Settings

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

# Settings Window

This page contains detailed information about the various settings in the Flash Renamer Settings window.

- Renaming
- Startup
- Display
- File System
- Casing Exception
- Batch Replace
- Shell Integration
- Advanced
- Problem Solver

# Settings :: Renaming

Only rename selected - Only rename the files that are selected. Otherwise, all listed files will be renamed.

Rename all if nothing is selected. - 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.

If filename already exists - File systems do not allow duplicate filenames. If Flash Renamer tries to ename a file and another file with the same name already exists, what do you want it to do? You can choose to either skip it and show a warning in the log window, or to add a number at the end of the filename, for example `Filename (2).exe`. Or you can choose to add this number but also show a warning in the log.

Warn about changing 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!

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.

Hide log in rename window - 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.

Save log to file - If this is enabled, Flash Renamer will write down all filename changes to a log file.

# Settings :: Startup

Open last folder at startup - If this is checked, Flash Renamer will at startup automatically go to the last folder you worked in.

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.

Reset pattern mask 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!

Uncheck "Include Filter & Pre-Processor" at startup - It is easy to forget that you used these the last time and left them enabled, which can be very confusing the next time you start Flash Renamer and it does not behave like you think it should.

Clear function input fields on startup - Enable this to clear all input fields at startup. Can be useful if you are concerned about privacy, or if you want the interface to be "clean" each time you start.

Clear input field "drop down" histories - The text field histories contains the 20 last used texts. If you are concerned about privacy you can enable this option. This includes the history if visited folders.

# Settings :: Display

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. The custom alternative allows you to specify the content of the column yourself! This is done by writing a format string using tags.

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.

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.

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.

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.

# Settings :: File System

Show write protected / hidden / system files and folders. - 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.

If *both* files & folders are displayed, apply pattern mask to: Files | Folders - With the pattern mask you can decide which files and folders to load. For example *.jpg will only load files with an jpg extension. The default *.* will processes all files. The pattern mask applies to both files and folders if only one is used, but when processing both files and folders it can be desired to only apply the pattern mask to one of these, for example you only want *.jpg to apply to files, not filders.

Note: The pattern mask is located in the main window at the top right, next to the path.

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.

# 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.

Tip: If want to add multiple items in one go, use the add button here and separate each item with a colon (:).

# Settings :: Shell Integration

Shell Integration

Shell Integration means that you can access Flash Renamer functionality 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!

Note: You need to start Flash Renamer as an administrator in order to activate or modify the shell extension settings. This is done by right clicking on the Flash Renamer icon and selecting Run as administrator.

- Show "Start Flash Renamer from here" - This will show a single menu item when you right click on folders or drives, that enables you to quickly start Flash Renamer directly from there.
- Show menu with rename actions - This will show a menu with several options, from which you perform many different operations:

  As you can se in the image, you can start Flash Renamer and automatically load the selected files. But you can also directly run rename operations on the selected files in a single click! These rename opterations correspond to the "presets" you have setup in Flash Renamer.

  Note: When renaming files from this menu, they 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 a primary file. This primary file is the file that you right click on to bring up the menu. This file will always be sent to Flash Renamer first. After this, the rest of the selected files are sent in correct order. This can cause trouble, especially if you are doing a counter operation that depends on the ordering. Therefore I recommend that you always right click on the top-most file to avoid problems with this slightly weird behaviour of Windows Explorer.

  Another implication of this is that if the primary file is a folder, you will not see the full menu even if you have selected both files and folders. This is because folders do not show the this menu. You can "fix" this by rigth clicking on a file instead. Doing so allows you to operate on folders too!

# Settings :: Problem Solver

If you are have some kind of trouble with Flash Renaner, this is a good place to start. Here I have collected various problems and their solutions, as well as shortcuts to the settings folder. Probably to most useful tool is the reset to default settings button, which usually fixes any problems you might have!

# Settings :: Advanced Settings

In this list you will find various options and tweaks that change the way Flash Renamer behaves. Most users will never need to modify these settings, but power users are given the ability to tweak Flash Renamer into perfection!

Notes:

- You must press the "Set" button in order to save any changes.

- Most of these settings require that you restart Flash Renamer in order to fully work.

For reference, here is a list of avilable tweaks:

