BatchMP Renamer: Organize & Virtual Views

BatchMP Tools • Python • Batch Multimedia Processing

22 Sep 2025

Ever stared at a downloads folder full of mixed media files thinking “I should organize this… later”? Now later has arrived, and BatchMP Renamer makes it a lot easier.

The latest updates add two new capabilities: organize for automatically grouping files into directories, and enhanced print functionality with virtual views over the original file structure.

Organize by File Type

Imagine a typical download folder mess: photos, videos, music files, and other stuff all mixed together. The new organize command can sort them by media type with a single command:

$ renamer organize -b type

The -b type option tells renamer to organize files based on their media type. BatchMP Tools automatically detects whether files are images, videos, audio, or other formats and creates appropriate subdirectories:

~/Downloads
  |- image/
    |- vacation_photo.jpg
    |- screenshot.png
  |- video/
    |- family_movie.mp4
    |- presentation.mov
  |- audio/
    |- favorite_song.mp3
    |- podcast_episode.m4a
6 files, 3 folders
Proceed? [y/n]

Before actually moving anything, renamer shows exactly what changes it plans to make and asks for confirmation. No surprises, no accidents.

Organize by Date

But sometimes organizing by file type isn’t really what’s needed. How about sorting chronologically? The date-based organization has it covered:

$ renamer organize -b date

This creates directories based on modification dates using the default YYYY-MM-DD format:

~/Downloads
  |- 2025-01-15/
    |- document.pdf
    |- notes.txt
  |- 2025-01-20/
    |- photo.jpg
    |- video.mp4

But isn’t a hierarchical structure better for most things? The --date-format option gives complete control there:

$ renamer organize -b date --date-format "%Y/%m"

This creates nested year/month directories:

~/Downloads
  |- 2025/
    |- 01/
      |- document.pdf
      |- photo.jpg
    |- 12/
      |- last_year_file.txt

Any common Python strftime format would do: %Y-%m for “2025-01”, %B_%Y for “January_2025”, etc.

The virtual views

But what if you need to see files in a new organization without actually changing anything? The enhanced print command now supports the same type of previews:

$ renamer print -b type

This shows a virtual view of how the files would look organized by type, without intent to move anything:

Virtual view by type:
~/Downloads
  |- image/
    |- vacation_photo.jpg
    |- screenshot.png
  |- video/
    |- family_movie.mp4
  |- audio/
    |- favorite_song.mp3

Same goes for date-based previews:

$ renamer print -b date --date-format "%Y/%m"

This can be especially useful when experimenting with different organization strategies or date formats.

Sized Virtual View

Sometimes it’s useful to see not just how files would be organized, but also their sizes at a glance. The print command supports a size summary option with the -ss flag that adds file size information to the virtual view:

$ renamer print -b date -df "%y/%m" -ss

Virtual view by date:
~/Downloads
  |->/25
    |->/ 654MB 01
      |-  12MB vacation_photo.jpg
      |-  2MB screenshot.png
      |-  640MB presentation.mov
    |->/ 50MB 12
      |-  4MB favorite_song.mp3
      |-  46MB podcast_episode.m4a
5 files, 2 folders

The size information works with any organization method (-b type, -b date) and date format combinations.

Sorted Virtual Views

The virtual views become even more powerful when combined with sorting options. Using the -s parameter, it’s easy to control how directories and files are ordered within the organized view:

Sort by Size

When disk space becomes a concern, size-based sorting is invaluable:

$ renamer -s sd print -b type -ss

This shows directories sorted by size in descending order (largest first):

Virtual view by type:
~/Downloads
  |->/ 2.1GB video
    |-  531MB movie_part1.mp4
    |-  442MB movie_part2.mp4
    |-  357MB presentation.mp4
  |->/ 1.2GB nonmedia
    |-  200MB installer.dmg
    |-  150MB documentation.pdf
    |-  32MB spreadsheet.xlsx
  |->/ 8.0MB image
    |-  4MB high_res_photo.jpg
    |-  2MB screenshot.png
    |-  1MB thumbnail.jpg

The size sorting helps identify which file types are taking up the most space, making it easier to decide what to organize first or what might need cleanup.

For ascending order (smallest first), use -s sa:

$ renamer -s sa print -b type -ss

Sort by Name

Alphabetical sorting can be useful for systematic organization:

# Name ascending (A-Z)
$ renamer -s na print -b type

# Name descending (Z-A) 
$ renamer -s nd print -b type

This works with both type-based and date-based approaches:

$ renamer -s sd print -b date --date-format "%Y-%m" -ss

Shows date-based directories sorted by total size, helping identify which months have the largest collections of files.

Going the Other Direction: Flatten

Sometimes things need to go in the opposite direction - taking a nested directory structure and flattening it into a single level. Maybe the files got organized too deeply, or need a simple, flat arrangement from a complex hierarchy. The flatten command handles this:

$ renamer flatten -tl 0

The -tl 0 (target level 0) tells renamer to flatten everything to the root directory level. This moves all files from subdirectories up to the main directory:

# Before:
~/Downloads
  |- images/
    |- photo1.jpg
    |- photo2.png
  |- videos/
    |- movie.mp4
  |- docs/
    |- report.pdf

# After flatten -tl 0:
~/Downloads
  |- photo1.jpg
  |- photo2.png
  |- movie.mp4
  |- report.pdf

This creates an interesting workflow: organize files with organize, review the structure, and if a flatter arrangement is preferred, simply use flatten -tl 0 to bring everything back to a single level.

The flatten command handles duplicate filenames intelligently and, like all BatchMP Tools commands, shows exactly what it plans to do before making any changes.

