ForkLift 1.1 Released: Three Licenses up for Grabs!

Posted by Marvin Sum on 08/24/07 in Apple, Applications, Featured, Giveaways, Internet, Productivity, Utilities, Web

When I saw a reminder this morning, notifying me of an update ForkLift 1.0, I was expecting several minor features and bug fixes. After all, it was just a point release. Boy was I in for a surprise; a big surprise.

For the uninitiated, ForkLift is a very capable file manager from the developers at BinaryNights. Personally, I use ForkLift all the time; I don’t even touch the Finder anymore because of several major annoyances that I can’t live with.

ForkLift Screenshot

The “Most Awesome New Feature” award will certainly be handed to the new batch re-naming tool (Screencast, MOV). Anyone who manually manages a ton of files should seriously look into this. With the option to replace/add text, change case, generate sequence and add metadata, this tool has all your bases covered. You can also mix and match the different options for better results.

ForkLift Batch Rename

In the above example, you’ll notice that I’ve renamed several images, destined to be uploaded to one of the MacApper servers. I could also add the creation date, modified date, owner, group or even generate a sequence of numbers to be appended to each file. It’s stuff like this that makes me truly appreciate the ingenuity of Mac developers.

Speaking of uploading stuff to servers, this next feature really streamlines this process. Dubbed “Droplets” (Screencast, MOV), it’s essentially a drop-box for uploading your files. Simply create a “Droplet” and place it somewhere handy (aka the Desktop). Whenever you wish to send something to a remote server, simply drag-and-drop it onto the “Droplet” and in Steve Jobs’s famous catch-phrase: Boom!

ForkLift Droplet

I’ve currently got two “Droplets” sitting on my Desktop; one for uploading to my personal blog (shameless plug!) and also to the MacApper servers. Previously, I had to navigate to both directories just to transfer files; as a web developer, this was one of the most boring aspects of my workflow. Thanks to “Droplets” (or drop-boxes, if you want to call it that), I will be more productive from now on.

Have you got a relative or friend who always insists on using older technology? Like CD-Rs. Or floppy disks; still remember those things!? The folks at BinaryNights obviously considered this because ForkLift now comes with the ability to split and combine large files (Screencast, MOV). If you have a huge file, you can choose to split it into multiple CDs (650MB/700MB), multiple DVDs (4.7GBs) or a custom size.

ForkLift Split&Combine

In the above example, I’ve managed to split the MacWorld Keynote video into two chunks small enough to burn onto a CD. ForkLift automatically generates the CRC and SFV files, which are used to detect any corruptions in the original files. Very handy.

Finally, one aspect that advanced users might appreciate is FXP (Screencast, MOV). FXP stands for File eXchange Protocol, and it allows for data transfer between two remote computers via FTP. Typically, you’d just copy the stuff from Server A onto your harddrive, then upload it to Server B, but why bother with the hassle? ForkLift is capable of handling the transfer automatically.

One question that you, dear reader, might have is: “How does ForkLift compare with the new Finder in Leopard?” While Apple has beefed up its offering with things like Coverflow, better Spotlight integration, “Back to My Mac” and an improved sidebar, ForkLift has also been fighting back. I’ve been really privileged to see some screenshots of the next version of ForkLift, and all I can say is: “Watch this space!”

Leopard Finder

So there you have it, an amazing file manager with several new kick-ass features. And because we’re so generous, MacApper is giving away three copies of ForkLift 1.1. To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment with one feature that you’d like to see in future iterations of ForkLift. The top three features will win. Competition closes 27th August at 9PM EST. Good luck!

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60 Comment(s)

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Chris said on

August 24th, 2007 at 9:09 am

Would love to see support for tags in the next version.

Bob said on

August 24th, 2007 at 9:14 am

I’d like to see some backup features, eliminating the need for other backup apps. It’s already got CD burning, an web server support, why not use it?

AC said on

August 24th, 2007 at 9:53 am

The ability to create new folders in a Copy to/Move to/Save to windows (as in the new window that comes up when one of the above file operations comes up). I hate the fact that it is not present (at least in finder).

Enforcer said on

August 24th, 2007 at 9:59 am

I’d like a binary file comparison

Ziv Kitaro said on

August 24th, 2007 at 10:00 am

Would love to see stacks added to the app. the ability to add files from many folders and then manipulate them as one unit. I do this with quicksilver, but I think it will be easier in forklift

Damien said on

August 24th, 2007 at 10:12 am

I’d like to see the droplets extended to be intelligent about file locations. For this to work you would tell the droplet what the local base location is, e.g. MySite Droplet would mirror ~/Sites/mysite.com. Then when you want to upload a file, e.g. ~/Sites/mysite.com/images/logo.png, it would recognize that the logo.png file is in the images directory under the mysite.com directory and automatically put it into the images folder on the FTP site. I have yet to see an FTP client able to do this, but I think it would be an awesome feature.

