File Buddy10.0.3

Pricy and does not support macOS 11 Big Sur

Yes ! The Skytag web site has a new interface, it is signed "David Harris • 2018" and File Buddy 11 is on the way !!!!

Spoke to dev (Larry's son, who really believes in the app). He's absolutely determined to make it work. The problem is not APFS, it's doable. Problem is he's got to work in his spare time around a full time (non-Mac) programming job. Here's my workaround. Since it's working so slow, I don't do any more whole-disk searches. I restrain to a single folder (or a small group of folders). Easy to do; just toss the folder into the Find window, it'll auto-populate and self-select, and you can set up a bunch of oft-searched folders which will always appear at launch. This works. Keep the faith! (I've been using this app since the mid 90s).

SkyTag's File Buddy along with Alsoft's DiskWarrior have been the most useful and important utilities I've ever used.

Didn't imagine that this delightful, essential, reliable bit of software would need review help, but anything less than five stars is ridiculous. There are countless ways Apple has placated users not to look "under the hood", or to apply real power to working with and searching for files. If you want to get right to it, with none of the nonsense, and use your computer your way rather than the smooth, polished, out-of-the-box way (i.e. if you're any sort of Power User at all), you need this. Never been happier to have someone take two twenties out of my wallet.....

I had a problem with the serial number back in 2014 when I updated to version 10.0.3 but that is now fixed and works great on OS X 10.10.5. I heard back from the developer yesterday after he read my comment and he sent me a new serial number.
"There was a bug in the original serial number generation/validation algorithm. It caused certain serials to be generated that were invalid. Invalid serials are only rejected when a user upgrades to 10.0.3." Thank you, David!
So those of you who might have had the same problem, contact the developer for a replacement serial number. This app is terrific and I use it frequently.

The single most crucial utility that I own is File Buddy. It is in a league of its own.

For anyone who's interested, v10.0.2 is out. I know it fixes a visual glitch that some users experienced, but not sure what else it addresses.

My earlier review on this app (Ver9) was unfavourable because the developer had seemingly abandoned it. However, since it has been resurrected under version 10, I am very happy with the app and the support. The features and reliability have always been first class and I have used this tool to dig myself out of many a hole when files have become completely disordered on the system or apps have left dross behind when being removed.

This used to be a great application. It has been revived but it simply doesn't work yet. I purchased it (version 10b2) recently and it gave me nothing but memory errors: "There is not enough memory to complete the search. Select fewer files to compare and try again." I have 12 gigs of RAM and terabytes of free space. This message is simply wrong. So I reduced my search until I was comparing only two small photos. Same Error. So I wrote the author. Two weeks went by and no response. So I applied for a refund from Kagi. File Buddy will compare file names or dates but it won't compare resource or data fork sizes and contents. This is a TRUE file comparison. Are the files identical regardless of their name? Sometimes you have photos that are renamed or a new thumbnail has been applied; in order to compare them you can compare the contents of the data fork and determine if they are identical regardless of the name or thumbnail. This programme used to do this brilliantly. Now you get errors every time. I tried it on OS 10.7.2 and 10.8.3 (freshly installed). It simply doesn't work and the author doesn't respond to email even when it means he will lose the sale.

This used to be a great application. It has been revived but it simply doesn't work yet. I purchased it (version 10b2) recently and it gave me nothing but memory errors: "There is not enough memory to complete the search. Select fewer files to compare and try again." I have 12 gigs of RAM and terabytes of free space. This message is simply wrong. So I reduced my search until I was comparing only two small photos. Same Error. So I wrote the author. Two weeks went by and no response. So I applied for a refund from Kagi. File Buddy will compare file names or dates but it won't compare resource or data fork sizes and contents. This is a TRUE file comparison. Are the files identical regardless of their name? Sometimes you have photos that are renamed or a new thumbnail has been applied; in order to compare them you can compare the contents of the data fork and determine if they are identical regardless of the name or thumbnail. This programme used to do this brilliantly. Now you get errors every time. I tried it on OS 10.7.2 and 10.8.3 (freshly installed). It simply doesn't work and the author doesn't respond to email even when it means he will lose the sale.

An essential tool for mac. Does a bunch of file attribute modifications. Here my recommendation stamp.

Hey, nice to see you back again. FileBuddy is a great tool which I don't wanna miss again. Keep the good work.

This was great news. FileBuddy back in bis. Best utility software ever for the Mac. Looking forward to buying a new license even. I can't compute without this app.

