Renaming hundreds of files can be a highly tedious and laborious task. It may take several hours or even days as the files might well run into hundreds of thousands, and scattered across different drives, folders & subfolders. If you wish to avoid going through each file one by one, there is a handy way to accomplish this task in an automated manner.
Rename files to remove those ugly and bizarre-looking filenames. Give a meaningful look to your data by removing spaces in batches, and making even more name changes in a single go. Use Easy File Renamer to rename files with ease, accuracy, and speed.
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Batch Rename Files Using File Explorer
Although Windows does not contain any tool to bulk rename your files, it is still possible to accomplish this using the File Explorer. However, please remember that this method will only be helpful if you want to remove spaces and rename files with the exact name.
Simply use the left mouse button + Ctrl key on the keyboard if you want to rename selected files. If you want to rename all the files, you can simply use the Ctrl + A combination to select all the files in that folder.
Now right-click on the highlighted area on any of the selected files and select Rename. Type in the new name and hit Enter. This will assign the new name as well as a number appended at the end of the new file name.
Bulk Rename Files with Different Name Structures
Here we’ll rename each file individually with different file name structures/ patterns.
However, you’ll have to type each file name one by one in a given sequence and use different key combinations. So we don’t really recommend this unless you’re willing to put your time in it.
- Open File Explorer and navigate to the folder that contains files that have to be renamed.
- Click the View tab on the Ribbon interface.
- Click the Sort by icon, and now select the Ascending option.
- Click the Group by icon and choose to group your files by Name.
- Your files will be now be rearranged in ascending order (name).
- Select the first file on the top of the list.
- Press the F2 key on the keyboard and you will notice that the first file will be selected for renaming.
- Specify a new name of your choice for the selected file.
- Press the Tab key to move on to the next file.
- Write a name for your second file and press Tab to jump to the new file in the sequence.
- Repeat it over for all the remaining files.
Note: This method is not helpful if you’re out to rename files in a large number. If this is the case indeed, we suggest going for the automated solution method.
Bulk Rename Files with Common Name Structure
This method helps to rename files in bulk numbers with a common name structure in one go.
- Open the File Explorer.
- Now navigate to the folder that contains your files.
- Press Ctrl + A simultaneously to select all your files.
- Press the F2 key and enter a common name for all your selected files. For example new_york
- Press Enter.
- All your files will now be renamed in an identical pattern. For instance, new_york(1).png, new_york(2).png, new_york(3).png.
Batch Rename Files Using Command Prompt
Command Prompt is a powerful command-line interpreter in Windows. It can perform various file system and administrative operations while providing greater functionality, customization, and control to the user. It contains a dedicated terminal through which you can directly interact with the operating system using commands and text inputs.
Interestingly, you can also perform bulk file renaming operations with Command Prompt, provided you’re equipped with the know-how of how commands are typed out as well as executed in it.
Here’s how to rename multiple files with CMD:
- Close all other open programs that might be currently using the files you want to rename.
- Type CMD in the Search box of the taskbar and open Command Prompt from the Search Results.
- In the newly opened window, enter the following command to locate the directory that contains your files:
(a) Syntax: cd <directory name>
(b) Example: cd C:\Users\(Your User Name)\Desktop\My Duplicate
Files - Use the following command to bulk rename your files in a common file name pattern:
(a) Syntax:
Dir | %{Rename-Item $_ -NewName (“your_file_name_here{0}.extension” -f $nr++)}
(b) Example:
Dir | %{Rename-Item $_ -NewName (“new_york{0}.png” -f $nr++)} - Once you have executed the command mentioned above, Command Prompt will automatically rename all your files in the following pattern:
(a) new_york0.jpg, new_york1.jpg, new_york2.jpg
Batch Rename Files Using Easy File Renamer
Sorcim’s Easy File Renamer is designed to batch rename thousands of files with just a few clicks. Renaming your files with Easy File Renamer has several advantages. You can safely and quickly rename multiple files without worrying about corrupting any file contents.
This powerful utility simplifies the whole task with the use of advanced technology and smart algorithms.
Some of the prominent features of this utility are given below:
- Graphical User Interface: You don’t have to worry about complicated command-line instructions. Use the pretty simple, easy to use GUI to bulk rename your files in seconds.
- Intelligent file renaming rules: Choose a renaming criterion of your choice among the ten renaming templates.
- Rename Files/ Folders: Supports batch renaming of files as well as directories.
- Cloud Integration: If your files are stored on Google Drive, you don’t have to separately download them to your PC. With it’s Google Drive integration, EFR supports batch renaming of cloud files.
- Modify Music Tags: Easily bulk rename music files based on music tags. Use the Bulk Tag Editor to bulk edit music file tags to insert copyright disclaimer, author information, and other relevant data.
- iTunes Integration: Supports bulk renaming the iTunes music collection with zero chance of corrupting your playlist.
- Faster File Copying: Includes an in-house functionality to copy tens of thousands of files with zero chance of errors. Select a destination and the files you want to copy, EFR will swiftly accomplish the task.
- Faster File Moving: Manually moving files can be a very testing task. EFR comes with a Bulk Mover that moves your files with just a few clicks.
- Universal Compatibility: Supports Unicode file characters and FAT/ FAT32/ NTFS drive systems
Here is what you need to do to rename files by removing spaces from their files names.
- Download Easy File Renamer from the official site.
- Install the program on your PC and run it using its desktop shortcut.
- Click the System Renamer tab.
- Click on Folders, followed by Add Folders.
- Browse the directory that contains files that you want to rename.
- Click the Add Folder button.
- Select the remaining criteria from the Select the Rule drop-down box on the left-hand side panel of your screen.
For example:
(a) To batch remove spaces from your file names, use the Remove Text option. Enter a single space in the Text field. Select the Remove All option, and then click Add Rule.
(b) To replace spaces in your file names with an underscore ( _ ) or any other character, select the Replace Text option. Enter a blank space in the Find box, and an underscore ( _ ) in the Replace text box. Select the Replace All option, followed by Add Rule. - Finally, click the green-colored Rename button to bulk rename your files in seconds.