Warnings and Safety

ANE is designed to be safe, but it does change files and folders directly on your system. This page explains the important behaviours to understand before running large jobs.

Always back up critical data before running large operations on important directories. Every precaution is taken, but a backup is your safety net.

Renaming is non-destructive

Renaming only changes names. File contents, dates, and other metadata are fully preserved. ANE never deletes anything during a rename.

Every bulk action confirms first

Rename, copy, move, delete, and generate all show what will happen and ask for confirmation before proceeding. You can also Preview first, and Stop a running job at any time.

Preview may show unexpected files

The preview shows everything that could be affected. You may occasionally see:

• Files with no extension: these are scanned but renamed only if their name genuinely matches your criteria.
• System or hidden files: ANE automatically excludes known system files and temporary lock files from both preview and renaming.

Seeing a file in the preview does not guarantee it will be renamed. Only items whose names satisfy your exact settings are changed.

Subfolder option resets on path change

Whenever you change the target path, Include Subfolders is unchecked automatically. This is intentional, it prevents accidentally applying a deep recursive rename to a new, unreviewed path.

Files open in another application

ANE cannot rename a file that is open elsewhere (for example, a document open in Word). The results grid shows an error for that file, close it in the other application and run the rename again.

Deletions go to the Recycle Bin

Deleting items from Live Search sends them to the Recycle Bin, not into nothing, so they can be restored. On some network locations the Recycle Bin may be unavailable; there a delete attempts a direct removal instead.

Administrator privileges

A standard account can rename or delete most files. If you hit an Access Denied error on a protected file, ANE offers to retry using Windows' built-in administrator elevation, approve the prompt to proceed.

Conflicts are shown before they happen

In Selection File Edit, every name conflict is listed before anything is moved or copied, and you choose how each is handled (rename, skip, or overwrite). Nothing is overwritten silently.

Disk space when generating files

In the Batch Data Generator:

• Before a Fully Allocated run, ANE checks free space and warns you if the run would not fit, it does not start.
• If a drive fills up while writing, ANE stops, removes the unfinished file, and tells you what happened.
• Sparse files use almost no real disk space and are ideal when only the reported size matters.

A note on responsible use

ANE creates files only where you point it, on your own machine, and always waits for you to confirm. Creating large amounts of data on storage you do not own or control can disrupt that system, only generate data on drives and folders that are yours to use.

See also

• Troubleshooting: fixing specific errors.
• FAQ: undo, conflicts, and more.