Fantastic ! Can we know when localizations will be ready ? Thanks

I see the developer is putting it out there that FileBuddy never went away, but I’m clearly not the only one who thought we’d seen the end of it. Which would have been a shame, as its apps like this that had (and still has) me enthusiastic about the Mac. Had no hesitation in buying this upgraded beta version immediately. Purchasing through the Kagi website is a bit of a pain but that doesn’t really matter as this is unquestionably the best of breed, there’s no package out there that compares.

I purchased this software in the end of 2009 at full price ($39.95). Shortly after that, I upgraded my system to OS X 10.6 and the program did not work well with the new system anymore (below is part of the message from the developer then). I thus was unable to use the software in the past approximately one and half years. And now the developer update the software finally and charge for this update. What a jock!! {Dear those who are concerned, "I am a customer of Filebuddy 9.0.2. It seems the contextual menu function of FB 9 does not work. I am using an imac with OS X snow leopard." Mac OS X 10.6 does not support contextual menu plug-ins. I'll have to rewrite File Buddy's contextual menu to get it to work in 10.6, but I can't give you a date for when it will be ready. Larry

AWESOME. Hardly changed from v.9 but still the absolute best utility of its kind.

So-oooo glad to see this back, It is simply a must have file utility. While it is not cheap (under $10) it replaces an entire litany of 'one trick ponies' and as such it is an extraordinary value. It represents a go to app for most of all your file utilities needs. In my opinion it is simply the best file utility available. FYI: I have absolutely no relationship with the developer or anyone else related to SkyTag. This is simply my personal opinion based on working with this product over many years. The is not a paid or solicited review. I paid for the upgrade just like most everyone else has or will.

It's back and as good as ever! I am a long-time user of FB and there simply isn't any other app that does all that it does. Yes, you could cobble together a number of other free + paid apps, but the beauty and power of FB is that it is all in one package. If you have never used it before, check out its features and give it a try - the dev allows you 30 days to try it out.

I think that "developpers" who just disappear without a bye your leave or "sorry but i'm shutting up shop" are a disgrace to the app developer community. I would boycot any future offerings from Larry no matter how good they were.

I can confirm it will not start in Lion, but I have made a simple fix. After reg Finder sayes "fbhelper is a powerPC app..." when you try to start. Use Finder contextmenu on FB9 to show package contents and go to folder /Contents/Resources/and delete "fbhelper". Viola ... at next start your up! I use a PowerBool Pro mid 2010 and MacOS 10.7.1

Tried it, but had to restart my Lion computer after trying to launch the program ... to get Finder operational again ... .

update for os x 10.7 lion?

Over the years this has been one of the most valuable and best written tools out there. If anything, for its ability to find/fix broken aliases. I use Terminal for most other stuff, but I still come back to File Buddy...it's a real winner, has been for many years. Don Montalvo, TX

It's that I'm lloking for working with big quantities of files & folders, to put some order in all my disks.

I'd love to know what people are using as a replacement for this. I know that Find Any File is a great search tool, but what are people using as an alternative to the other many features this app had? Whilst its no longer being actively developed, I'm still fortunately able to have it mostly working, but accept this isn't going to be the case forever. Anyone?

My continuous string of FB licenses go back to March 1995. This was always an essential tool for me, and I still prefer its 'find' abilities over anything else. Many thanks to Laurence Harris.

I have been using EasyFind (freeware) for a few months. FWIW, I find that in many ways, but not all, it is (even) better than FileBuddy. Rock solid, intuitive, & truly Mac like. Five stars from me. http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/11076/easyfind

Not as powerful as it once was and has lost a lot of features under Snow Leopard, has licensing issues and apparently little or no support but damn, I still can't find any one application that does everything this one does. I depend on this to search files in my local drives, external drives and DMGs in a way that is superior to the finder / spotlight. Both the the search criteria and speed in this app are still impressive. I depend on this for getting rid of any bloated software program that spreads its files (and files hidden from Spotlight) around the hard drive as well as duplicate/ orphaned/ language files. The way it identifies files, then performs actions on them straight away is so…dependable. Excellent for identifying and renaming files as well. It does a great deal more than this too. Expensive, but for the everyday power user, it is still, despite its prehistoric age and GUI, an essential tool. Is there a tool that does everything this one does? I don't think there is and until there is, its File Buddy every time for me.

Two years since this app has been updated. The developer's page makes no reference to anything beyond 10.6.3. No support/reply when emailed. I love the app, but fear the ride is over. Should the developer no longer wish to maintain FB, perhaps the developer would sell the code to another???

Well, I have always figured File Buddy came from somebody considerably older and smarter than I am. And at my present age and state of decrepitude, I can forgive anyone anything because I realize just how fragile health and even life are. FB has been a help and a comfort for many years. If FB, or God forbid its developer, comes to a halt before I do -- I can't complain. I can hope the story's not over yet.

I'd have to agree with previous comments that there isn't any support. No answer to emails in over two months (one of which was a purchasing question, the others about the program). To me when a developer won't even answer a purchasing question, then they must not be interested in selling the program. But the lack of product support is another problem.

The 1-star ratings have one thing in common; complaints about how File Buddy is not working properly with Snow Leopard. From FileBuddy's website: "File Buddy 9 requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later and is fully compatible with Mac OS X 10.4 on both PowerPC and Intel. Compatible with 10.5, though a few minor issues have been reported in Leopard and are being investigated." There's NO mention of compatibility with 10.6 If/when the author decides to make it compatible with 10.6, people can complain all they want if they encounter buggy behavior. For now I will say that it is a 5-star application. I have used for years, before OS X. The few times when I've needed support I always got a thorough response. I'm still using it frequently with 10.5.8

Someone mentioned on Versiontracker that the developer may have been experiencing health issues (something about a hospital stay, IIRC). I don't know if this could be a factor in the poor support that users have been reporting (myself included), but I'm willing to give SkyTag a break until we get the whole story. Support used to be excellent - I received fast and helpful responses to all my inquiries.

File Buddy used to be a great app, but it does not work well under Snow Leopard: No contextual items No droplets Can't rename files These are all the things that I used FB for and now they are no longer working.

Imagine my surprise to see that FileBuddy finally has an update, as all this time I thought it had become abandonware. I would never have known if I hadn't happened to check the MacUpdate page. The SkyTag website shows as not having been updated since 2007 or 2008 - hard to tell, as each page has a different date. The sad fact is that I emailed the developer recently to enquire as to whether this would be updated for Snow Leopard & never received a reply. This isn't the first time I have had no response to emails from the developer, and judging from the other comments, this appears to be the norm. As a customer with a legitimate FileBuddy license this is unacceptable. I've used FileBuddy consistently over the years, even with all the bugs running it under Leopard. The FileBuddy licensing problem happens to me every time I get a new computer and have to transfer my program files. I really don't want to support a developer who can't be bothered to answer an email from a customer nor address program bugs. It is unlikely I will purchase a future version of FileBuddy unless this company changes dramatically and has the courtesy to respond to emails. I've been looking for an alternative program but haven't found a good substitute.

This app used to be very useful, a rela timesaver up to Mac OS X 10.4 but with Leopard the first problems appeared and with Snow Leopard I find it almost unusable for what I do (dragging files/folders from the Finder to the File Buddy icon). I'm posting my problems here because I wrote to the develeopers two weeks ago but I got no answer: I have to report several issues I am experiencing with File Buddy, most of them regarding Snow Leopard (I actually have Mac OS X 10.6.1) and some even Leopard. I have a MacBook Pro 2.5 GHz with 4 Gb RAM. - Under Snow Leopard, dragging one or more file/folder to the File Buddy icon has no effect. My default option is to open the dropped items in a new list window, and I also have the drop keys set so that Cmd-dragging a file/folder I should get the File Buddy Info window. Nothing happens either when I drop or Cmd-drop a Finder item in File Buddy icon, I have to manually open a new List window in File Buddy and drop the files/folders there. - Droplets no longer work, this happened with Leopard and of course they neither work with Snow Leopard. - File Buddy preferences are no longer saved: for example, if i change the default drop action from "View in list" to "Get Info" when I launch again FileBuddy I still have the old option set. - The File Buddy contextual menu is gone under Snow Leopard. Under Leopard I still had it in a "Other" submenu of the Finder contextual menu. Moreover, I have a very annoying problem with my serial number: one year ago I changed my PowerBook G4 for a MacBook Pro, and now every 1-2 weeks File buddy complains that it is in demo mode and I have to enter my serial number again. The first time I also had to put the date of my MacBook Pro back to a few days after the purchase of my license and reboot to enter my legally owned serial because File Buddy told me it had expired ... yet more annoying!

how do you access the contextual menu in snow leopard with filebuddy 9.0.2?

Be still my heart!

FINALLY! It is a welcome update. Thank you very much. :-)

An update?! Whoa. Registration issues appear to be fixed. Had to trash my old preferences to get everything working. Super.

