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Better Software for Apple Mac osx

Version 7.9.7.1

2nd April 2008

Improved support for site licensing.

Version 7.9.7

20th February 2008

Adds a new "convert to sentence case" rename action.

Version 7.9.6.1

7th February 2008

Two minor bug fixes:

  • file names can now never include the illegal ":" character
  • droplet mode has been further bullet-proofed

Version 7.9.6

16th January 2008

It is now possible to add files to the preview using the Finder context menu while the programming is running.

Version 7.9.5.6

2nd January 2008

This is a minor bug fix update.

Version 7.9.5.5

19th December 2007

This version uses a more robust way of identifying and correctly ignoring invisible files during renames.

Version 7.9.5.1

10th December 2007

This is a very minor update that simply improves consistency between the program and the on-site screencast.

In the screencast the demonstrated action is called "Produce sequence number list" whereas we renamed this to "Create sequence number list" in the 7.9.5 release. This apparently has caught out a lot of people. Sorry about that. The name is back to the original now.

Version 7.9.5

28th November 2007

  • add image width and height to file name
  • action menu re-organized to make it easier to find the right action
  • hot key now inactive in applications other than the Finder

adds the ability to include an image's dimensions to the file name, re-organizes the action menu and fixes a minor bug.

Version 7.9.4.5

11th November 2007

This is a recommend update for all A Better Finder Rename users on Leopard.

It sets the correct default renaming mode appropriate for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.

Version 7.9.4

23rd October 2007

Improves the default sorting of the preview window and delivers full Leopard compatibility.

Version 7.9.3.5

18th October 2007

Fixes a bug affecting the "Rename from file list" feature.

Version 7.9.3

26th September 2007

Updates the preview window with an iTunes-like layout, tweaks the user interface for the multi-step rename feature and contains other minor refinements.

Version 7.9.2

29th August 2007

Makes further improvements to the multi-step rename feature:

  • improved user experience
  • improved error handling
  • new "Clear All" button
  • extensive internal changes

Version 7.9.1

8th August 2007

This is a minor bug fix release resolving a launch problem on Mac OS X 10.4.0 only.

Version 7.9

25th July 2007

Introduces a second sorting order for all renaming actions that use ordering.

The second sorting order will be used in situations where the first sorting order assigns the same rank to two or more items. Up to now the order in which items with identical rank appeared in the sort was essentially random.

Such situations are rare in normal operation, but with the advent of sub-second continuous shooting modes on modern SLR and SLR-like digital cameras, digital photos with identical EXIF timestamps are becoming more common.

Setting the first sorting order to "By EXIF digital camera date" and the second sorting order to "By name and sequence number" will allow you to maintain the proper ordering of continuous shooting mode pictures when creating new sequence numbers from the original file names.

Version 7.8.6

16th July 2007

Fixes a crashing bug introduced by a recent QuickTime update that affects only droplets.

Version 7.8.5

26th June 2007

This releases introduces "silent" droplets that are capable of being used in fully automated workflows without human supervision.

More information is available in the manual.

The are also various minor bug fixes and improvements especially in the confirmation dialog.

Version 7.8.1

11th June 2007

The new release fixes a bug affecting the "Add folder name to beginning" and "Add folder name to end" rename actions.

Version 7.8

23rd May 2007

The new version adds a few additional renaming actions to make the interface more easily understandable:

  • Remove specific characters
  • Remove text
  • Remove text from beginning
  • Remove text from end

The new release also updates the preferences pane component to correctly reflect the fact that all users who have purchased version 7 after the 1st of January 2007 will be given free upgrades to version 8 (including minor updates up to, but not including version 9.0)

Version 7.7.7

14th May 2007

This releases fixes two problems:

  • it removes the "ultra-safe, ultra-fast" renaming mode that was broken by a recent Mac OS X update
  • it now correctly encodes file lists as utf8 documents to help international users who require extensive character sets

Version 7.7.6

23rd April 2007

This release adds the "ultra-fast, ultra-safe" renaming mode, which uses the same renaming procedure as the Finder thus optimizing both speed and safety. This is now the default renaming mode.

A minor problem with the conflict resolution dialog is also solved.

Version 7.7.5

18th April 2007

The new release upgrades the mp3/mp4 tag reading code:

  • read m4a files correctly
  • read protected m4p files
  • read bookmark-able m4b files
  • added cd number and number of cds for aac files

and introduces new mp3 renaming options:

  • preferred & fallback patterns
  • handles textual track numbers in mp3 tags, e.g. "Track #4" instead of simply "4"

Version 7.7

14th March 2007

The new release

  • adds intelligent sequence number sorting
  • NFTS/SMB file name conversion now takes care of many exotic problems
  • in order to avoid confusion, you can no longer close the multi step drawer while the remaining action is switched off

Version 7.6.5

7th February 2007

The new release makes substantial improvements to the preview list:

  • adds multiple selection
  • adds drag & drop removal
  • adds a "clear" button
  • adds an explanatory table background

Version 7.6.1

5th February 2007

This bug fix releases resolves a problem affecting the ability to edit droplets.

