Am I stuck forever with FreeFileSync 13.3?

[Widowsky]

FreeFileSync 13.4 ignores leading/trailing space when matching file names, according to its release notes. I can hardly believe my eyes.

I constantly use leading spaces in file and folder names to prioritize them at the top of lists on macOS. I'm no coder nor developer and please people, don't patronize me telling what I should or shouldn't do.

Am I understanding correctly, and does this mean that I won't be able to update FreeFileSync?

[bgstack15]

Hm, perhaps that can be a feature request: to ignore trailing spaces with a checkbox in the settings dialog.

[Widowsky]

So we're not free to call our files and folders whatever we want?

That's so wrong, it's simply unacceptable.

Misguided idea to prevent so-called user errors should remain an option and certainly not be imposed on everyone. Users don't make mistakes, only developers do.

FreeFileSync is a file synchronizer; it's not a batch file renamer.

[xCSxXenon]

Users don't make mistakes

LOL I see you're one of "those users"

Using spaces as an organizational method is simply ill-advised and you shouldn't do it. You are literally locking yourself into a flawed way of doing things that is going to cause you problems later. But as you say, there's no law against making bad decisions ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

With that said:

You're misunderstanding the feature. FreeFileSync still treats these file names as different, but matches them as pairs after comparison.

viewtopic.php?t=11134

[Widowsky]

Users don't make mistakes

LOL I see you're one of "those users"

What I meant, more precisely, is that users make mistakes, realize them, correct them, and learn from this process, thus becoming better users. If steps 2 to 4 cannot occur, it's not the user's fault.

Yes, this might be exactly what's happening to me right now, learning from a mistake.

Except that I present my case only as an example among others. There are necessarily plenty of reasons to use leading and trailing spaces in file names, all valid from the perspective of those who use them.

Using spaces as an organizational method is simply ill-advised and you shouldn't do it. You are literally locking yourself into a flawed way of doing things that is going to cause you problems later. But as you say, there's no law against making bad decisions ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

My way of doing things isn't "flawed", it's locally adapted to my situation ┌(^_^)┘♪└(^_^)┐

With that said:

You're misunderstanding the feature. FreeFileSync still treats these file names as different, but matches them as pairs after comparison.

viewtopic.php?t=11134

Thanks for the link and explanation, I'll see with use.

I still expect unintended consequences and apparently not the only one.

[xCSxXenon]

I still expect unintended consequences and apparently not the only one.

My way of doing things isn't "flawed", it's locally adapted to my situation

I constantly use leading spaces in file and folder names to prioritize them at the top of lists on macOS

You are expecting unintended consequences for intentionally doing things in a flawed way because of a situation you fabricated on your own. Gotcha

[Plerry]

There are people using a chisel as a screwdriver.
Sometimes it works, sometimes they hurt themselves doing so.

If you, Widowsky, being forwarned, do not want to abandon using leading spaces in file/folder-names (using a chisel as a screwdriver), so be it; at some time you will surely hurt yourself.

If you are open to a robust (even cross-platform) method of achieving the same result (bringing items to the top of your list):
Use another leading character than a whitespace.
A good and optically little intrusive option is to use the underscore character "_" .

I am a Windows person, but there even seems to be a built-in tool in MacOS to automatically change file- and foldernames. Very likely you can also use that tool to replace (just) leading spaces by some other character, per my proposal the underscore character.
If you want to have even more control over the sequence in which files and folders are listed, you may consider adding one or more leading digits to the name, e.g. "000_FilenameX", "007_FilenameY", "234_FilenameZ" etc.

[Widowsky]

Once again, my case is just one example among many. The unintended consequences concern other users.

[Widowsky]

Hm, perhaps that can be a feature request: to ignore trailing spaces with a checkbox in the settings dialog.

That would be the sensible thing to do.