ImBatch for Windows

ImBatch processes, edits, and converts image files in batches or individually. This easy-to-use freeware also adds watermarks, edits EXIF data, and runs scripts, too. It handles more than 30 image formats; not just common formats like JPEG, GIF, and TIFF but also FAX, G3N, G3F, XIF, ICB, WDP, and other uncommon formats. You can create, save, and load Tasks to process large batches using the same settings. Recent updates include Windows 8 readiness and improvements to the watermarking and crop tools.

With its dark gray tones and highlights, ImBatch's user interface resembles a media player; a nice change from gray Explorer boxes. The interface is split down the center between a file list with thumbnails, a drag-and-drop panel, and optional preview pane on the left, and a Task panel on the right. Toggling on the Preview Pane feature not only displays a preview thumbnail but also a larger pop-up preview. The Configuration button opened a tabbed settings sheet offering skins and more, but we didn't see a Help file on the interface. We did find a Help folder with a well-illustrated, PDF-based Quick Start guide in ImBatch's Program folder, though. But it's not difficult to just start using ImBatch, which is what we did. We tested the waters by rounding the corners on a single image, which involved loading an image and creating a Task, including selecting width and height of the rounding in pixels. We could save output files as individual images or add them to PDFs, too. When we were ready, we pressed the big "Start" arrow, and ImBatch processed our image quickly. Next we added a folder and created some more complex Tasks (more than 20 are possible, including Resize, Grayscale, Soft Shadow, Frame, Watermark, Watermark Text, and Set and Remove EXIF/IPTC Tag) and again ImBatch rose to the occasion.

We've tried lots of freeware image processing tools, and most of them do a decent job. ImBatch is a bit nicer than many we've seen, and it has plenty of options without overwhelming less-experienced users. If you're looking for a reliable batch image processor, check out ImBatch.

• Added 64-bit version of ImBatch.
• Added Separate Objects task.
• Significantly improved the speed of adding images to the list.
• 'Soft Shadow' task: added the ability to set an expression for the shadow's radius and offset.
• 'Change Channels' task: added the ability to manipulate the alpha channel.
• 'Create Contact Sheet' task: added the ability to set the method of resizing images and the background color.
• 'Invert' task: added the ability to select channels to invert.
• 'AutoCrop' task: added Minimum Limit parameter.
• 'Create Contact Sheet' task: fixed work of the task in multithreaded mode.
• 'Save To Animated GIF' task: work in multithreaded mode has been fixed.
• 'Reset To Original' task: fixed restoring of all image metadata.
• ImageMonitor: added support for HEIC/HEIF format.
• Fixed work of the task Vectorization.
• Removed focus change on controls when hovering over task list or image list controls.
• Fixed scrolling to the first added image when adding with the program interface.
• Fixed work of AutoCrop task by contour for black and white images.
• Fixed problem with DDS format if the internal format is DXGI_FORMAT_B8G8R8A8_UNORM.v
• Updated Italian translation.
• 'Normal Map' task: fixed saving a file with an alpha channel when processing this task.
• Fixed inactive controls when disabling the Deskew Text and Vectorization tasks.
• Many small fixes in various tasks.