Bat Filer is particularly useful if you often translate files between different formats. For example, say you obtain a number of Macintosh tech note files from a user's group BBS. Tech notes are distributed as MacWrite files. But what if you don't own MacWrite - you use Microsoft Word. Word can read MacWrite files, but you have to open them one at a time from within Word. In the Finder, double-clicking these MacWrite documents produces the "An application can't be found..." alert.
Tedious, isn't it? With Bat Filer, you can change the "creator" of all the tech note files from MacWrite (MACA) to Microsoft Word (MSWD). Now, double-clicking one of these files starts Word.
Or, if you like, clicking the Bat Filer "Launch" button will let you go right to Microsoft Word, passing to Word all the files you have selected as if they were all double-clicked in the Finder.
Bat Filer is also helpful if you use Apple File Exchange. Say you convert large numbers of MS-DOS or ProDOS TEXT files. Bat Filer can set the creator of all these files to your word processor.
Another thing you can use Bat Filer for is "cleaning up" disks. When folders become nested many levels deep - as they do on hard disks, in particular - it's possible to accumulate files that are no longer needed, but still sitting around. You can use the "Find Files" function in Bat Filer to find these old files. For example, you can search a volume for all files of type SIT! (StuffIt files). Presumably, you want to archive the SIT! files, and only keep their un-stuffed contents around. You could then make copies of all them on a back-up disk.
Still another use is searching for redundant (and possibly dangerous!) copies of the System file, print drivers, etc.
