Appending File Names Macro

Appending File Names Macro

For about 6 or 7 years I have been using Name Mangle (which I LOVE) to append words to the end of file names. For name mangler, it was as simple as creating a service that added “Best Of” to the end of all selected file names. I then set an obscure keyboard shortcut in macOS to trigger the Service and used a more common one in Keyboard Maestro for just Path Finder to trigger the service and added the “ Best Of” to all selected files.

With macOS Sonoma there was a change made with services and currently the Name Mangler services are not working. So, I can still use the app but launching it and manually dragging over the files, easy enough but a bit more cumbersome than I am used to.

I am SURE there is a way to complete this task with Keyboard Maestro, but it’s been a while since I have put on my new Marco thinking cap, so I figured I’d see if someone is already doing something similar.

My first idea would be to select the folder containing all of the files I’d like to rename, open them with Name Mangler and then toggle the Preset Menu and Rename with keyboard shortcut but I may be overcomplicating it.

If you're just looking for a way to batch rename selected files in the Finder, you may find this discussion helpful: Rename Files Mystery. It includes a macro for renaming files with support for regular expressions.

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Basic macro:

  1. Select the target folder
  2. Activate Name Mangler
  3. Have Keyboard Maestro send Cmd-P to Name Mangler, for the Populate with Finder Selection menu. (If you use Path Finder, you'll have to have it send Command-Option-P.)
  4. Use Keyboard Maestro's menu feature to select your preset.
  5. Send Command-R to Name Mangler to execute the Rename action.

We'd love to get Services working for you again, but I'm pretty sure it's not going to be possible unless/until Apple changes things. (I'm double-checking with our Peter, not Stairways Peter, and will let you know if he tells me differently.)

-rob.

Checking this out now Thank you!

Since I am using Path FInder the populating is a bit more difficult so this is what I went with.

00)Best of Rename.kmmacros (41.0 KB)

I'd prefer if it worked for all selected files rather than the folder but this is smooth enough.

Appreciate the input!!

Command-Option-P didn't work for Path Finder?

-rob.