organizing files

[karenr]

I have a folder with about 500 photos which I want to burn as a slideshow type family album. Trouble is, they're in alphabetical order and I'd like to mix them up, and windows explorer won't let me do it. Or will it? Anybody know how I can "randomize" these files?

[Sylvander]

Add numbers to the beginning of the file names at random.
It means [temporarily] re-naming 500 files.
Pick the first at random and add 000 to the name.
Pick the 2nd at random and add 001, etc.

Here's hoping someone comes up with something better. :(

[Sempron]

Right click anywhere in the folder and click the 'Arrange icons By' button and click any choice other than 'name'. Best bet might be by size? but at least it wont be alphabetical

[karenr]

there's nothing out there to make it easier for me. Thanks for the suggestions. :(

[Paul Komski]

Maybe try WebmastersGuide ReNamer from http://www.webmastersguide.com/downloads.htm#renamer

Should do what you want if the blurb is correct.

[karenr]

I've downloaded it, now to give it a try :)

[karenr]

It does not actually rename the files, just sorts them randomly, which is exactly what I wanted!! It resorted 456 files in about 3 seconds.
Thanks sooo much, Paul.
:D

[Paul Komski]

You can rename the files if you want to. Under options "New Prefix" try putting in something like Pic and then all the files will be renamed Pic001 etc plus their file extension (which you can also omit if you want to). It seems to work very nicely and as long as its doing what you want then that's just great.