Is there some way to do a "mail merge" type operation on plain text, xml or html files without using a word processor? [more inside]
posted by geekgirl397 on Nov 25, 2009 - 11 answers

For an art project, I need to take several thousand image files, reorder them randomly and rename them sequentially. Is there an AppleScript for that? Or something? [more inside]
posted by 235w103 on Nov 20, 2009 - 2 answers

I'm going to wipe my hard drive and reinstall Windows XP. But my files are in a huge mess and I'm scared I'm going to screw something up. [more inside]
posted by kitcat on Sep 30, 2009 - 16 answers

links to standards to naming scans (tiffs and jpgs) of slide images for artist's work? [more inside]
posted by pleasantries on Sep 23, 2009 - 3 answers

Hi AskMeFi. Can someone tell me how to combine 350 text files into one large text file so that the original filenames and dates are included above (or below) each entry? I'm using Vista Home Premium and they are all generic .txt files. I'm moving all of my notes into Evernote but want to save the names and dates of the individual txt files.
posted by chimrichalds on Sep 12, 2009 - 15 answers

Mac OSX Filter: How can I change the details displayed for files in a directory while in list view? [more inside]
posted by reenum on Aug 24, 2009 - 7 answers

Where can I find clear, accurate, small sound files of different musical notes. I don't mind if they're on a piano or a guitar or anything else. But I need a separate recording of each note through one octave, around about middle-C would be ideal but not necessary. (i.e. 12 files, each with a different note on them: A natural, A sharp, B natural etc.) [more inside]
posted by HopStopDon'tShop on Aug 19, 2009 - 12 answers

What are the main logs for understanding what the Unix (Linux and Mac OS X) systems are doing? Which log files are important for system administration?
posted by tahirh on Jul 18, 2009 - 6 answers

I'd like to move a big file (110gig) to a business associate across the internet. The file must arrive in as fast a time frame as possible in order to update a database with as little downtime as possible. [more inside]
posted by BrodieShadeTree on Jul 15, 2009 - 46 answers

Recommendations for an online Document Management System? Looking to host ~10 years of mixed files online (minutes, proposals, etc.), and have it be easily accessible and searched. [more inside]
posted by kensch on Jul 11, 2009 - 3 answers

Batch convert Word docs to text files? [more inside]
posted by yarrow on Jul 9, 2009 - 5 answers

I have 30 jpeg photos that I would like to send as one file. I have Mac. How would I go about doing that? [more inside]
posted by goalyeehah on Jul 6, 2009 - 13 answers

I spent a month labouring away on a website only to somehow delete it before emptying the trashcan. Yes, I know. Pathetic. It's been a week, however, and I'm seriously thinking of going to the expense of having it professionally retrieved. I know deleted photos can usually be retrieved - which is good because I really need them - but what are my chances of being able to get back properly formatted .html pages? Or formatted in such a way that I can at least try and restore them to their former glory.
posted by Zé Pequeno on Jul 1, 2009 - 14 answers

I have a text file containing a list of image filenames and I'd like to be able to point at a folder and have it select, move or label based on the list of filenames. Is there software, script or tool that makes automating this possible? [more inside]
posted by tinamonster on Jun 25, 2009 - 22 answers

What organizational products should I get for a home office? [more inside]
posted by mtphoto on Jun 24, 2009 - 6 answers

How can I hide files from a tech-savvy person? [more inside]
posted by rintako on Jun 14, 2009 - 37 answers

Computer Filter: What does ~WRL2334.tmp mean? And why do I have a million of these "files" (with different numbers after the WRL part) in my folders?
posted by cachondeo45 on Jun 10, 2009 - 6 answers

How to recover videos from an iPod Touch? [more inside]
posted by Kiwi on Jun 4, 2009 - 7 answers

Please help me merge two folders on my mac. [more inside]
posted by Silky Slim on Mar 8, 2009 - 22 answers

Is CHKDSK actually any good? [more inside]
posted by edbyford on Mar 4, 2009 - 17 answers

Help an application Luddite find a good system for organising recipes. [more inside]
posted by the luke parker fiasco on Mar 3, 2009 - 13 answers

How do I tell Firefox to use the Adobe Acrobat plug in to view tiff files? [more inside]
posted by pasici on Feb 26, 2009 - 2 answers

How can I tag my large collection of video files for easy searching? [more inside]
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty on Feb 18, 2009 - 4 answers

I have a portable usb hard drive that I use for keeping all my documents / backups on. Windows seems to love using this drive for everything, for example I am installing IE7 from windows update, and it is using the drive to hold all the temporary files during the install. Because of this the drive is always in use and I can never eject it. [more inside]
posted by Syntoad on Feb 17, 2009 - 5 answers

How can I efficiently and quickly find the files I need? Both short term and long term solutions needed. [more inside]
posted by arniec on Feb 10, 2009 - 3 answers

We have some file corruption on our network drive. Need to search through 1 TB worth of data.... How can I? Example insider. [more inside]
posted by bleucube on Jan 28, 2009 - 8 answers

