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This may be baked, or may be standard in Windows machines, but
it's
not on Macs and so I'm assuming it's not elsewhere.
Often, I will save a file under a name with an annoying typo ("My
clever ides"), or I'll want to change the filename for some reason
while I'm working on the file.
Of
course, I can "Save as" under the new name, but I then have to
go
and delete the original mis-named file. Or I can go to Finder (or
whatever it is in Windows) and edit the filename, but this then
causes problems if I'm working on the document at the same time.
So.
Why is it not possible to edit the filename in the application itself.
For instance, I've just saved "My great ides.doc" - darn. This
filename is displayed at the top of the document window in Word,
so
why can't I just click in it (still in Word) and edit it ("My great
idea.doc")? The file would then be renamed, and the disc copy
and
the copy in memory would have the same new name.
Halfbakery: Commercial Database OS
Commercial Database OS
This was my take on a similar theme - rather than working on the traditional "File System" model where data is organised using a directories/folders/tree representation, why not instead present the data using common database fundamentals - each document would be stored using a (hidden system) primary key, and have attributes such as "Name", "Application", "Subject", "Author" etc - that you could edit/delete/search/sub-query on such as "SELECT name from documents where author = Julius and Name like "Favorite Ides" (of course, you could wrap all of that up in a presentation layer - much like Apple's "Spotlight" but the gist of the idea is to do away with the directory model altogether, and the requirement under that model for the file name to be the "primary key" (which is why it's so difficult to edit on the fly) [zen_tom, Jun 12 2009]
Mac 101 A Simple Trick to Rename Files
http://www.tuaw.com...ck-to-rename-files/
How to do with with icons ... [Aristotle, Jun 17 2009]
[link]
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It doesn't bite me so often since I use vim and you can just :sav newFileName and then :!del oldFileName, but your way is even easier. |
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"My Great Ides" - an unfinished work by Julius Caesar. |
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the flies here don't stay around long enough to have names. |
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In Windows, go to "Save As", edit the filename of the existing file from the "Save As" dialog, and then click on it to save to the newly renamed file, say "yes" for overwrite. |
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If they go round and round at regular intervals are they time flies? |
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cowtamer, that doesn't work for me as you describe. I don't get an "overwrite" dialog, and I end up with two files with two different names, as Mr Buchanan describes in the idea. |
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//Filenames editable in window// if you swallowed a bluebottle during a seasonal period of cold weather, would this be a Fly name edible in winter? fnar fnar |
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//In Windows, go to "Save As"....//
My memory of Windows (I still have flashbacks) was that I
couldn't do that, as [tatterdemalion] reports. But maybe it's
a new feature. On OS-X you can't (it keeps the original file
too). |
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I'm fairly sure this works in XP; you choose 'save as', then edit the file name in the browser section of the save window (not the 'save as' file name), just as you would in Explorer (you can also delete files, create directories etc.), then select 'cancel' so you don't actually save anything (pace [cowtamer]). It doesn't seem to work in Ubuntu, or (as you say) OS-X. |
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I agree that it is an excellent feature. My general request to Apple would be 'make Finder-like windows have full Finder functionality', which would include your request. They may be working towards this, judging by successive releases. |
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(later) Sorry, I didn't read your idea very well. Windows doesn't let you change the filename by selecting it at the top. In your implimentation, it would have to be clear to the user whether changing this name immediately changes the name of the saved file (if any). By the way, a bonus could be that once the name is edited, pressing <cmd> s (or equivalent) could immediately create a file in the default location without going through the 'save as' routine. This could be very useful in time-critical applications, including saving files without interrupting a data collecting process (such as sound recording). |
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This would work only if the flies had names, and they stayed in the window, right? |
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Now what was the ides, again? |
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Google Docs can do this. Just click on the filename at the top of the window and a prompt will pop up allowing you to change the name of your file. Very nice feature. |
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[Ian] the filename thing is an artifact of the traditional file-cabinet representation - If we adopted a different paradigm, we could do away with filenames - but right now, they remain a fundamental hingepin of the model, which is why (for example) we can't have two files in the same directory with the same name. |
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One representation alternative might be a database style one, as per my [linked] idea. |
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21 Quest, you are not understanding the idea. |
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Mr Tindale, how would you locate the file without a name? |
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spidermother, that does not work as described either. I did as you said, using Notepad with a previously saved file open, I selected "Save As..." and in the dialog that appeared, I edited the name of the file that was already saved. I clicked on the name in the file list (not in the save as.. dialog), and when a cursor appeared, I changed the filename and then clicked off the name so that the name change "took". Then I selected "Cancel" to end the "Save As..." operation. I ended up with the previously saved file showing the new name, but the still-active file had the old name. |
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Interestingly, I tried the same procedure in Open Office Writer, and it would not allow me to edit the name of the file, because the file was already open in another program. |
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It's clear to me that Mr Buchanan has discovered a non-existent and useful function. |
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If the system were any good, the file would locate you. |
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[tatter] You are correct, that's why I explained that I hadn't read the idea properly. [Max]'s suggestion would be a Good Thing and does not seem to exist as described. |
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Save As, alter name of file, alter name of save-to. |
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I'm thinking back to the 80s but I'm sure you could do this on a Mac, although maybe I'm thinking of Xerox's ViewPoint system. Try calling up the property sheet of the file and seeing if you can can change the filename there. |
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You might need to use the Mac's rather funky # key, if I remember correctly ... |
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In Word you could quite easily make a button that does this using a macro/vbscript. |
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[loonquawl] are you sure you're trying to do what I'm
talking about? Your suggestion doesn't work on a Mac, and
I suspect it doesn't achieve the right thing on a PC either.
I want to change the filename of a document I'm currently
working on, without having to go out of the application,
without leaving the previously-named version lying
around, and without confusing my application by renaming
the document in the background. |
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[Aristotle] No! I can rename a file in Finder (or the
Windows equivalent), obviously, but that's not what I want
to do - see above. |
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[Mixtela] Sounds more complicated than simply quitting
the application and renaming the file; or saving-as and
then deleting the original - neither of which I want to have
to do. |
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You can almost do this on a Mac. Right-click (or
command-click) on the name of the file in the title
bar. A list
will pop up showing you the path to the file. Click on
the second item in the list (i.e. the containing folder)
to reveal the file in Finder. Then just press return and
type the new name. When you switch back into your
application, the file name will be changed—no need to
close the file before renaming it. |
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Well designed applications don't reference the file by
name anyway, but rather by generating a “file
handle” that points to whatever the file actually is. If
the name changes, the file handle still points to the
correct file. |
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Well well, amazing the little things you can learn after 4 years of ignorance! |
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//You can almost do this on a Mac. Right-click...// |
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Aha! So you can! Well, then I have learned
something. |
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