, comes in very handy.
Man, perhaps I should of sold it, I could of made some money

Didn't see a mention of my old standby: RenameMaster, a freeware by JackassJoe (now matured to JoeJoe). Writ in Delphi, no install, does dirs/files by a range of filters including File Properties, EXIF/JPEG/MP3/..etc tags, wildcards, and more. Been happily using it for years.

Which also means it's time to review the options. Thanks to GotD for Flash Renamer and to users who have provided info on others. I intend to compare them all. Good file tagging/naming tools are must-haves for maintaining large collections of varying file types, sources, uses, and access.

Discouraging to see so many non-informational posts.

FlashRenamer ist great, but FlexibleRenamer is better ;)
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/win/22304

And for MP3s, OGG and so on use TagScanner ;)
http://www.xdlab.ru/

Hi All, Download and activation went fine. Renamed several folders of digital pics with ease...loved all the options and the speed at which it changed the names but the preview window was really a "plus" so you can see what the final results will be before you click "change". I dunno, but this little gem works well for me. Thanks again GAOTD....be back tomorrow......

Ref: comment #19

PLEASE take your VB plus 10 minutes and write us a renamer!!
I need to rename with wildcard options
to auto-number files in any sequence i.e. all odd, all even etc.
the number to be placed at any position in the string.
to have my choice of leading numbers (0, 00, 123..and so on )
Chance case of any character in any position in the string.
remove or change underscore to space or vice versa.
Post it here for free and if most people approve of it and it works well, I'll pay the $4.99
Throw in a batch tag editor with real total control of all fields and I will pay $5.99 !!
Please help us! Take 10 minutes today and give us the
ULTIMATE renamer and mp3 tagger!! I suggest the name be "The #19 Ultimate Namer and Tagger"
Or maybe " The Tagger Would "
Make it a mp3/ogg/flac data base jukebox player and I'll pay $ 6.99 !!
Looking forward to your proggie.

I was able to get a good download the sixth time I tried today.

The first several minutes after reading the description of "Flash Renamer" I was still wondering why would I ever want a "renaming program". Then I remembered that this program was supposed to change the case of a program's name.

I have several hundred files (a mixture of .gif,.jpg, and html)that Microsoft FrontPage saved as all upper case. The FrontPage program does not parse capitalized file names. I have been slowly re-typing my files that have been saved as upper case file names to convert them to all lower case names.

I tried to use"Flash Renamer" to make the conversion of case names for me. I am very glad that I persisted and got a good download. With in less than a second, all of my files were converted into lower case. The program let me keep the original file names - what a relief.

Many, many, many hours of work have just now been saved. There have been several comments concerning the $20 price of the program. I buy very few programs now that I am retired. If I had known that this program would convert files names like it just did for me - I would have purchased it and paid the twenty dollars. I always that that a program that renames files just named files to a sequential list of numbers. Thanks GAOTD. I learned something and was saved my hours of work.

Jack Boyce

After installing, when I tried to use the program my computer kept telling me the feature i was trying to use is on my Dell Resource CD and I needed to insert it in my drive. WTF.

I have to amend my previous statement a bit. (#32) The Plugin that was trying to install was from a previously installed video editor.
Why it was trying to re-install itself I found was due to some cross use of files in windows installer. I have since been able to remove the offending software and have had no issue with the re-installed giveaway.
Again it was all due to another windows weakness, not this maker directly.
Sorry for the panic earlier, sure did act as if it was going nuts directly because of flash renamer, but it was just Windows freakin out once again.

I have a whole boatload of digital pics on the my computer and I still don't understand why this might be useful. I know what it does, it just seems kinda frivolous. I can't see anyone buying this for $20.

Thanks anyways GOTD. I look forward to tomorrow!

I read the daily comments. From clueless to smart, from arrogant to considerate. Even though some will say that it is nice to have some people suggest other softwares they think are better than offered here, etiquette dictates that they should not.

If you are a guest in a house for a dinner and you do not like the food, would you say, "Your food sucks. I have lobster and steak in my car. I'll pass." We are all guests in this site. I would not even bother visit this website if I have better alternatives, why would you?

You should pool your resources and start a website listing all the PERFECT softwares that you have used.

This program is kickin' sweet. Helps when you have to rename a 100 files.

I paid for this utility few years back and it works GREAT. I am a big fan of it. best is it has undo function and gives you preview of the renaming. I had some suggestions which I needed this utility to do, i.e. command line functionality, the author was nice enough to add that functionality to the program.

Great utility

38#. Sorry, i missed out one detail in step 2
You have to click on rename after right clicking
and then type in the desired name.

RENAME ALL FILES WITHIN A FOLDER
****NO SOFTWARE REQUIRED****
1. Select all files in the folder you want to rename
(Go to EDIT > Select All)
2. right click on the first file in the list and type in
any name you want to give all files.
3. Hit Enter

I have been getting corrupt downloads for several days when downloading from GAOTD. Yesterday I had to download four times before I got a zip file that I could work with. Today I tried four times as well. On two of the download tries today, I used a "down loader" program (1 try-try #3) as a alternate to directly downloading.

I have not had problems downloading from any other web site in at least 6 months or more.

I hope that this comment is close enough to the topic that it included here. I would like to know if I am alone(a major headache trying to find out what is wrong with my computer) or if I should forget it because other are having the same problem. I don't mind trying several times to download a file - I just want to make sure that I don't have a computer problem.

To #32: It sounds like you "might" have a spyware or trojan on your machine.

I had similar problems until I downloaded "Superantispyware remover" and found about 12 trojans that none of my other stuff found. It got rid of them and I've had NO problems since.

It's freeware, and can be found here:

http://www.superantispyware.com/download.html

(There's a pay for Pro version too.)

Well, maybe there are a load of freebies out there, but so far, I haven't found the "right" one.

I wasn't sure after reading the remarks whether to download this or not.

I did anyway.

I really really LIKE this!!!

I renamed all my photos from 3 cameras dating from 2000, and did it in about 20 minutes. I have a LOAD of photos.

This can't be any easier!! I love it.

THANKS GOTD!

I'll pass as I have no need for this...

where is the game link these days?

My opinion,
Crapware of the day again.
And WinXP already does batch renaming.
I can’t believe some (most) of the software being given away here lately, let alone someone is charging money for this stuff when not given away. There are far better alternatives that are freeware.

and people pay for this?

Interesting, so many are complaining about the stated price, but forget that for this day there is no cost apart from a download and activation.

If you don't like the program, don't use it. If you think there is a better one, share by all means, but don't trash the giver when offered a free gift.

Is this product or any products mentioned able to take a "Date Picture Taken" from JPG file and rename the JPG file with that date as part of the name?

Rename it to name like
20070902_0844.jpg (photo taken on 09/02/2007 and append with _xxxx where you can start with any number xxxx and it will incrementing by any number you want)

I picked up Flash Renamer a few years ago and can assure everyone here that it's a terrific product. For those who don't think you need a separate product for renaming, YOU don't, but some of do. I frequently rename hundreds of image files and audio files using very specific rules. Flash Renamer does the trick!

Installed and activated just fine.
Problem is EVERY time I try to run the program it wants to install "SmartSound Quicktracks plugin" wth is this??? Malware???
Anyone else getting this?
I don't even have the .msi file it wants to install anywhere on my pc...

Oh well, gonna delete this and watch VERY closely from now on..

Hello all! Today's 15-Minute Review is up! Check it out!

http://www.bladedthoth.com/reviews/15mrs/flash-renamer-v5-3/

My personal favorite freeware renamer:
Renamer 6.0 by Albert Bertilsson
I tried a few others but this one is my favorite for its simplicity and flexibility. Includes MP3 tag manager.

25. slipper - what happens if u don't want them all your files to have the same name(with a # tacked on)?

wow... with so many freeware programs out there that do this same thing why would you ever pay 20.00$ for this

It's not working properly, some fonts are missing and I can't use on this way

Stupid me...I have been just using Select All and then F2. XP freebee.