Not Understanding How to Use Masks in Filter Settings

JohannTheCreator · 2019-12-09 05:32

Hey all, hope everyone is doing well.

My question / problem has to do with me not really understanding how to use the mask fields in the filter settings window.

The reason I think I want to use this feature is that I'm trying to filter out files and folders by only including file / folder names that include the text "preview". So what I do is the following:

1. I drag and drop the files / folders that contain the files / folders I want to change.
2. I click the filter button above the main window.
3. I type *preview in the box below "Include" in the "Masks" section of the Filter Settings window.
4. I press the "Save" button.
5. Nothing happens.

Stefan · 2019-12-09 14:59

Hi and welcome.

Have you tried to set Filter settings first and next add your files and folders?

For others for reverence what we talking about:
http://www.den4b.com/wiki/ReNamer:Addin … nd_folders
http://www.den4b.com/wiki/ReNamer:Filter_settings

- - -

On the other hand, once you have already added all files,
you can afterwards too utilize the Files pane context menu to exclude files:
http://www.den4b.com/wiki/ReNamer:Files_menu

For example:
1. Mark by Mask
2. Clear Not Marked
or smtg like that....

HTH?

JohannTheCreator · 2019-12-15 01:04

If I put in the mask before I import (drag and drop) the files, nothing shows up in the window that says "drag your files here". So I guess this means the mask is working but it doesn't understand that I want to include files with the text "preview" in them and instead thinks there's something in the "include" text box in the masking section that isn't in any of the files I drag and drop?

Just for clarification, what is the proper way to enter text in the "include" box shown below. If I wanted to only include files and folders that have the word "preview", would I just type " preview " (without the quote marks) or do I need an asterisk first, so " *preview "? Also, I'm assuming the "include" box being red when I type in it means it is searching in realtime for matches and it hasn't found any? I'm not sure?

Renamer Mask Text Boxes

den4b · 2019-12-15 19:02

JohannTheCreator wrote:

Just for clarification, what is the proper way to enter text in the "include" box shown below. If I wanted to only include files and folders that have the word "preview", would I just type " preview " (without the quote marks) or do I need an asterisk first, so " *preview "?

You need to enter the asterisk on both sides of the keyword. In this case, you should enter "*preview*" (without quotes) in the Include field.

Also, I'm assuming the "include" box being red when I type in it means it is searching in realtime for matches and it hasn't found any?

The red highlight is used only to bring attention that you have a filter defined.

You can find additional information on the filter settings and the masks on the wiki:
https://www.den4b.com/wiki/ReNamer:Filter_settings
https://www.den4b.com/wiki/ReNamer:Masks

JohannTheCreator · 2019-12-16 13:23

Ahh ok. So I think that was my main issue. So I got it to work by doing it that way *Preview* before I dragged the files in and it worked (but it still didn't do anything if I try to save the filter after the files are already in the window).

And I might be missing something in the documentation, but any instance I find of examples of how to enter text in the mask field only has one asterisk in front of the keyword. So for this:

"For example, if you enter *.jpg;*.gif;*.png as an Include mask, ReNamer will add only files with these extensions." It looks like, to me anyway, that this is saying you need one asterisk before each keyword because there isn't one after "png".

Stefan · 2019-12-17 11:53

JohannTheCreator wrote:

...
It looks like, to me anyway, that this is saying you need one asterisk before each keyword because there isn't one after "png".

What would you expect to get behind an extension like "png"?

You use a filter with "wildcard" depending on what you are after:

*.png >>> find an PNG file with any name.
Vacation.* >> find files named "Vacation" with any kind of extensions: PNG, TXT, JPEG,...
*preview >>> find a file named like "anything preview"
preview* >>> find a file named like "preview anyth.ing"
*preview* >>> find a file named like "anything preview anyth.ing"

An asterisk (*) may be used to specify any number of characters.
"Work_20*_done.docx"
"Work_2019_done.*"
A question mark (?) may be used to represent a single character.
"Work_201?_done.docx"
"Work_2019_done.doc?"

- - -

It's not easy to write anything into the documentation, but OTOH not too much to not to discourage others with too many text.
So some common knowledge how software works is often just assumed, IMHO, sorry.

den4b wrote:

You need to enter the asterisk on both sides of the keyword. In this case, you should enter "*preview*" (without quotes) in the Include field.
The red highlight is used only to bring attention that you have a filter defined.

Den4b, you may want to add something like that to the mentioned wiki pages, please? (I would do it myself, but you would modify it anyway afterwards )

HTH?

JohannTheCreator · 2019-12-17 13:14

Maybe I'm in the minority of the most common type of person that uses this program, but I feel like what you said isn't common knowledge. But yeah, I feel like the documentation could definitely benefit from that information and overall be a little bit easier to understand. This is coming from a person that doesn't code at all and just wanted a program to use for batch renaming because windows doesn't provide anything like this out of the box.

Anyway, thanks for everyone's help. I got the issue solved (except it still isn't working with the files already dragged it, it only works if I set the mask in the filter settings before I drag them in, but that's not a big deal to me).

Thanks!

den4b · 2019-12-22 22:16

As few examples were added to the Masks article, and a clarification that the changes to filter settings apply only to the newly added files/folders.

If you feel that some parts could be improved further, please let us know.

den4b Forum

#1 2019-12-09 05:32

Not Understanding How to Use Masks in Filter Settings

#2 2019-12-09 14:59

Re: Not Understanding How to Use Masks in Filter Settings

#3 2019-12-15 01:04

Re: Not Understanding How to Use Masks in Filter Settings

#4 2019-12-15 19:02

Re: Not Understanding How to Use Masks in Filter Settings

#5 2019-12-16 13:23

Re: Not Understanding How to Use Masks in Filter Settings

#6 2019-12-17 11:53

Re: Not Understanding How to Use Masks in Filter Settings

#7 2019-12-17 13:14

Re: Not Understanding How to Use Masks in Filter Settings

#8 2019-12-22 22:16

Re: Not Understanding How to Use Masks in Filter Settings

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