NameWiz 4.111

Overview

Sometimes, the need to rename your personal files appears (your photos, for instance) but it is undoubtedly a boring and time consuming task. NameWiz will help you achieve this in only a few minutes due to its rich features list and flexibility. It can perform batch renaming tasks with many options, such as to add prefixes or suffixes, change only parts of the filenames, change extensions and others. It can also handle files that cannot normally be renamed, making it even more useful, so let’s take a closer look at it.

Installation

Installation doesn’t have any steps and settings other than the ones you find in any ordinary software installation. First pick the installation language and then proceed normally. At some point you will be asked to choose between Custom and Complete installation. In Complete mode, all features will be installed, whilst in Custom you get to select the ones you want. No malware or other kinds of software are included in this package.

This program can run under all versions of Windows.

Interface

The interface is not very modern, but it’s simple and all of its functions are positioned in an orderly manner. On the left side is a pane with several sliding menus: Source Explorer, Name Generator, Replace/Remove, Insert/Delete, Move/Swap and Options/Settings. The rest of the screen is occupied by the Result List Window, which has four tabs: Files, Folders, Create and Log. The files shown in this window can be either highlighted in Black, Grey or Red. Black means that there is no problem with the file and can be renamed, Grey means that it cannot be renamed and Red means that the file is corrupt or doesn’t exist.

Pros

You can mass rename individual files or all the containing files in a folder and all sub-folders. You can change only parts of the filenames, replace, insert, delete, move or swap characters, convert lower/upper cases or even enter a sequential name for all the selected files. NameWiz can also create files or folders; just select the number of items you want to create and the naming rules, and let the program do the rest. This is extremely helpful to for organizing music and photo collections.

Image files can be displayed as thumbnails using the image viewer. The following file formats are supported: *.tif, *.tiff, *.fax, *.bw, *.rgb, *.rgba, *.sgi, *.ce, *.pic, *.tga, *.vst, *.icb, *.vda, *.win, *.pcx, *.pcc, *.scr, *.pcd, *.ppm, *.pgm, *.pbm, *.cut, *.pal, *.gif, *.rla, *.rpf, *.bmp, *.rle, *.dib, *.psd, *.pdd, *.psp and *.png.

The program’s functionality can be enhanced with the use of plugins, which can either be the ones that are already included in the package, or unofficial plugins created by other developpers. The templates for creating plugins in C++, Delphi and PowerBasic are provided, therefore making the creation of plugins even easier. NameWiz’s developer team offers to create plugins for inexperienced users who have trouble creating them themselves.

Cons

There are a few bugs in the program; for example, right clicking on an item in the Create tab will open up a context menu, but all the entries are invisible.

Alternatives

KRename (free) and Renamer (free) are two file renaming utilities with nice features, most of which can also be found in NameWiz as well. However, KRename does not support plugins unlike NameWiz, and Rename has only a PascalScript rule for the users to create their own renaming rules. This is one great advantage for NameWiz.

Cons

It is recommended both for novices and professionals. It has features that you don’t find easily, although it has its share of bugs as well. If those were to be fixed and the interface improved a bit, it would be a popular choice amongst all kinds of users.