Version 7.6

10th January 2007

The new version improves support for EXIF digital picture format to include the following:

  • JPEG
  • CRW, CR2, THM (Canon)
  • NEF (Nikon)
  • TIFF (Various Manufacturers)
  • RAF (Fuji)
  • ORF (Olympus)
  • MRW (Minolta)
  • DNG (Adobe Digital Negative)
  • SRF (Sony)

Version 7.5.6

8th December 2006

This new release is a recommend update for all 7.5.5 users. It fixes a startup problem.

Version 7.5.5

6th December 2006

The new version substantially improves the preview window, allowing it to be docked to the top, bottom or the right hand side and assisting with smart resizing and dragging.

The preview drawer is still available but the separate preview window now becomes the default.

The new release also adds new options for the date and time-based renaming actions.

This is the first release that requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later!

Version 7.5.1

1st December 2006

Fixes a minor menu error, where the positions of "Add sequence number to beginning" was accidentally swapped with "Add sequence number to end".

Version 7.5

8th November 2006

  • added the ability to use "alphabetical sequences" as well as sequence numbers for a more compact file name
  • added "Rename" and "Rename & Quit" menu items and shortcuts
  • remove m4p tag reading support forced by Apple imposing new technical restrictions on reading "FairPlay" songs
  • option to only include the files whose name is actually going to be changed when producing file lists
  • option to ignore case when reading in tab-delimited file lists (Improved support for case insensititive file systems)
  • minor UI improvement (tab order in "Replace Text")
  • correct handling of GarageBand bundled file format

Version 7.4.7

14th October 2006

The new version fixes the droplet editing feature that was accidentally broken in version 7.4.5.

Version 7.4.6

30th September 2006

The new version updates the optional program components: the systems preferences pane, hot key and contextual menu plugin.

Version 7.4.5

27th September 2006

  • rename & apply button replaced by option
  • fade out effect can now be switched on or off in the preferences
  • minor bug fix

Version 7.4

30th August 2006

  • adds new date and time formats
  • improves reliability of large drag and drop operations
  • warns of FileVault problems and suggests workaround
  • improves navigation to the product website
  • fixed spelling mistake in file list feature
  • fixed minor usability issues

Version 7.3.5

12th July 2006

Version 7.3.5 makes it easier than ever to use regular expressions to manipulate the file names through its new expression group preview.

Version 7.3

7th June 2006

The new adds version adds an "Apply" button, which performs a rename without closing the application.

You can vote to change the standard behavior of the tool by participating in our online poll.

Version 7.2.5

3rd May 2006

The new release focuses on improving performance on large rename batches of more than a few hundred files.

Other changes:

  • fixes a problem with the tab-delimited flavor of "Rename from file list"
  • smaller binary
  • fixes a problem with case changes and manual conflict resolution

Version 7.2.2

19th April 2006

The new version updates the System Preferences Pane and the Hot Key Component to address a minor installation bug.

Version 7.2.1

22nd March 2006

This release fixes a problem with case changes introduced in version 7.2 and is a recommend update for 7.2 users.

Version 7.2

22nd March 2006

The new version improves the way in which file name conflicts are handled. It already marks potential name conflicts with warning signs inside the preview and offers a conflict resolution dialog during renaming.

Version 7.1.5

15th February 2006

The new version adds improved RAW photo file handling:

  • adds support for Adobe's Digital Negative (DNG) format
  • adds experimental support for Canon's CR2 RAW format under Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger
  • adds experimental support for Nikon's NEF RAW format under Tiger Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger

The new version also adds more date formats and fixes a startup bug.

Version 7.1

18th January 2006

The new release adds the ability to remove files from the preview window and further refines the preview feature. It is also the first Universal binary release of the product, meaning that it will run at native speeds on both PowerPC and Intel-based Macintoshes.

Version 7.0.5

14th December 2005

The new version corrects teething problems with the entirely rewritten 7.0 release.

In particular the tool now supports file names that contain forward slashes or composed unicode characters correctly, the hotkey component (if previously installed) is now upgraded automatically, minor UI glitches were fixed, etc.

The new version is a recommend upgrade for 7.0 users.

Version 7

16th November 2005

A Better Finder Rename 7 is the result of a complete 10-month rewrite of the 70,000+ lines of code that made up the version 6.9.5 release.

