AutoCat

Buy it now... and get your money back (one out of 20 chances...)

Catalog Different

4/5 Macdownload
4/5 FileDudes
4/5 Tucows

Welcome to AutoCat 2.3...
...it still doesn't automatically feed the cat... (*)
...but it's simpler and more elegant than ever!

Perfect for cataloging MP3s and pictures...

A famous customer...

Download AutoCat

Available in English, Finnish (localized by Janne Moilanen, and in French (localized by Philppe Bonnaure

Highlights
- Catalog all your removable volumes in a very Macintosh way.
- Navigate through your catalog directly from the Finder.
- Navigate through your catalog from Open/Save dialogs.
- No application to launch to navigate through your catalog.
- Use the Finder's 'Find' command to search your catalog.
- Works in the background.
- Appearance-savvy, Navigation Services-savvy.

Requirements
- A PowerMac with System 7.6 or better.

What's new in AutoCat 2.4
- 'Catalog Custom Icons' option.

AutoCat 2.3
- 'Eject after cataloging' option.
- 'Autoscan when inserted' option.
AutoCat 2.2
- AutoCat now supports new StuffIt 5.x archives.
AutoCat 2.1
- AutoCat no longer stops when it encounters corrupted StuffIt archives, it just marks them as corrupted and continues cataloging.
- There is now an optionnal smart progress bar, allowing you to see how long the cataloging process is taking.

Register AutoCat
AutoCat is a $15 shareware.
You can register online (there's even a secure ordering page) or use the Register program that comes with AutoCat when you download it.
You will receive a registration number that will disable forever the annoying reminder shareware message at startup...

More details about registering AutoCat

For every 20 single user's registrations received for AutoCat 2, I will randomly select one user and refund their registration fee!...
- The money will be sent in cash: US$, CAN$, or French Francs.
- This applies to single licenses only.

AutoCat Tips
- Turn On Ballon Help the first time you use AutoCat.
- Use MacOS Extended Format (HFS Plus) for the disk on which AutoCat stores your catalog. It will be much smaller than with the old HFS Format. (HFS Plus is available with MacOS 8.1 or later.)

- When using AutoCat for the first time, catalog all your disks by unchecking 'Quit after cataloging' in the preferences dialog. Then, just insert your first disk while AutoCat is in the foreground: AutoCat will catalog it and eject it. Then insert your second disk, and so on...

- Place AutoCat close to the Trash on the desktop. When you are done with a disk, just drag onto the AutoCat icon: it will be cataloged (if you made changes) and ejected.

What AutoCat users are saying
"Great! I never win anything, so this is a surprise." - D. B who got his money back
"AutoCat offers an appealing low-cost disk tracking system that takes up little room and works very well." - A.B., Macdownload

"This is a marvelous little program that will prove indispensable to anyone tired of wading through piles of floppies." - MacFormat Issue 22

"Very nice way to catalog all your removable volumes." - Tucows

“Thank you for writing such a useful program. I really appreciate those program that are small & elegant and do things in the Macintosh way.” - A.T., Vancouver BC, Canada

"I'm quite happy with the performance of AutoCat and the different ways that it works.... I have tried some of the others and really don't like the feel." - F.S., Cary NC, US

“AutoCat continues to be one of my all-time favorite downloads. That coming from someone who has close to fifty filled floppies with archived shareware! Which, of course, is why I like AutoCat so well. Keeping track of all of that before was a nightmare.” - J.R., Bare VT, US

“... and think it is the easiest system to use.” - M.S., Somerville MA, US

“...I took refuge to your simpler AutoCat. I do not regret it.” - J.D., Amsterdam, The Netherlands

“Very fast, very efficient. I've changed to using this from a more expensive commercial one!” - S.D., archivist at the University of Michigan

About the author
Visit my home page if you're curious... I just want to say thank you to all AutoCat registered users. I hope you will enjoy AutoCat 2. And special thanks to people who support AutoCat, especially you, Fred.

Optimized for Mac OS 8.5
AutoCat creates one alias for each file you catalog. Thanks to the new MacOS Extended format (HFS+) introduced with MacOS 8.1, aliases take much less room on your hard drive. That means your catalog will be much smaller.

About HFS+
The space you recover with HFS+ is proportional to the size of the volume and the number of files (including AutoCat aliases) on the disk. Bigger disks have a greater potential for wasted space for each file. As an example, if you have a 5 GB disk, the possible wasted space is 82K for each file. Since AutoCat creates one 2K file (one alias) for each file it catalogs, you can save a lot of room if you use HFS+. On a 5 GB disk, you save 80K for each alias, which means your catalog is 40 times smaller!

More technical stuff about HFS Plus format

ActionUtilities and Alsoft have tools that convert your HFS disk into an HFS+ disk without reformatting everything.

What's different from AutoCat 1.7
- No control panel (better compatibility with upcoming OS)
- A drag&drop application
- A contextual menu plug-in
- Optimized for PowerPC
- Catalog in the background
- Look inside StuffIt archives
- Info box while cataloging
- More...

Notes for AutoCat 1.7 users
- AutoCat 2 is free for you.
- You need to ask me another registration number.
- You can delete the old AutoCat control panel.

Catalog your disks with AutoCat or AutoCatCM

- Insert a disk while AutoCat is in the front. It will be cataloged and ejected. This is a practical way to catalog a series of disks.
- Drag a disk onto the AutoCat icon or the AutoCat window. It will be automatically cataloged and ejected.
(It is suggested to put the AutoCat icon close to the trash on the desktop.)

- Control-click on disk and catalog it, thanks to AutoCatCM, a contextual menu plug-in.
Using the contextual menu of the disk

Using contextual menus

Let AutoCat catalog your disk in the background

AutoCat Window
AutoCat cataloging a disk
This simple info box appears when AutoCat is cataloging a disk.
You don't have to wait until AutoCat has finished its cataloging to continue to use your Mac. AutoCat works in the background and automatically ejects your disk when it's done. AutoCat only catalogs disks not included in your catalog: if you have already cataloged a disk and didn't change its contents, AutoCat doesn't catalog it gain.

Navigate through your catalog from the Finder

The same as you navigate through your disk! You can even use the Finder's Find command: it will find your file on your catalog, then you just need to double-click on it and the Finder will ask you to insert the disk the file is stored on.
You can also navigate through Open and Save dialogs from within all your applications. Actually, you can access your catalog from everywhere! You can share it and access it via a network if you want.

Here is an example:

A disk called "Pictures"
Here is a floppy disk called "Pictures" as seen in the Finder.
The AutoCatalog
You can see the contents of "Pictures". Note that you can look inside StuffIt archives and there is a file indicating used space and capacity of the floppy disk. You can also see "Pictures" as Icons, just use the Finder. While in the catalog, to use a file, double- click on its icon, and the Finder will ask you to insert the disk "Pictures". Very, very simple...

Happy AutoCataloging!...

"Small is beautiful."
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication".