Bulk Rename Utility Saves Time and Improves Work Flow

In this digital age, all those skills we learned about organizing paper files are now being used to manage digital files. And textbook authors have a LOT of digital files to organize, including

• Chapter drafts (previous edition, first draft, revised draft, copyedited draft, etc.)
• Page proofs (first round, first round with author comments, second round, etc.)
• Reviews
• Research articles and other resources
• Correspondence

I find that besides organizing such files into disk folders with descriptive names and nested in a logical manner that makes them easy to find, the filename of each file is critically important. When I have such files open on my desktop screen or attached to an email or located in a publisher's file management platform, I'm not always clear on what file version I'm really looking at. However, if I'm careful to use filenames that tell me this information, I have less of a concern.

At the beginning of a new revision process, I usually get files from the previous edition to use as the starting point. The individual chapter files often have some esoteric name that means something to the folks that created these files—but not necessarily very meaningful to me. For example, there may be as many as four extra leading zeroes. I guess that's to allow for books that have hundreds or thousands of chapters. Sometimes these filenames include the ISBN number of the previous edition of the book. Like that's going to help me.

I usually go in and change the names of all those chapter files to something more helpful to me as I progress through the revision process. For example, I'll include the chapter number. But I only need one leading zero before the single-digit chapter numbers. That goes first, to make the file list in the folder easy to navigate.

By the way, if you forget to use leading zeroes, then chapter 2 will be listed after chapter 19 and chapter 3 will be listed after chapter 29. Leading zeroes put them where they belong.

I also add in a shorthand telling me the title and edition number I'm working on. So Structure & Function of the Body 15th edition becomes SF15e and Anatomy & Physiology 9th edition becomes AP9e.

Then I append something that tells me what version I'm dealing with. For example, draft1 or copyedit or pages1. If these are versions that contain my responses to copyediting, then I'll also append my initials or name, such as kp or kpatton. 

I usually separate each of these shorthand units with a hyphen to make them easier to read at a glance. For example, 03-AP9e-copyedit-kpatton is the version that has my responses to the copyedited version of chapter three for Anatomy & Physiology 9th edition.

This seems like an awful lot of drone work, doesn't it? I agree that it would be if I typed in these filename changes in the usual way. But I don't. It literally takes me a few seconds to change the filenames of all 48 chapter files—plus several files for the glossary, front/back matter, appendices, etc. How can that be, you ask? I use a handy, cost-free tool called Bulk Rename Utility.

Whenever you open Bulk Rename Utility, you'll see this screen:

As the online tutorial advises, "The first thing to do is DO NOT PANIC!" It goes on to advise the user who has just picked themselves up off the floor that you don't really have to use all the controls available in the dashboard. Basic functionality—even advanced functionality—is really much simpler than it may seem with this complex screen that to me resembles the dashboard of one of those huge airliners.

You don't believe me. You think this is way over your head—something only your 11-year-old computer-gaming nephew will be able to handle. Because I know this, I've provided this video that proves how unbelievably simple it is for even we of The Beverly Hillbillies generation can handle.

If you want a video that also walks you through the installation process (and shows you how to rename image files) then click here Renaming Files Using Bulk Rename Utility.

For more tips like this one, come to my workshop Strategies to Make Your Textbook Workflow More Efficient at the 2016 TAA Conference.

Expand your view!

No matter if your writing project is bit or small, you'll benefit by having more than one monitor.

After hearing about another textbook author who had a two-monitor setup several years ago, I couldn't believe that such a setup would have any benefits . . . other than taking up too much desktop space.  But the image of such a setup lingered in my imagination for many months, and I began thinking of all kinds of reasons how a 2-monitor spread could my life a lot easier.

For example, I could actually SEE the various windows that I often keep open while writing or revising a set of chapters:

• Chapter file window - main text I am working
• Glossary file window (to update as I add new terms or change old terms)
• End of chapter window (to update as I revise the main text)
• Browser window (for research)

Imagining that such a setup would be prohibitively expensive and overly complicated to install, I decided to actually investigate the possibilities.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was CHEAP and EASY!

Because most computers have built-in graphics cards that already have connectors for two monitors, I found that all I needed was another monitor. And these days good quality monitors are relatively inexpensive. So all I had to do was get another monitor and plug it in!

The hardest part — and it wasn't very hard – was tweaking the settings for the display in the control panel of my computer. But guess what? Windows (and I assume the Mac OS) already anticipates the use of multiple monitors, so it's a matter of selecting from choices that are already programmed into the system.  It was a snap.

It really only takes a few minutes — believe it or not!

After a couple of years of using two monitors, I decided to add a third monitor. This took a little more effort — but not much. I purchased a second graphics card, selecting a relatively inexpensive one from an online vendor. That gave me two additional connectors for monitors. I did have to open up my computer case and install a graphics card, but that's a lot simpler than it sounds. Then I simply plugged in my third monitor, reset the display settings in the control panel, and I was good to go.
 
Click here to see my original 3-monitor setup, with standard 19" LCD monitors set up in landscape orientation.

I've considered using a fourth monitor but I think I would be overwhelmed. Research in this area backs up my own experience, which says that two or three monitors provides just the right amount of  space  for efficient work.

Right now I'm using three widescreen LED monitors that are tilted 90° into portrait mode. You can see in the photos that this provides a nice layout for writing. (Click any photo to enlarge it)

You can guess that I'm glad I went in this direction. Or I wouldn't have continued to expand and improve my set up. And if I didn't like it, this whole article would have a much different tone!

In fact I strongly recommend that you get at least two monitors!

Having multiple monitors really does increase your efficiency and reduce the frustration that you might feel when you're working in several windows at the same time but can't see all of them. The time saved in being able to simply drag-and-drop or copy and paste without opening and closing windows is itself worth adding a monitor.

Once you have tried a multiple monitor setup, you'll never go back!

When getting a monitor, you may want to consider an LED backlit monitor because this type of monitor is VERY energy/cost efficient and is far less bulky than other types of monitors.  Also, be sure that you get a monitor that can swivel if you want to use them in portrait orientation.  Another option is to use a special stand to support multiple monitors.

For additional commentary on this topic, see my article Why you need more than one monitor in The Electronic Professor.