Mac help -- Quickly delete unwanted files

[Jayems]

So here's my issue. I have 100s of folders that contain 1000s of image files. I need to clear up the non-keeper files. What I need to do, is have the file highlighted, and delete the file and move on to the next one. So I can look at the view box, see quickly if i should keep it or not, and move on. If I don't want it, a quick press of a button deletes it and I move on.

I know you can right-click and press delete, or even hold down the command key and press backspace to do it even quicker.

My issue with the cmd+backspace is that while it does EXACTLY what I need it to do, it does not highlight the next file once i delete the other file, instead, it drops back to the containing folder. Basically, this renders it useless as I have to individually click back on the next file and then delete it.

My other way is highlighting the file a separate colour and then just mass deleting the files that way, but that's identical to just right click and delete anyways.

Also, if anyone knows a short cut to highlighting the files a colour, that'd be extra handy too.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Jayems

So here's my issue. I have 100s of folders that contain 1000s of image files. I need to clear up the non-keeper files. What I need to do, is have the file highlighted, and delete the file and move on to the next one. So I can look at the view box, see quickly if i should keep it or not, and move on. If I don't want it, a quick press of a button deletes it and I move on.

I know you can right-click and press delete, or even hold down the command key and press backspace to do it even quicker.

My issue with the cmd+backspace is that while it does EXACTLY what I need it to do, it does not highlight the next file once i delete the other file, instead, it drops back to the containing folder. Basically, this renders it useless as I have to individually click back on the next file and then delete it.

My other way is highlighting the file a separate colour and then just mass deleting the files that way, but that's identical to just right click and delete anyways.

Also, if anyone knows a short cut to highlighting the files a colour, that'd be extra handy too.

Could you maybe reverse your workflow - use say coverflow mode to quickly flip through the list, and drag the picture of the files you want to keep (the coverflow preview), and drop them into a folder?

[FanIn80]

Here's a script for applying a label to a Finder item:

tell application "Finder"
	set thisItem to selection as alias
	set the label index of thisItem to 2
end tell

Just open up Script Editor and then paste this into an empty script. Save the script in your Scripts folder (~/Library/Scripts).

After that is done, go to http://www.red-sweater.com/fastscripts/ and download and install FastScripts (you don't need to license it unless you plan on making more than 10 shortcuts).

Go into the preferences in FastScripts and switch to the Script Shortcuts tab. Drill down under the /Users... (etc) section until you see the script. Double-click on the shortcut part and assign a keyboard shortcut.

You should now be able to select an item in Finder, hit that keyboard shortcut and then have the item highlight red. Couple that with either Tile View or use QuickLook and you should be fine from there.


Edit: Btw, the color chart is:

No color = 0
Orange = 1
Red = 2
Yellow = 3
Blue = 4
Purple = 5
Green = 6
Grey = 7

You just have to change the number in the script to the number of the color you want. You can then make seven different scripts with keyboard shortcuts if you wanted to.

Also, there might be better apps for assigning keyboard shortcuts to AppleScripts... I just did a quick Google search to find the one I mentioned here. Actually, I think Snow Leopard has the ability to assign shortcuts to scripts now that I think about it...

[Hack&Lube]

Wow that's really annoying sounding, can't you just do a thumbnail view like in windows where you can just see thumbnails of every single file right in the folder?

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Wow that's really annoying sounding, can't you just do a thumbnail view like in windows where you can just see thumbnails of every single file right in the folder?

Of course you can. In fact, you can even flip through pages in a document, or watch a movie, or play an audio file, or whatever else... all from those same thumbnails.

That's not what he's asking for though.

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

Could you maybe reverse your workflow - use say coverflow mode to quickly flip through the list, and drag the picture of the files you want to keep (the coverflow preview), and drop them into a folder?

I didn't even see this...

That's a good idea, or he can leave the workflow as is and just drag the item from coverflow to the trash can.

Edit: Actually, cmd+delete works fine for me in CoverFlow (in other words it highlights the next item in the list).

[Jayems]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Edit: Actually, cmd+delete works fine for me in CoverFlow (in other words it highlights the next item in the list).

Yep. Not sure why I didn't try in coverflow (which is what i use 90% of the time when editing pics). I had it in column view and tried the list view, but not cover for whatever reason. Works exactly how i need it to.

Now, to try this script thingy.

Thanks for the help, everyone.

I bet I can clear up nearly 500-700gb of unnecessary space waste, it's just going to take me a year to go through them all. lol. but at least this will cut that time 1000x.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Jayems

Yep. Not sure why I didn't try in coverflow (which is what i use 90% of the time when editing pics). I had it in column view and tried the list view, but not cover for whatever reason. Works exactly how i need it to.

Now, to try this script thingy.

Thanks for the help, everyone.

I bet I can clear up nearly 500-700gb of unnecessary space waste, it's just going to take me a year to go through them all. lol. but at least this will cut that time 1000x.

Do you think it might be time to look at a heavier duty photo management app like Lightroom or Aperture? I think Lightroom in particular is fairly well regarded for doing photo library management. I'm pretty sure a trial version is available as well from Adobe.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

Do you think it might be time to look at a heavier duty photo management app like Lightroom or Aperture? I think Lightroom in particular is fairly well regarded for doing photo library management. I'm pretty sure a trial version is available as well from Adobe.

Listen to this man. Lightroom could help you greatly I think. You could look at all your photos and just apply a flag to each one that sucks and then when it's all done delete all the flagged photos. You can even set it up to auto advance to the next photo after a keystroke so you're just hitting one key over and over instead of clicking on each file individually.

[Jayems]

I have lightroom at home but not at work. I've actually never used it for photo management, however. ONly used it for adjusting and some post processing. Bridge is handy, it's what i've always used for photo management.

[FanIn80]

+1 for Bridge.