Version 7 was engineered from ground-up to take advantage of Mac OS X's Cocoa application frameworks to offer a best-of-breed Macintosh user experience.

We have taken the opportunity to improve nearly all aspects of A Better Finder Rename and there are countless small and not-so-small improvements.

Amongst other features, version 7 adds the long-awaited ability to combine a number of different rename action in a single rename.

Version 6.9.5

6th July 2005

The new release updates the hot key and preference pane components to provide an improved user experience:

  • system preference pane now displays all hot keys in a single table
  • user-defined hot key combinations run through a 'sanity check' to avoid problems with other applications
  • hot key component no longer installed by default
  • clean hot key installation and uninstallation from the system preference pane

Version 6.9.4

25th May 2005

This bug fix release correcting a sorting-related problem when you rename more than 1500 files at a time.

Version 6.9.3

13th May 2005

Fixes problems under Mac OS 10.3.

Version 6.9.2

12th May 2005

Fixes an installer bug.

Version 6.9.1

11th May 2005

This a bug fix release fixing the "Change Number" feature that allows you to pad numbers embedded in your file names (image1.gif) with additional zeros (image001.gif) or add and subtract values (image005.gif).

Version 6.9

13th April 2005

Version 6.9 now allows you not only to convert Macintosh files names to legal Windows NTFS file names, but also into account limitations of the SMB Windows file sharing service.

Version 6.8.5

23rd March 2005

The new version provides sentence and title case conversion for MP3 and AAC tags.

Version 6.8

23rd FEBRUARY 2005

A Better Finder Rename 6.8 provides a smart truncating feature which preserves file extensions wherever possible.

Version 6.7.5

26th January 2005

Allows the current date and time to be exploited for renaming files.

Version 6.7

1st December 2004

This update provides more advanced options for renaming MP3/AAC-encoded music files.

More information in the manual.

Version 6.6.6

17th November 2004

This minor update contains the new version of the System Preferences pane shared with the other A Better Finder series tools.

The System Preference Pane update:

  • allows the hot key to be changed to a wider variety of keys
  • displays registration details on all A Better Finder products
  • replaces the old Registration Assistant application
  • unloads the resident A Better Finder hot key application from memory when the feature is switched off

Version 6.6.5

4th NOVEMBER 2004

A Better Finder Rename now handles Apple iTunes AAC-encoded audio files as well as MP3 files.

Version 6.6

13th OCTOBER 2004

A Better Finder Rename can now read MP3 music tags, including:

  • artist
  • song title
  • album
  • track number
  • number of tracks

The new "Rename to MP3 information" action allows you to combine this information in a variety of ways.

The new feature uses Quicktime extensively and this means that the renaming may not be quite as fast as usual. We have provided a first level MP3 Tag cache to speed up interactive previewing.

Version 6.5.5

15th SEPTEMEBR 2004

The EXIF digital photo metadata support based on QuickTime technology introduced in version 6.4.5 proved to be accurate, but also slow. Something that became particularly obvious when dealing with large numbers of files.

This new release thus focuses on EXIF performance improvements:

  1. We have coded our own EXIF implementation which is between 10 and 100 times quicker than the QuickTime mechanism.
  2. We have also created a first level cache for date and EXIF metadata.

This has resulted in dramatically faster preview and rename performance for all EXIF or date-based actions.

Version 6.5

18th AUGUST 2004

The new version improves compatibility with FileVault and some third-party file systems and external or remote devices.

You can now choose between a "safe" mode which preserves file comments under Mac OS X but may not work on some third-party file systems, and the "fast" mode which will work with FileVault and under other non-standard configurations.

Version 6.4.5

14th JULY 2004

This is the second release that focuses on EXIF digital photo metadata. It adds supports for EXIF data in TIFF and Canon Raw (.CRW & .THM) format files; both formats are used by some professional grade digital cameras for loss-less image capture.

Version 6.4

16th JUNE 2004

The new version can use the date and time at which a digital camera picture was taken rather than relying on the picture's file creation date.

This information is extracted from the EXIF metadata embedded in the picture files produced by most leading camera manufacturers.

Version 6.3.5

19th MAY 2004

The new version allows the name of the enclosing folder to be added to the file name.

Version 6.3.1

24th APRIL 2004

This point release fixes a startup bug affecting first-time users. It is a recommended upgrade for all 6.3 users.

Version 6.3

21st APRIL 2004

The new version introduces regular expression substitution. This advanced renaming technique will be familiar to BBEdit users, UNIX veterans and most programmers. It may prove inappropriate for novice computer users.

The A Better Finder Rename implementation covers:

  • PCRE - Perl Compatible Regular Expressions
  • substitution expressions
  • graphical display of expressions groups
  • quick guide to regular expressions usage

The new version also improves the error reporting and handling.