- Date Format - Change the way Flash Renamer formats dates & times in filenames. See manual 'date reference' for instructions.
- Time Format - Change the way Flash Renamer formats dates & times in filenames. See manual 'date reference' for instructions.
- Greedy Wildcards - Greedy wildcards will match as much as possible. Non-greedy will match as little as possible. (0 or 1)
- Greedy Border Wildcards - Greedy wildcards will match as much as possible. Non-greedy will match as little as possible. Border is when the wildcard as located at the leftmost or rightmost. (0 or 1)
- System Char Slash - What to replace the system character / with.
- System Char Asterisk - What to replace the system character * with.
- System Char Quotes - What to replace the system character " with.
- System Char Backslash - What to replace the system character \ with.
- System Char QuestionMark - What to replace the system character ? with.
- System Char Colon - What to replace the system character : with.
- System Char Less Than - What to replace the system character < with.
- System Char Greater Than - What to replace the system character > with.
- System Char Vertical Bar - What to replace the system character | with.
- Replace System Chars In Preview - Should the preview replace system characters, or keep the original ones? (0 or 1) These characters are reserved by the filesystem and can not be used in filenames: / * " \ ? : < > |
- Case Sensitive Format Define Parts - Set to 1 to make the 'Define Parts' case sensitive. (0 or 1)
- Time To Wait After Auto Exec - Flash Renamer will pause for this amount of seconds, after finishing renaming by command line or Windows Explorer right click menu."
- Drop Down History Items - How many items to save for each DropDown control (if it has a history function)
- UnCheck Subdirs On Folder Change - Uncheck subfolder checkbox when changing folder in the file browser. (0 or 1)
- Capitalize After - When using the set case function in 'Title Case' mode, all letters immediately after a space are capitalized, but also those letters following these characters. Space separated list.
- Capitalize After When Prev Is Space - When using the set case function in 'Title Case' mode, all letters immediately after a space + one of these character will be capitalized. Space separated list.
- Title Case Lowercase Exceptions - These are the words used by 'lowercase exceptions' in the 'Title Case' mode of 'Case Convert' function. Typically prepositions and similar short words. Comma separated list.
- Disable Tooltips - Disable all tooltips in the main window. (0 or 1)
- Visual Assist Max Items - Maximum number of items to load into the visual assist window.
- Thumbnails Large - 'Large' thumbnail size in pixels.
- Thumbnails Medium - 'Medium' thumbnail size in pixels.
- Thumbnails Small - 'Small' thumbnail size in pixels.
- Hide Main Window If CommandLine - If running from command line or Windows Explorer context menu, the main window of Flash Renamer can be hidden if this is set to 1. (0 or 1)
- Show Shell Extension Menu Icon - Set this to 0 to disable the icon on the right click menu in Windows Explorer. This might also solve problems if the menu looks strange. (0 or 1)
- Show Shell Extension Copy To Clipboard - Set this to 0 to disable the 'copy to clipboard' meny option on the right click menu in Windows Explorer. (0 or 1)
- ID3 Tagger Write Album Artist - Set this to 1 and Flash Renamer will duplicate the Artist tag into the Album Artist tag when writing Mp3 ID3v2 tags. (You must however use the internal code library, not TagLib, for writing). (0 or 1)
- Add Tagged By Flash Renamer To ID3 Tag - Normally a small note is written to the 'Encoded by' tag to inform that the mp3 was tagged by Flash Renamer. (0 or 1)
- Mp3 Reader Use Old Routines - The old mp3 reader support the Lyrics tag and also lets you prioritize between ID3v1, ID3v2 and the Lyrics tags, but it is slower than the new mp3 reader. (0 or 1)
- Mp3 Only Write If Mp3 Extension - Optimization for Mp3 and other music formats. Flash Renamer will only attempt to write tags to files with correct/known extension (e.g. .mp3). (0 or 1)
- Mp3 Only Process If Mp3 Extension - Optimization for Mp3 and other music formats. Flash Renamer will only attempt to read tags in files with correct/known extensions (e.g. .mp3). (0 or 1)
- Only Rename If All Used Tags Are Available - When using in a function, all tags must be available, or else the file will not be renamed. (0 or 1)
- Only Rename If All Used Mp3 Tags Are Available - When using Mp3 in a function, all tags must be available, or else the file will not be renamed. (0 or 1)
- Dont Rename If Tags Are Missing During Presets - If the above two options are enabled, and your run a preset, then if any of the preset rename commands should be missing a it will skip that file. Otherwise it will continue and execute the rest of the preset commands. (0 or 1)
- Hide Logo - On low resolution you can hide the Flash Renamer logo to make sure that everything is visible on the screen (0 or 1)
- Highlight Fields - Some fields in the interface are drawn using a lighter color which looks nice and makes it easier to see. (0 or 1)
- Enable Tab Stop On All Image Buttons - Some image buttons, e.g. the Visual Assist & the Tag selector buttons, are by default skipped by the tab key, but you can re-enable this here. (0 or 1)
- Gray Disabled Input Boxes - This makes it easier to see if a text input box is not active or not (0 or 1)
- Auto Detect Parts Separators - This list contains all the separators used by the 'auto detect' feature in the setup parts window. Each item is separated by an asterisk.
- Auto Sort Command Line Files - When using Flash Renamer through the right click context menu, files are not always sorted correctly due to how Windows works. Set this option to 1 to correct this flaw. This will also affect files loaded at startup via command line. (0 or 1)
- Enable System Icons And Thumbnails - Disable this to save a little bit time when loading directories. (0 or 1)
- Read Folder Icons - Each folder in the system can have its own icon. This takes time and memory to load, but does generally not add any value. (0 or 1)
- Ask Before Undo - When pressing the undo button, the program will normally ask if you want to continue. Set this to 0 to disable this question. (0 or 1)
- Enable Two Pass Renaming - This is a fix for the situation when a new filename collides with a currently existing filename, since each filename must be unique. Only works if both if the current filename is also included in the rename operation. Experimental! Use at own risk. Undo will be messed up. (0 or 1)
- Pause After Writing ID3v2 - Writing ID3v2 requires to re-save the entire mp3 file. Since this can be stressful on the hard drive there is a delay after each file, determined by this value, to give the harddrive time to 'breathe'. (Only applies when using internal library, not TagLib) (Deafult: 500 milliseconds)
- ReNumber Decimal Point Character In - Both periods (.) and commas (,) are used as decimal points depending on country. What should Flash Renamer recognize? 0 will recognize both (default). 1 will use the character determined by the computer's locale settings. 2 = period and 3 = comma.
- ReNumber Decimal Point Character Out - What character do you want Flash Renamer to use in decimal fraction results? 0 = use system locale. 1 = use a period (.). 2 = use a comma (,). 3 = same as input; if no input is found locale settings are used. (default)
- ReNumber Decimal Rounding - When using decimal fractions in the ReNumber function, you can get it to round the result if needed. Enter the number of digits after the decimal point, or -1 for no rounding (default)