File Type Filtering and Extraction

Sometimes there’s a need to focus only on specific types of files. The -ft (file type) parameter provides powerful filtering options to work with just media files, or exclude them entirely:

Media Files Only

To organize only media files (images, videos, and audio), while ignoring documents, executables, and other non-media content:

$ renamer -ft media -s sa print -b date --date-format "%Y/%m" -ss

This filters the view to show only media files, organized by date and sorted by size ascending:

Virtual view by date:
~/Downloads
  |->/2024
    |->/ 8.5MB 12
      |-  316KB vacation.gif
      |-  1.2MB photo1.jpg
      |-  1.4MB photo2.png
      |-  3.6MB family_video.mp4
    |->/ 45MB 11
      |-  12MB presentation.mp4
      |-  15MB song.mp3
      |-  18MB interview.wav

Specific Media Types

The filtering can be more specific. Available options include:

• -ft image: Only image files (PNG, JPG, GIF, etc.)
• -ft video: Only video files (MP4, MOV, AVI, etc.)
• -ft audio: Only audio files (MP3, WAV, M4A, etc.)
• -ft media: All media files (images, videos, and audio)
• -ft nonmedia: Everything except media files
• -ft any: All files (default behavior)

For example, to organize only images by type:

$ renamer -ft image organize -b type

Or to see a virtual view of only video files organized by date:

$ renamer -ft video -s sd print -b date --date-format "%Y-%m" -ss

Combining with Other Features

File type filtering combines seamlessly with all other features. Note the -r flag enables recursive scanning of subdirectories:

# Show only audio files, organized by type, sorted by size descending
$ renamer -r -ft audio -s sd print -b type -ss

# Organize only video files by date, excluding everything else
$ renamer -ft video organize -b date --date-format "%Y/%m"

# Preview non-media files (documents, executables, etc.) organized by type
$ renamer -ft nonmedia print -b type -ss

This type of filtering is useful for:

• Cleaning mixed downloads: Focus only on media files while ignoring installers and documents
• Media library organization: Organize photo/video collections without interference from other files
• Selective processing: Apply different organization strategies to different file types

Extracting to Target Directory

The real power of file type filtering becomes apparent when combined with the -td (target directory) parameter. This allows extracting specific file types to completely separate locations:

# Extract all images to a dedicated image directory, organized by date
$ renamer -r -ft image organize -b date --date-format "%Y/%m-%B" -td "./Images"

# Extract only videos to a separate media archive
$ renamer -r -ft video organize -b type -td "~/MediaArchive"

# Move all audio files to a music library, organized by date
$ renamer -r -ft audio organize -b date --date-format "%Y/%m" -td "~/Music/Archive"

This creates a powerful workflow for content separation:

# Before: Mixed downloads folder
~/Downloads
  |- vacation_photo.jpg
  |- family_video.mp4
  |- song.mp3
  |- document.pdf
  |- installer.dmg

# After extracting images:
~/Downloads
  |- family_video.mp4
  |- song.mp3
  |- document.pdf
  |- installer.dmg

~/Images
  |- 2024/
    |- 12-December/
      |- vacation_photo.jpg

The target directory is created automatically if it doesn’t exist, and the organization structure is built within it according to the specified format.

Real-World Scenarios

Here’s the described functionality in several common scenarios:

Digital Photography Workflow: After importing photos from multiple shoots, organize by date to create chronological archives:

$ renamer -r -ft image organize -b date --date-format "%Y/%m-%B"

Downloads Cleanup: Sort mixed downloads by type to quickly find what’s needed:

$ renamer organize -b type

Media Library Organization: Focus only on media files when organizing a mixed collection:

$ renamer -r -ft media -s sd print -b type -ss    # Preview media files only
$ renamer -r -ft media organize -b type            # Organize only media files

Content Extraction: Separate different file types into dedicated directories:

# Extract images to a photo library
$ renamer -r -ft image organize -b date --date-format "%Y/%m-%B" -td "./Photos"

# Extract videos to a video archive
$ renamer -r -ft video organize -b date --date-format "%Y/%m" -td "./Videos"

# Extract documents to a separate folder
$ renamer -r -ft nonmedia organize -b type -td "./Documents"

Project Preparation: Preview different organization strategies before committing:

$ renamer -s sd print -b date --date-format "%Y-%m" -ss
$ renamer -s sd print -b type -ss
$ renamer organize -b type  # When the choice is made

Archive Preparation: Organize files by date with hierarchical structure for long-term storage:

$ renamer organize -b date --date-format "%Y/%m/%d" -td "~/Archives"

Disk Space Analysis: Identify which file types or time periods are consuming the most space:

$ renamer -s sd print -b type -ss                              # Show largest file type categories first
$ renamer -s sd print -b date --date-format "%Y-%m" -ss        # Show largest months first
$ renamer -ft media -s sd print -b type -ss                    # Analyze only media file space usage

Content Separation Workflow: Systematically separate and organize different content types:

# First, preview what's in the mixed directory
$ renamer -r -s sd print -b type -ss

# Extract images to dedicated photo library
$ renamer -r -ft image organize -b date --date-format "%Y/%m-%B" -td "./Photos"

# Extract videos to video archive  
$ renamer -r -ft video organize -b date --date-format "%Y/%m" -td "./Videos"

# Extract audio to music library
$ renamer -r -ft audio organize -b type -td "./Music"

# Organize remaining documents by type
$ renamer -r -ft nonmedia organize -b type -td "./Documents"

Reorganization Workflow: Try different organization approaches by combining organize and flatten:

$ renamer organize -b type          # Sort by type first
$ renamer -s sd print -b date -ss    # Preview date-based organization with size info
$ renamer flatten -tl 0             # Flatten back to single level
$ renamer organize -b date          # Now organize by date instead