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FreeCommander Guide

This placeholder guide will document how Archives staff and student workers use FreeCommander in day-to-day processing workflows. It will support file review, navigation, batch renaming, and other repetitive workstation tasks.

Goal

Provide a practical introduction to the FreeCommander interface and the small set of actions most often used in Archives workflows.

Why It Matters for Archives Work

FreeCommander is especially useful for digital archivists who need to process large numbers of files and folders quickly and consistently. For recurring archival workflows, it provides a much more efficient file-management environment than relying on Windows File Explorer alone.

Features that are especially helpful in archival processing include:

  • dual-pane navigation for comparing or moving files between locations
  • batch renaming for consistent file naming at scale
  • quick preview with F3 without opening every file in another program
  • faster multi-file selection, sorting, and review
  • easy visibility into filenames, extensions, sizes, and dates
  • the ability to launch programs or scripts from FreeCommander buttons using the selected files as input
  • practical support for repetitive file organization tasks during digitization, description, and packaging workflows

Note

Launching programs or scripts from FreeCommander buttons can be extremely useful for advanced workflows, especially when running tools against selected files, but this should be treated as a more advanced setup for experienced users.

Planned Topics

  • overview of the dual-pane interface
  • navigating folders and comparing two locations
  • selecting groups of files
  • using F2 for batch rename workflows
  • sorting by filename, date, and file type
  • reviewing file counts and sizes
  • creating folders and moving grouped files
  • using FreeCommander instead of slow one-by-one rename work in File Explorer

Placeholder Workflow Notes

The full guide should eventually explain:

  1. What each main pane does.
  2. How to move between folders quickly.
  3. How to select multiple files safely before renaming.
  4. How batch rename patterns work for Archives file naming.
  5. How to verify counts and sizes before upload or packaging.

Common Hotkeys

  • F2: rename files, including batch rename workflows
  • F3: open quick preview without fully opening the file in another program

Important Reminder

Each Digital Processing Workstation should have FreeCommander installed. If it is missing, staff should notify an administrator rather than substituting a slower manual workaround.

Future Additions

  • annotated interface screenshots
  • sample rename patterns for scan batches and OCR outputs
  • common mistakes to avoid during batch renaming
  • quick-reference section for the most-used shortcuts