With Leopard 10.5.8 on a Powerbook G4, FileBuddy is working fine so far: moving files, dragging folders into the find "other" window; resetting permissions in its Info window, and finding duplicates, and keep just one of each. The ability to use regular expressions has been a real time-saver for changing file names. One small bug I noticed back in 10.4: in typing a date, it's necessary to add a space first. I'll keep using FB until it fails. I don't think it will ever be equaled as a Mac file utility.

Well... all ym condolences... too bad.. this could have still been one of the best tools for many uses. Oh well.

Version 9 was in beta about the time i was set to became a serious user. When 9 was supposedly finalized, i was disappointed the UI hadn't been simplified or better organized. It had also developed some peculiar bugs and behaviors which multiplied when Leopard showed up. Questions and comments to the developer were met with what seemed to be irritation that Leopard had even come along, and very little help or answers as to whether the software would be fixed. It hasn't. It was overpriced and is much more so now that it has several significant problems just with the functions i'm interested in. No idea why people would suggest "Tidy Up" as an alternative when it does such a minuscule subset of what this does. Somewhat nearer would be Path Finder.

This program was a good tool under Tiger, but with Leopard it is a pain and, worst, claim with the developer don't solve the problems... They never answer. I trash my registered File Buddy. :(

I've been using File Buddy for years to find duplicates ... and it's just now starting to fail. Pity.

What is the incompatibility with Default Folder? I e-mailed the File Buddy developer and his response wasn't very enlightening: "I have no idea why it isn't compatible, so that's not likely to change." I also contacted the people at St. Clair Software and got this answer: "The only compatibility issue I'm aware of is that if you're running File Buddy in administrator mode, Default Folder X won't work in it. (What I mean by that is that you've given it your admin password after turning on the 'administrator mode' option in FB's general preferences). Default Folder X cannot enhance programs that are running with administrator privileges - Mac OS X won't allow it. The alternative is to run File Buddy without giving it admin privileges." Is this what you are referring to? I am interested in purchasing File Buddy, so it would be interesting if you could specify more concretely what you mean the incompatibility with Default Folder is.

I contacted the developer about the incompatibility issue with Default Folder. Here is what he had to say: "I have no idea why it isn't compatible, so that's not likely to change." Not very helpful in my opinion,

Needs a Leopard update. Can't deal with Leopard icons or permissions.

_ I used to use this constantly, but a few irritating snags have shown up with version 9 and haven't been addressed. Among them: 1 - Incompatible with Default Folder 2 - Doesn't remember open-file/folder sheet size 3 - Can't drag to the name field The inability to increase the UI font size on a high-res monitor is annoying, also. The UI could use some streamlining in general. Too MANY functions to make sense of from just toolbar buttons and menus.

Very good tool to manage your files and their attributes.

Final yes or not, this tool is a must-have! nice features to change file attributes, modify and organize files.

Not to rant in the sake of ranting but b1 was released in April '06. Now FB has reached b17 and still no final releaseÉ Please, developer, a final release!

_ I'm using beta 15 and if i save prefs with the "Allow access to administrator mode" box checked, it asks for my password, as it should. However, after i've done so, the prefs are still unsaved. When i click save, it again asks for my password, and so on, endlessly. If i choose the "Enable Administrator Mode" menu, it also asks for a password, and when i've entered it, the menu item remains "Enable Administrator Mode". So how does one *actually* get administrator mode activated?

I have been a (constant) user of File Buddy for years. It is indispensable. It has so many fine features that I feel comfortable saying that just by using these features one progresses from being a Mac User to being a Mac POWER User. At the very least, download and run it in TRIAL MODE; or save yourself the time and purchase it directly. What? Your still reading this? Go on! Go!

File Buddy is now universal binary. Well done!

I love this app. I've been using FB for years and years. I love the new interface and I'm already looking forward to seeing the next betas :)

This WOULD be an indispensible piece of software for me if it weren't for one problem: Type Size! I use Photoshop and other screen hogging software a lot and i have the resolution set very high on my monitor. File Buddy doesn't allow the font size in it's windows to be configured, so at 3/32 of an inch on my screen, it's really too tiny to be practical. File Buddy does so many things, i have to admit it's sometimes a bit confusing. I think the UI could be streamlined in some ways, but still, it's configureability is quite good.

Hey Brian, You aere mistaken. The featiures of File Buddy and those of Speed Downkload doi NOT overlap - NOT in any function. File Buddy is am invaluable tool.

This software is good but its price is much expensive.

Utterly indispensable, and not replaced by Spotlight in the areas where it truly counts. And I have to say that I thought it would be replaced with Spotlight--I was wrong.

File buddy is the best!