How to rename all files in a folder at once. Four ways to bulk rename files in Windows
The most in a convenient way working with files in Windows 7 is Explorer. With it you can view contents of hard disk and other media connected to the computer, as well as manage it. Including renaming existing files and folders.
The easiest way is to change the name of a single file or folder. To do this you need to click on it right click mouse and select “Rename” from the drop-down menu that opens. In this case, instead of the name of the selected file or folder, an input line will appear in which you can edit this name. To save changes made you need to press the Enter button or click the mouse outside the input line. If you need to exit the editing mode without applying edits, you can do this using the Esc button.
You can call the field to change the name of a file or folder in another way. First you need to place the cursor on desired object, then click on its name with the left mouse button. Just don't confuse this with normal double click, which runs a file or opens a folder. There should be a short pause between the click that places the cursor on the object and the click on its name. There is another option. To rename a file, you need to place the cursor on it and press the F2 button.
Provided in Windows 7 and the ability group renaming a number of folders and files. It is performed as follows. First, the user must highlight in Explorer using the mouse and Shift buttons and Ctrl all files and folders that need to be renamed. Then he needs to open the name change field in the first file of the group using the method described above and enter a new name. After saving Windows changes 7 will automatically assign the entered name to all selected objects, adding a serial number in brackets to each (to avoid the appearance of files with same name and expansion).
Please note that the methods described above cannot change the file extension, which usually depends on the file type. The input field contains only the name. And even if you try to enter the extension manually through a dot, nothing will work.
Probably many people have encountered such a problem when you have a bunch of files, for example, photos that usually have the following name: DSCF9163 or IMG_0065 or some other crap =). Do you want these photos to be called New Year!
What to do?
Rename each photo one at a time?
It’s good if there are 10-20 of them, and if there are 100-1000 or more. You know what I’ll tell you: you’ll get tired of renaming them =)))
Rename a group of files you can do it very quickly, literally in a couple of seconds, well, for students, it will take a matter of minutes!
Since we don’t want to manually rename a large group of files, it means that some program will help us. And this program Total Commander. I think everyone knows what kind of animal this is, and those who don’t know, follow the link, download and get acquainted.
But here I will still say that Total Commander is file manager with huge possibilities!
So, let's get started, those who have this program launch it, those who don't - download, install and launch.
To start - select the group of files that we need to rename, if you need to select all the files in the folder, press CTRL + A
A window will appear:
So, we wanted to give all the files the name "New Year". So let's do it. In the “Mask for: file name” field, write the name that we want to see in in this case“New Year” and also add a counter, so that we don’t have the same names, to do this, click on the “[C] Counter” button.
Click “Run”, and after execution, close this window.
Hooray! Everything worked out! This method can be used for absolutely any files, but most often it is used to rename images.
Well, now let's look at some basic settings group renaming of files. First, completely clear the “Mask for: file name” field (for clarity). Please note that when you clear the field, the new file name will also become clear, meaning we can clearly see what will happen to the name.
And so the “[N] name” button means inserting the old name into the new name.
You can use this button if you want to use the old one in the new name. Let's go further, “Date” inserts into the file name its creation date.
The “Time” button works similarly to “Date”, only it inserts not the date, but the time the file was created.
"Diap." does not insert the entire old name, like “N”, but only the selected part of it (range). For example, let’s make sure that only the first three letters of the old name remain; to do this, click on “Diapt.”, select the first three characters in the window that appears and click “ok”
We see that in the “Mask for: file name” field it says , which means that the new name uses the first three characters of the old one (that is, from the first to the third character). If you need to use a different range, then simply select it in the “Select characters to insert” window.
Well, now let’s move on to the “[C] Counter” button, in my opinion, it is the most important here. Because previous buttons individually it is practically impossible to use, because the names of new files can be the same (except for the time of file creation), then we need to use something else so that the names are different, in this case numbers will be used.
