Help!! I have a bunch of files to rename!

When I connect my camera to my computer and download the pictures they are all files named DMG001, DMG002, etc... Usually I don't have time to rename each of the pictures one by one. It helps me to remember what they are if I name them something more meaningful.  So, I searched and found some software that would do that for me.

This is often called a “batch” process because you are changing a batch of files at the same time. To find some software I did a search for 'software to rename files mac' You could do the same for 'software to rename files PC' and add the word free if you want to be sure that you get a free option.

I chose NameChanger because it was free. 

MAC

Open NameChanger and find the files that you want to change. Set the program up to change parts of the name or the whole name. Notice that there is a pull down menu that gives you several choices. You can choose to give them all the same name with a numeral at the end that changes (1,2,3)

1. Find the files that you want to change. This may mean opening a folder and clicking COMMAND-A to select all of the files.
2. Drag the files into the first column showing on the NameChanger window.
3. Click the RENAME button on the top.

On the left side you will see the result and automatically you will also see that the file names have changed in your computer.

PC

There are free options to do the same thing on a PC. 

TO CHANGE ONE FILENAME AT A TIME

MAC

Click on the file one time to highlight it. Count to 10 and then click just the name of the file one time and wait for a second or two. You will see the name highlight in a way that allows you to type whatever name you want it to be.

PC

Right Click on a file (Remember right click always gives you another menu). In the menu that pops up you will see the word “rename”. Click on it and you will be able to give the file a new name.

Thanks to Glee for having this problem so that I could figure it out and write it up here!

Dewitty Computer Center

Last week I attended a day out of a two day forum on the Digital Divide which took place at the LBJ school. People were there from lots of different states and I learned a great deal. One of the main things I learned about is the:  

DEWITTY JOB TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT CENTER 

It is located on Rosewood Dr. here in Austin, Texas.  One of the services that they offer is a free computer lab staffed by people who will help you with what you need to do. It is called Austin FreeNet. Since it is part of the Dewitty Job Training and Employment Center there are many people there who need help with Resumes and Filling out Forms. They said that in April there are lots of people working on filing their taxes online. It is free for people to use the lab and they help you with whatever you need.

Austin FreeNet  http://www.austinfree.net/ This page has a good summary of the meeting that I attended. They run computer labs and training in lots of different locations. See this page for a list of their locations. 

If you need to learn technology you will want to check this place out!

FREE Ways to Word Process, Collaborate, etc...

TWO STORIES 

At the end of September my son got married. He lives in Ohio and we are in Texas. We were helping him plan and design the ceremony. Instead of sending files back and forth or using lots of email David set up a Google Doc and invited us to share it. We could all work on it at different times or even at the same time in order to collaborate!  Amazing!

Recently I updated my MacBook to Lion, but to my unhappy surprise I found out that it does not support Microsoft Office. It has something to do with programs that used the Intel chip... I can't explain it... I'm not a Geek, but anyway there I was without some expensive software that I used all of the time. (side note: now when I receive an excel or word document I have to open up the Open Office first and then use File-Open to find the file and open it up.





You wonder what these two stories might have to do with each other?  Well, it is just that there are so many ways to get around having to use expensive software to do word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations now!

In this post I want to share with you some of what  I have done to fill in the gap from the software that no longer works on my system.

ONE

I downloaded a free program called Open Office. It is very similar to Microsoft Office, but it is Open Source which means that anyone can work on the code of it and make it better and it is FREE! I have been using it regularly for word processing. I have not used spreadsheets or presentations or anything else yet, but I think it will be fine. When I save something in Open Office I have to remember to change the format before saving because it has its own format (.odt) which other programs cannot open. When I save under "save as" I choose .doc and so far it seems to save everything just fine. 

TWO

I have been using Google Docs and Spreadsheets. The biggest benefit of these programs is that they can be shared online with others. You can give them rights just to look at the document or to edit it. You can make it public, so that everyone can see it or make it private so that you are the only one who has access to it. Google has just updated to Google Drives which I have not worked with much yet. It looks to me like you can download all of your Google Docs into a free software on your laptop. Then when you are not online you will still have access to your Docs and you can work on them. Then when you are online the newest copy syncs so that you have the same copy in both places. 

One drawback of using Google Docs is that you will be relying on Google to keep all of your stuff. It is all saved on one of their servers. If this is a problem for you avoid Google Docs. You will not have total control of everything. 

However, it is probably safer, in terms of not losing your documents because their servers are duplicated and regularly backed up. You can ALWAYS get to your stuff. It will be accessible even if you are in a flood or a fire and loose everything. You can access it from anywhere on any computer. 








  THREE

For some presentations I have started using Prezi. It is a whole new way of presenting ideas based more on networking thoughts and graphics together rather than presenting them in a linear way. The best way to see what it does is to go to their website and see some of their samples. 

So, we are getting to the point where we do not need expensive software to do the basic things that we want to do!