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Pemmax said on

August 24th, 2007 at 10:18 am

I thnk support for plugins will great feature. Plugins can give FL much more flexible.

Indraneel said on

August 24th, 2007 at 10:22 am

I know this has already been said, but the only thing that would complete this app is the ability to backup files. Other than that, it’s a pretty complete app.

Jack said on

August 24th, 2007 at 10:40 am

I agree, this app would be perfect with backup!

xScout said on

August 24th, 2007 at 10:44 am

Well, isn’t it obvious? If Forklift ever want to keep up with Apple’s new Leopard, the boys from BinaryNights better start programming a cool Coverflow option right away!!!

Nasim said on

August 24th, 2007 at 10:45 am

Coverflow would be great!

JimShoe said on

August 24th, 2007 at 10:45 am

I would like to see SMB implemented through ForkLift, and not rely on Finder. Then I could say piss of to Finder.

neil holcomb said on

August 24th, 2007 at 11:12 am

I would like to see forlift completly replace the finder, including the icon in the doc, and the icons on the desktop. It would be nice if we could pick our default file manager the same way we choose our default web browser.

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Steven said on

August 24th, 2007 at 11:15 am

I’ve love to see Md5 digests and drag-and-drop disk image creation.

Marius Bastiansen said on

August 24th, 2007 at 11:15 am

I would love something like Hazel built in to the app.

Axel said on

August 24th, 2007 at 11:23 am

A synchronisation feature would be rather nice. Similar to a droplet, you define the local directory and the server directory and whenever you drop a file, folder or push a button, the two directories are compared and the files sync’ed.
Would be great development! Work local, push a button, everythings online.

Jacob said on

August 24th, 2007 at 11:41 am

I’d love to see the ability to burn files directly to cd or dvd…..that’d be pretty cool

Damien said on

August 24th, 2007 at 11:44 am

Axel: if you’re going to do a func sync when you drop a file on it, why brother dropping the file, it isn’t very intuitive? Instead, why not just double-click to do the sync?

The plugins idea is good, and could be used to launch an open sourced community around using & extending ForkLift. It’d also be a good way to do the backup support.

I’d like to see them go to http://www.gpsoft.com.au and borrow ideas from there

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R_K said on

August 24th, 2007 at 11:48 am

Great software, I really like to see it growing. I submitted some bug reports and feature suggestions, hope it’s there now!

Seth said on

August 24th, 2007 at 11:56 am

Perhaps a free-license-worthy-feature-suggestion, a tab or left column link to a status window of sorts that allows me to view immediately any actions or processes taking place by Forklift or any files or folders being touched by Forklift. Concurrently, this could lead to the inclusion of user-defined options to view various history details of Forklift’s past actions.

Here’s hoping

Mike said on

August 24th, 2007 at 12:18 pm

A feature I would like is something that can compare two directories and show what is different based on file name and size. In a way so I can find what might need to be updated or what has recently changed. This would need to be able to work over a network. (for example to synchronize iTunes library). I know there are ways to do this with iTunes libraries but for other things…

Toni said on

August 24th, 2007 at 12:19 pm

Support for tags in spotlight comments, and tag browsing capability.

Ron Webber said on

August 24th, 2007 at 12:27 pm

Support for backup, maintanance and hidden function scripts, and QuickSilver-like application launching would make this perfect for my needs.

Bryan said on

August 24th, 2007 at 12:48 pm

There is one really simple thing, but I find it very annoying. When a file or folder is selected it would be nice to be able to see the entire path to the file with clickable links to take you to any of the folders in the path.

This could be implemented by turning the label that shows the name of the hard drive you are in into a drop down with the complete path starting at the hard drive. Of course all folders in the path would be clickable to take you to directly to the folder.

Tuteken said on

August 24th, 2007 at 12:52 pm

I think that forklift should come with quicksilver intergeneration. Thats why I use the finder and don’t have forklift, which looks sweet.

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Van Waals said on

August 24th, 2007 at 1:15 pm

A way to run it instead of Finder… so that you don’t have finder eating up and resources, while you are using forklift. since I don’t personally know of an “easy” way to turn finder “off”. Or also a way to easily change icons…

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Jason Swadley said on

August 24th, 2007 at 1:31 pm

“Back to my Mac” for any Mac.

Leopard has this feature integrated for .Mac subscribers, but there are thousands of us that would purchase Forklift for this feature alone (on top of its many others!)

It could be like a droplet for distant Macs (or like DropCopy, but for Macs that weren’t on the same network). A killer feature that would get a lot of people excited.