This counter has some settings (see section “Counter parameters [C]”). In the “Start from” field you specify the number from which the countdown will begin, for example 111
In the “Step” field you can specify how many digits the next number will take, for example 3
In the “Digits” field we indicate the number of digits that we want to see in the number; in this case, for clarity, let’s take more, for example 5
Well, with the last button “[=?] Plugin” you can add Additional information to the file name (size, path, attributes, weight). There is a huge amount of information that can be added using this button.
That’s it, it looks like we’ve sorted out all the basic settings. As you can see rename a group of files at once It’s quite simple, and I’m sure it won’t be too difficult for you.
But, if you still have questions, you are welcome to comment! =) Good luck!
Renaming multiple files is not a problem. But what if there are hundreds of these files. For example, you collected all the photos after a summer trip. They are all numbered in order, but differently for each camera model. Or you had to split a huge folder with data into many small parts by the archiver to send via the Internet by mail and you need to change the name in all the files, but the source has already been deleted.
WITH multi-volume archive everything seems simpler. Even if the source is deleted, you can unpack the existing archive and pack it by specifying the required name.
Files are a little more complicated. It is better, of course, to use for these purposes any program that can bulk rename files.
IN Windows 7 I have an opportunity rename a group of files, but it is very limited in settings. When you right-click on a file in Explorer, you can find the item in the menu that appears "Rename" allowing rename file.
If you select a group of files, then when you right-click on any of them in the menu that appears, we will see the same item "Rename", with which you can also rename many files. Windows 7 allows rename all files in a folder and it looks like this. You specify the file name and after clicking on "Enter" each file is assigned specified name and the serial number in brackets separated by a space. If you don't like the result, you can cancel last action pressing the combination "Ctrl+Z".
Many users use a file manager Total Commander which opens up to them ample opportunities in renaming files. It allows quickly rename files and what is most important is very simple. This is done as follows. You need to select the files and select from the menu "Group renaming", configure the auto replacement mask and click "Enter".
You can select files using the key "space" or right-click, depending on how it is configured Total Commander. To select all files at once, you can press the key combination "Ctrl+A", press the key "Num+" or through the file manager menu. After selecting the group of files we need, go to the menu "Files" and choose "Group renaming..." or press the key combination "Ctrl+M".
By default in the column "File name mask" worth icon [N], indicating the current file name. Immediately in the window below the result of renaming the file is shown. From the available replacement options, you can assemble a mask of any complexity to automatically replace file names.
Let's look at an example. Let's say we leave the icon [N], indicating the current file name, and we want to add the date. Between the masks, which we now call icons, you can write various letters or signs. And so, we needed to add a dash to the file name «-» The file creation date was added. The mask in this case will look like this [N]-. We immediately see the result in the window.
Let's add part of the initial file name to the file name. This is done using the button "Range", which allows you to select the range of characters to insert into the main name.
Between the selected range and the file name we put two spaces in the mask and get the following combination [N]-.
Through the sign «+» add the time of its creation to the file name [N]- +.
Add to the file name using a combination of symbols « & » counter in increments of 10 and starting from 10. As a result, we get a mask [N]-+&[C]. The counter parameters will need to be configured in the same window.
There is also a button in the mask settings "Plugin", which significantly expands the possibilities of adding values to the file name.
The same manipulations can be performed on file extensions by specifying any mask.
In addition to creating a mask for the future file name, you can also search and replace characters in file names.
The resulting file name change template can be saved for future use. After pressing the button "Run" all selected files will be renamed according to the mask we specified.
Many people often have to rename many files and this is a time-consuming process, especially if there are really a lot of files or folders. Therefore, it is worth using the ability to batch rename files in Windows, which perhaps not everyone knows about.
In this article we will look at how to rename many files at once. Namely, group renaming of files in Windows both using the operating system itself and with using Total Commander or Bulk Rename Utility. Bulk renaming of files will simplify your life and save time.
Using the Windows operating system, you can easily rename many files at once. This method appeared in the first operating systems Windows and works without problems in Windows 10.
WITH Total program Commander I think everyone is familiar. But not everyone knows that Total Commander allows you to rename a group of files at once.
