The Glue Files tool can be opened by clicking the Glue Files Together button on the main NewzToolz window.
Purpose: This window is for combining several files into one larger file. There are two main reasons why you would want to do this:
- First, you may have several MP3 or video files that you would like to stick together into one larger file so that they are easier to play.
- Second, you may have used one of our newsgroup-downloader programs, or another newsreader client to download a bunch of files from Usenet, and for some reason, the program failed to combine them. In that case, the data must also be decoded from the Usenet text encoding. (see Step 4 below.)
Limitations: It does not always make sense to glue files together. For example, you would not want to combine a spreadsheet with a movie. Also, it is not always possible to combine similar files either. Some formats such as AVI cannot be simply combined. Formats such as MP3 and TS can be combined with few problems. Whether or not you can combine your files is something you will have to figure out. The program only copies the data; it does not try to adjust it in any way. The “part” files produced by our Usenet downloaders can always be combined. If you want to combine pieces of video, take a look out our highlights reel page.
Instructions
Step 1 – Select Files
The first thing you need to do is tell the program which files you want it to combine. You do that by adding them to the list. Use the Add All Files From a Folder button to select a folder and add all of the files from that folder to the list. Use the Add One File button to select one file to add to the list. You can also drag-and-drop files from your desktop onto the list to add them. If you have many files in a folder, but only want to combine some of them, you can select the folder and then use the Remove Selected Files button, or the Delete key, to take out the files that you don’t want.
Step 2 – Put the Files in the Correct Order
The program will combine the files in the order in which they appear in the list. So, once you have added all the files, you need to eyeball them and make sure that they are in the correct order. You can sort the list alphabetically by clicking on the filename column header, and you can reorder files via drag-and-drop within the list.
Step 3 – Select the Destination of the Combined File
The program will create a new file, then read the data from each file in the list, and copy it into the new file. So, you need to tell the program where to put the new file. Use the Select Destination Folder button to select the folder if you don’t want it to go to the desktop, and type a filename into the Combined Filename box.
Step 4 – Click the Glue Button
Depending on the size and quantity of your files, the combining process can be quick or lengthy. The lower progress bar shows the overall progress of the process. The upper bar shows the progress of the current file, which will be highlighted in the list.
If you are combining files downloaded from a newsgroup, check the “Decode newsgroup data” box. This will cause the program to behave much differently. It will examine the data and figure out what encoding method was used – yEnc, UU, or Base-64 – and will extract the filename of the encoded file. It will combine the files, and then decode the combined file into the finished file. So, you will end up with two files when it is done. You will probably want to throw away the combined file, and just keep the finished file.