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Using Insertion Variables

NtF! allows you to enter some special variables into the prefix or suffix that will be transformed when the new item names are generated. These variables include dates, counters, and the name of the enclosing folder of the item itself. The easiest way to use insertion variables is to use the corresponding insertion menu to the right of either the prefix or suffix field. When you use the insertion menus to place a variable, the variable will be included in either your prefix or suffix but it will be delimited by “«” and “»” (e.g., «#»). You can manually enter insertion variables but if you don’t include the double angle brackets (Option-\ and Option-Shift-\), then NtF! won’t know that these are insertion variables and will treat them as literal characters. Again, it’s easiest just to use the insertion menus.

A counter is an auto-incremented value that can be included in either the prefix or suffix. This counter gets incremented on each file so, for instance, a counter in the suffix could rename a set of files from “file.jpg”, “file.jpg”, “file.jpg” to “file 1.jpg”, “file 2.jpg”, “file 3.jpg”. The counters can also include leading zeros (which will add the appropriate amount of leading zeros based the total number of files to be renamed, e.g., if there are 10 files and the counter starts at 1, with leading zeros applied, the counter will result in 01, 02, etc.). To insert a counter, use the insert menu to the right of either the prefix or suffix text fields. The counter is the pound sign (#). Once inserted, you can change the counter start number (via the Prefix of Suffix Start Number fields, accordingly), and the increment amount. The defaults are 1 and 1 but you could start at any arbitrary number and increment by any integer amount as well. You can also specify the minimum number of digits that a counter should be which will prepend the appropriate number of zeros to the counter until it is the length specified.

To add a date variable, you also use the insert menu to the right of the prefix or suffix fields. The variables will insert the date based on the format of the variable inserted. You could add a hard-coded date to either the prefix or the suffix but a variable is more helpful when you want to save the rename parameters via a Profile. (See the “Saving, Applying & Managing Profiles” help section for more information on Profiles.) When you insert a date, the date that is used will either be the current date, the creation, or the modification date of the item to be renamed. You can use a separate date for both the prefix and suffix as desired.

To include the name of the enclosing folder in the item name, use the corresponding insertion menu to the right or either the prefix or suffix fields to insert the “ƒ” symbol.

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