Luis said on

August 24th, 2007 at 1:34 pm

I would like to see the ability to synchronize files with an ftp folder and with a drive on a network or other pc

David Stalnaker said on

August 24th, 2007 at 2:00 pm

I’d like to see advanced synchronization features, a la Panic’s Transmit, where you can choose different types of synchronization and other such options. It would be cool to be able to simulate the sync, and then hit OK and have it go.

The other thing would be the ability to entirely replace the finder, but I realize this would be extremely tough to code. But you’ve got this great, full-featured program, and it would be nice to be able to use it as a default file browser.

Henrik said on

August 24th, 2007 at 2:49 pm

I would like to have a “Norton Commander” (or more recent Midnight Commander or Total Commander) menu at the bottom with copy, move, open, read buttons. Example F5= copy, F6= rename/mov, F8= delete and so on. I really miss those buttons/keyboard commands.

MG said on

August 24th, 2007 at 3:06 pm

Forklift should integrate FTP and SFTP through MacFUSE instead of it’s own protocol clients. Why? It would allow actual mounting of these remote drives on the system as folders, so web designers can click on a file at sftp://my-server.com/web and it will load in textmate or cssedit for live editing.

Zettt said on

August 24th, 2007 at 5:08 pm

OK here are my suggestions.

- Butler PlugIn. (I hope you know Butler, if not you should )
- Parse files real web adress. I am a musician and i often send out new unreleased songs to my close “fans”. Its so annoying to always find out the real web address to give ‘em.
- Drag and Drop support for files on Server. Now when i drag a file (eg. a .php) to my Text Editor it doesn’t open. Finder does
- Small Terminal. OK..this idea is stolen. But i like it. In Path Finder you can have a command line right beneath the main window, for chmod’ing and so on. Would be great if that would work in ForkLift.

Better keyboard shortucts. Like Command+Down/Up/Left/Right… should be the same as in Finder.
Small one but would also be good: An option for “always show tab bar” (I hate it when you make a new tab inside an app and then *pop* comes down, appearance changes *wurg*

Is that enough or should i continue?

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Furies said on

August 24th, 2007 at 5:26 pm

I would like to see GUI SSH support. That would truly make it the ultimate file manager and controller, web based and file system based.

Video preview would be an A+ too.

uy said on

August 24th, 2007 at 6:44 pm

I agree, coverflow would be nice

Yong Hwee said on

August 24th, 2007 at 9:08 pm

I would love to see integration with other apps, say Quicksilver for example.

-1

Gahndu said on

August 24th, 2007 at 9:26 pm

If the left drawer in Forklift was a sidebar this app would be beyond wonderful.

Damien McKenna said on

August 24th, 2007 at 9:39 pm

Furies: What do you mean by “GUI SSH”? There’s SFTP for SSH-based file transfers?

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Joseph Pecoraro said on

August 24th, 2007 at 10:57 pm

Two things already mentioned that I immediately thought of were tagging files/folders and full paths. Its always a pain for me to try to find the absolute path in Finder. But since these were already mentioned I tried to think a little harder and see what I could come up with.

I am almost always in list/pane mode in the finder, and there are often a few things I don’t like. There is already the “Get Info” button and from the right click menu when in list mode, however how about a little quick information for hovering over a file for a second? Simple things that are most commonly found in the Get Info box or in the last pane in finder when you click on a file. How about the absolute path, permissions, and previews for images (like Firebug). I don’t know if features like this are already in ForkLift because I haven’t tried it just yet.

Keith said on

August 24th, 2007 at 11:39 pm

One feature I’d love to see is the ability to edit id3 tags from within Forklift. As it stands, there’s no way to do this without another program, and since I use Forklift religiously, it’d be nice to have this ability.

Barry said on

August 24th, 2007 at 11:56 pm

A simple dashboard backup widget would be a great feature- simple way to do a progressive backup via ftp from your dashboard.

Richard said on

August 25th, 2007 at 1:11 am

A new feature? How about the ability to take over the world?

Seriously, this app is so well fleshed out I think world domination is the next logical step.

Darrell said on

August 25th, 2007 at 2:20 am

How about something that a lot of people use: connecting to your gmail account so u can transfer files back and forth? (a.k.a. GDrive, GDisk, etc.)

James C said on

August 25th, 2007 at 2:32 am

Adding tagging and full path would be nice… I hate not knowing where I am. Support for reading/writing id3 would be helpful too.

But Droplets have HUGE potential for adding features. Having a droplet do bulk renaming and sorting based on file type/size/tag info/id3 would be amazing. Or being able to have one droplet send a file to two locations based on file type/tag/etc.

Something I use on my windows pos that would be nice is hashtab. Being able to see md5 or svf with one click would be great.

Erich D said on

August 25th, 2007 at 2:55 am

Well, I’d have to ask for “macro” recording of actions, with the ability to set a particular variable…. such as naming or sequence of renames.

