Let's start with the summary: even if you only use the
Big Mean Folder Machine 2 once a year: you'll still think it's worth every cent. The reasons for this is because BMFM is built to do the kind of drudge work that makes us wish we didn't work with computers, that we were more organized, or that at least we had an assistant. There is no Mac or PC user in the world who does not, right now, have thousands of files on their computer -- and there are perhaps three of us who know where everything is. BMFM takes any folders you throw at it, and sorts the lot out into something manageable, something you can work with -- and something you can very easily archive.
So at tax time, or year's end, let it gather up all your work documents and arrange the lot by month. If you're archiving to physical media like DVD, tell BMFM to divide all your photographs by month, and then make folders that are the right size to go on that shiny disc. Or go the other wa, and tell BMFM to create one single folder containing every audio track you created since you got your Mac.
BMFM comes with myriad options for how it selects files and folders, how it sorts things, and what it then does with them all. With great options comes great responsibility: BMFM is very clear that you should let it
copy your files, instead of just
move them. You'll end up with exactly double the amount of files, at least temporarily, but one set will be gleamingly well-organized -- and when you're happy it's right, you can then archive it all off and delete the messy and disorganized "originals."
There really are a lot of options, though. Seriously, a lot. Depending on the choices you make, you can go through around a dozen screens -- but each one is clear in its explanations, and we found that the time it took meant we thought a lot about our choices, and just what we wanted to do our files. There's no question but that BMFM is right that you should let it copy files instead of get its hands dirty on your originals, but you do also get a preview of what's going to happen. Right before you press that last button, BMFM shows you what your sorted and polished up nicely folders are going to look like.
Unfortunately, it is bizarrely easy to accidentally quit BMFM at this point. We had our preview, but wanted to check what a particular file was; as we went to check in the Finder, one accidental press of the Escape key cancels everything – and entirely quits the application. You then have to relaunch BMFM and schlep through all those options again. It now defaults to what you chose last time, thank goodness, so it's quicker to get through than it was -- but still a chore.
Mind you, the alternative is manually going through every one of the thousands of files on our Macs and thinking about how we'll find them next year when they're suddenly urgent again. You don't appreciate how difficult and mentally numbing it is to organize files and folders until you've had to do it. So if you use it once a year, or maybe even if you only use it one single time, you'll be glad you got BMFM. If you end up using it every day, it'll change your job.
Big Mean Folder Machine 2 requires OS X 10.7 or later, and
costs $15 from the Mac App Store.
Who is Big Mean Folder Machine 2 for:
Archivists, anyone who does taxes, and those with huge collections of media and files.
Who is Big Mean Folder Machine 2 not for:
The organized and the disciplined who continually file things with care and foresight can file this review away under "thanks but no thanks."
-- William Gallagher (
@WGallagher)
Tags: software, Apple, hands on, review, BMFM, big mean folder machine, archiving, folders
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