My Mother-in-Law's computer stops downloading files at about the 2.5 -3.MB point no matter what the size of file. Example, she attempts to download Picasa from google and the first 2.5-3 MB downloads, but then the rest of the 9MB file quits. It is not just Picasa, but any file over 3-4 MB. [more inside]
posted by Beaufort on Jan 28, 2009 - 14 answers

What are the best programs (paid/shareware/freeware/open source) that can convert almost ALL kinds of video files and vice-versa? [more inside]
posted by omaralarifi on Jan 21, 2009 - 10 answers

My friend runs a small company that is growing. They're starting to run into file-sharing problems (versioning, archiving, etc.). Laboring under the bizarre belief that I know something about this stuff, my friend has asked for my help. [more inside]
posted by grumblebee on Jan 14, 2009 - 15 answers

I'd like to know the best way to move a selected group of files & applications to a new laptop, and advice to help ensure that my new Mac doesn't get bunged up with duplicate & improperly deleted files like my old one did, with its inexplicably full hard drive and crammed iTunes & iPhoto folders. This is rather lengthy, geared to the slightly moronic layperson (me), and has 6 sub-questions inside. [more inside]
posted by pseudostrabismus on Dec 24, 2008 - 5 answers

How can I securely share files on a Windows server behind a firewall with remote users ? [more inside]
posted by SteveInMaine on Dec 17, 2008 - 8 answers

How do I create a "custom file" in Windows XP? [more inside]
posted by Gyan on Nov 20, 2008 - 24 answers

Beyond being a freelance writer and a professional practitioner of public affairs, my base nature, I realize, is that of a data researcher, collector and organizer. [more inside]
posted by CollectiveMind on Nov 6, 2008 - 8 answers

I was wondering if there is a script/tool that I can install on my own webserver (apache2 on linux) that will do the work or dropload or yousendit or one of those numerous websites. [more inside]
posted by carthik on Oct 31, 2008 - 5 answers

Help me find and delete hidden files on my Mac! [more inside]
posted by wavejumper on Oct 23, 2008 - 9 answers

I know there are dozens of data recovery question on here, but nothing that appears to address my specific question. I have an Apple Powerbook G4 laptop running 10.4.1. In preparing to sell the machine I transferred a bunch of files across to an external drive, then deleted them, emptied the trash and deleted the entire user account (while telling it not to store a disc image of that account.) Since then nothing has been written to or deleted from the disk. Now I find that not all of my files were successfully copied to the external drive so I've lost a lot of data. In particular I would like to save just one folder full of Excel spreadsheets - my past few months of accounting. What is the likelihood of being able to achieve this, either myself or using a data recovery company?
posted by skylar on Sep 28, 2008 - 6 answers

How can I browse a website like how it would be if there weren't a "index.html" or similar file? That is, see a directory-type listing of the files in that directory? [more inside]
posted by demagogue on Sep 23, 2008 - 7 answers

I have a large photo and music collection and find that sometimes I go to an folder and can't find files that were there before, and have had some problems with corruption. I have bought a new hard drive, but I want to set up a backup system which tells me what has changed before making any changes... [more inside]
posted by edbyford on Sep 13, 2008 - 1 answer

Organizing files. I swear this isn't the same question that's been asked 100 times. Help me sort this out, please? [more inside]
posted by TomMelee on Sep 11, 2008 - 12 answers

I need to figure out how to use mod_rewrite to trim the extensions of all of a certain type of file (.php) and replace them with a forward slash [more inside]
posted by SECONDHANDSMOTE on Aug 13, 2008 - 4 answers

How can my synagogue organize a large and developing library of liturgical recordings? I'm interested in (inexpensive or free) specialized software or in suggestions on how to use more commonplace software for this purpose. [more inside]
posted by likedoomsday on Aug 11, 2008 - 7 answers

Why am I getting these mysterious network errors in my C# app? [more inside]
posted by mpls2 on Jun 26, 2008 - 5 answers

Can someone tell me what software would open these files (or could you open them for me)? [more inside]
posted by bolognius maximus on Jun 20, 2008 - 9 answers

What are ZIDX files? I bought a new computer about two weeks ago, and today I discovered about 175 files with a .zidx extension, contained within a ZIDX folder, that I cannot figure out. [more inside]
posted by megatherium on Jun 10, 2008 - 6 answers

Help me stop cluttering up my (OS X) desktop. [more inside]
posted by grumblebee on Jun 7, 2008 - 23 answers

Give me some ideas to manage my files, my data, my general computer setup etc. etc. for best use from multiple locations. [more inside]
posted by djgh on May 26, 2008 - 8 answers

I want to get away from Palm Desktop. [more inside]
posted by charlesv on May 26, 2008 - 4 answers

What's the best backup solution for (Ubuntu) Linux? I need a backup as complete as possible of a home directory of ~10+ GB, nightly, etc. I have two large external USB 2.0 drives for the purpose... [more inside]
posted by tmcw on May 18, 2008 - 11 answers

Somehow my friend's "My Pictures" folder (Win XP) disappeared. All 4GB of it. [more inside]
posted by snarfois on May 6, 2008 - 10 answers

How can I edit EXIF orientation meta data? [more inside]
posted by yerfatma on Apr 11, 2008 - 3 answers