Sometimes you just need a little extra oomph when it comes to managing files—perhaps you often need to adjust timestamps on your digital photos, or you lock files to help prevent them from getting overwritten. If you’re nodding your head right now, PublicSpace.net’s new utility, File Multi Tool 5, might be worth a look.
File Multi Tool 5 allows you to manipulate various file attributes that the Finder doesn’t—or those that it doesn’t do very well. You can edit and batch edit the timestamps of JPEG and Raw EXIF data, which can be a big help when it comes to properly sorting all photos from a shoot or cleaning up after a digital camera’s misconfigured clock.
You can also edit just about any file’s creation and modification dates, batch lock files to help prevent overwriting or deleting them, set or remove legacy creator codes, set Finder labels, and more.
File Multi Tool 5 is a spinoff of A Better Finder Attributes, a nearly identical utility that PublicSpace.net has offered for 15 years. Frank Reiff, founder of Publicspace.net, told Macworld via e-mail that, because of Apple’s objection to the use of “Finder” in the app’s name and some technical restrictions of Mac App Store rules, he decided to create this separate version with a new name and removed one particular feature for its release, the ability to create droplets for metadata automation. However, that was due to a technical hurdle which Reiff says has since been overcome; an update reinstating the feature has already been submitted to the store.
Reiff says he will continue to develop A Better Finder Attributes for distribution outside the store, so File Multi Tool 5 is basically a store-friendly sibling that adheres to Apple’s policies.
File Multi Tool 5 is exclusively available on the Mac App Store for $15. A Better Finder Attributes is available from PublicSpace.net’s site, also for $15.
File Multi Tool 5