And while we’re at it, how’s about encryption/decryption or hiding/unhiding with a button click from within Forklift?

Wimpus said on

August 25th, 2007 at 4:11 am

Batch with GUI support for rename files, resize files @ once.
Par+Rar support: create + upack both.

Dink said on

August 25th, 2007 at 6:29 am

A integrated backup machine would be nice…

Joe Cool said on

August 25th, 2007 at 12:30 pm

I would like to see Forklift work as a better launcher. Features like adding apps to the toolbar (e.g. for burning disks) and allowing me to create custom options in contextual menus would really make Forklift a better option for me.

I would also like to see the GUI cleaned a bit. For example the drawer with Favorites and Volumes doesn’t need a big divider for dragging between the two. A simple line, or even following the lead of iTunes and Leopard’s Finder with sections and disclosure arrows would work just as well and save some space and visual clutter.

The last feature (which has been mentioned previously) is ftp synchronization options, especially if they were able to be AppleScripted or Automated.

mdmunoz said on

August 25th, 2007 at 2:23 pm

Not sure why my comment didn’t work yesterday, but most of these features are superfluous and miss the point. Forklift needs applescript support. A file manager almost needs to be scriptable, and the Finder is far ahead in that regard, to the point of needing no code to record actions into script.

Applescript, applescript, applescript.

T Stein said on

August 25th, 2007 at 8:48 pm

I’d like to be able to

1. Split views horizontally as well as vertically.
2. Be able to save views (that is, particular folders and settings) that I can then retrieve by a menu dropdown, say, or a toolbar.

pziebel said on

August 25th, 2007 at 11:15 pm

I’d like user-selectable fonts for file panes, etc.

marie boyer said on

August 26th, 2007 at 7:05 am

I would buy this tomorrow if it allowed me to find and organize video clips (ala iMovie 08 and iDive) so I could drag ‘n drop in other Mac programs.

I may wait a week to buy it if this feature is not added.

Joel said on

August 26th, 2007 at 9:23 pm

I would like to have .mac syncing for forklift preferences (Customized toolbar, etc…), which would make it a joy to use at home and work.

DMD said on

August 27th, 2007 at 1:50 pm

Feature: Copy url of a file on a website (after defining a base path and url in the options for that FTP address). This is something that is available in Fetch or SmartFTP, but not for Transmit, Interarchy, Cyberduck etc…..at least not since the last time I’ve checked.

This seems like it should be a very standard feature yet very few FTP/file managers have it.

Cory Klingsporn said on

August 27th, 2007 at 5:57 pm

Screw tags, they’re overrated. I’d like to see the ability to see files that you don’t use anymore that are taking up a lot of space in a seperate sort of manager window or frame, along with a few buttons: one trashes your file, one will compress the file, another could, say, move it to another location (a special folder, your external HD). I constantly have to trudge through my HD to find all those files I don’t even use but are taking up so much space, this feature would kick butt.

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Marvin Sum said on

August 27th, 2007 at 9:32 pm

A big thank you to all who participated. The giveaway is now closed.

The winners will be announced later tomorrow.

Greg H said on

August 28th, 2007 at 12:44 am

@ #48 (mdmunoz) Your comment worked, you just submitted it to the wrong post. You were the 5th person to comment on this post.

Darrell said on

August 28th, 2007 at 10:19 pm

I was just curious, where will the list of winners be posted? Here in the comments of this post or in the forums?

DMD said on

August 31st, 2007 at 4:25 am

Update: Panic Transmit version 3.6 finally includes the preview URL feature in their software!…….it’s about time. I asked them for this a year ago (literally).

..Hi Matthew,
..
..Thanks for writing. This is planned for a future version ..of Transmit.
..
..Best,
..Leslie
..Panic Inc
..
..
On Sep 2, 2006, at 3:03 PM, DMD wrote:

Would it be possible to create a “Copy Address” context item or something like that. In the Site preferences where you define an FTP site, to have a field that designates the base url to the website and a field that defines where the public root begins (or have it default to everything after “public_html”). This would enable a user to immediately open up a file in a browser and see it with its public address ~OR~ so that when you’re linking to something to your site, you can use a url that looks like “http://www.mysite.com/thefile.htm” instead of “ftp://ftp.mysite.com:21//public_html/thefile.htm”.

I have an automator action that has similar functionality. It uploads a selected file to a predefined directory and then copies the url to the clipboard.

best,
-Matthew

Lomoco said on

October 12th, 2007 at 1:33 am

Remote file exchanging and searching (like, someone in Florida can browse files and search files on someone’s mac running forklift in Canada. (Back-to-my-mac sort of thing).

LiuLi said on

June 18th, 2008 at 4:31 am

forklift
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