In the bulk renaming window files Total Commander Not only can you simply rename files, but you can immediately see the name you want to set. And here you can change the extension of the group of files that is currently selected. To do this, in the same window, enter required extension files.
Bulk Rename Utility is a utility that is specially created to perform bulk file renaming. First, you will need to download it, since I think you have not encountered it before. When you first launch the program, it may seem that the interface is complicated, but believe me, using the Bulk Rename Utility program is much easier than carrying out bulk renaming using command line.
The advantage of this program is that it has many options for group renaming files and the ability to use portable version programs. Of the minuses is English language interface, and the complex interface itself.
conclusions
In this article, we looked at how to rename many files at once and simultaneously. Although we did group renaming of files in Windows 10, this method will work without problems in Windows 7. The most effective, in our opinion, is group renaming of files using Total Commander, since you can change both the name and extension there without any problems.
If these methods do not suit you, then you can use special programs for bulk renaming of files, for example, like Bulk Rename Utility.
To quickly find files and quickly navigate through them, it is not enough to put everything in the correct folders. It is equally important to give files names that are easy to read and meaningful. Fiddling with each of them separately is counterproductive. Therefore, there are methods for group renaming.
To work with a group of files, it is better to copy them to separate folder. This will greatly simplify the process.
Using standard Windows tools
Changing file names
Let's consider the simplest case: we have the nth number of images with meaningless names.
Let's bring the names of these files to a visual form Picture (n), Where Picture will be the name, and n- serial number. This can be easily done directly in Explorer.
Select all the pictures that we want to rename. To do this quickly, use the combination Ctrl keys+ A. Then just press F2 or right-click on the first file and select “Rename”. Enter the word as the name for the selected image Picture and press Enter.
Windows will automatically assign the same name to all subsequent files and assign all serial numbers.
If necessary you can cancel mass renaming using the key combination Ctrl + Z.
If you want to rename a group of folders in Explorer, you can do it in the same way.
Changing file extensions
Let's say we have several text documents, which after double clicking open with a notepad. But we need them to be opened by the browser by default. To do this, you will have to change their extension from .txt to .html. These types of operations can be quickly performed using the command line.
Click Windows keys+ R, enter in the field that appears cmd and click OK - we see the command line window. Now we insert into it the path to the folder in which our files are located, immediately after the command CD: cd C:\Users\Max Volotsky\Desktop\Docs , and press Enter. Then we use special team, which will change their extensions: rename *.txt *.html, and press Enter again.
The original extension is indicated first in the command, the new one is indicated second. After entering the command, the system instantly makes changes.
To return everything to the way it was, you need to use the rename command again, swapping the extensions.
Using third party utilities
No built-in tools can match the functionality of special programs designed specifically for batch renaming. You can find many of these on the Internet. free utilities, just enter bulk file rename in the search.
We will look at renaming using the example of the Bulk Rename Utility program. With its help it is very convenient to change the names of folders and files, as well as the extensions of the latter.
When you first launch it, it may seem that the utility’s interface came straight from hell and, perhaps, there is some truth in this. But the user does not need to navigate through numerous tabs and menus: he gets access to all functions from one window.
So, let's say we have a group of audio files that we want to make look pleasing to the eye. In this case, the numbers and the lack of artist name are annoying.
We launch the application and use the built-in file manager to go to the folder we need. Next, use the already familiar Ctrl + A key combination to select all files. We need to remove the first 3 characters at the beginning of each file name and add the artist name at the very beginning. To do this we indicate required parameters in the Remove and Add panels, then click Rename.
Now we’ll make sure that all extensions consist of lowercase characters: in the Extension panel, select the Lower option and click Rename.
As you can see, other panels are available in the program window. For example, Numbering allows you to number documents different ways, and with Case you can change the case of characters in file names. Thanks to the New Name column in the built-in explorer, which shows the result of a rename before it's applied, you'll easily understand the rest of the Bulk Rename Utility.
The last operation with files and folders performed in the program can be easily undone using the Ctrl + Z key combination.
