Some simple step-by-step guides would be nice

[Cynthia Moore]

This is my 3rd time trying to get up to speed with XYplorer. Each time it has been because of a specific task that the Windows File Explorer could not do or did poorly. The previous 2 times, I got sidetracked before I was able to figure out how to do what I needed to do in XY. I don't recall now what those tasks were. This time it's renaming several hundred files that have gotten misnamed over the years. The filenames all contain a date, an ID, and some comments. About half of them have the date first and then the ID (yyyymmdd xyz ...). The rest have the ID first and then the date (xyz yyyymmdd ...). I need to decide on one format and rename the ones that don't match it.

I checked the quick start guide, the FAQs, and the tour. I didn't find anything about renaming files. I downloaded the Help PDF and did a search for "rename". It returned 15-20 results, but none of them included "rename". ??? Then I clicked on the highlights link and did a search for "rename". About the 7th hit was Batch Rename, which looked promising. It has a list of what looked like possible solutions, but no links.

I finally found the feature list which had an entry for batch rename with 7 right arrows with links to how to guides. None of the arrows have labels so I had to click on each one to see if any of them might do the job. It looks like the first one might.

I'd like to suggest something that I think would increase the number of people who look into XY who actually become users. And it wouldn't be that hard to produce. It's a collection of simple step-by-step guides aimed at the most common tasks that new users are likely to want to do. Each one would only address the exact steps needed to do that task. It could include an explanation of why each step is needed, but that's it. Just do this: A, B, C, ... I would think file rename, a couple types of search, a couple types of move, a way to set up shortcuts, etc., would be good choices.

If it was really done right, common tasks would be captured in "sub" guides that other guides could link to. The main guide could just say "Do xyz", with a link to the ZYX guide. The first time a user used that guide, they would click on the link to expand the sub-guide. The next time, if they remember how to do it, they could just do it, thereby learning how to use the tool.

Now, off to learn how to batch rename several hundreds filed in a dozen sub folders.

[highend]

You need the RegExp rename, not the batch rename and to do everything automatically you would need to script it anyway