Rename multiple files at once in Windows XP

by Grant Robertson (RSS feed) Feb 24th 2007 at 1:00PM

This is a really neat trick I never knew existed. Have a series of files with mis-matching names and want to put them in better order? It's mega-easy, just follow these simple directions.

Highlight the files you want to rename. (Use Ctrl or Shift to highlight multiple files at once)
Right-Click the first file in the series, click Rename.
Only the file you've right clicked will be highlighted. That's OK. Change the file name, the extension will be kept.
Hit the enter key to commit your change. Your files will be named "file (1).jpg", "file (2).jpg", etc..

Note: If you've turned on "View extensions for known file types", leave the file extension intact when you rename.

Tags: rename files, rename multiple files, RenameFiles, RenameMultipleFiles, tips

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

yhancik said 1:19PM on 2-24-2007

Ant Renamer (http://www.antp.be/software/renamer) is a quite handy tool to mass-rename files

digistrom.blogspot.com said 1:53PM on 2-24-2007

http://digistrom.blogspot.com/2007/02/batch-rename-files-sophisticated-way_08.html

... a lot of people (including myself) use this hack from time to time but it doesn't provide enough control and more importantly it is risky! If you mistakenly select files that don't need to be renamed you will have no way of getting the original file names back! Yes, Windows allows us to undo a renaming action by pressing Ctrl-Z but it will only undo the renaming for a handful of files, just ten. The rest of the file names will be lost forever...

duke said 2:46PM on 2-24-2007

for next post, we are going to discuss how to do Right Clicks with your mouse.

jmalenko said 2:39PM on 2-24-2007

c=1 zmv '*.jpg' 'file-$((c++)).jpg'

or without zsh
c=1; for i in *.jpg; do mv $i file-$((c++)); done

or even better, for numbering like (0001,0002,0003)
zmv ’(*).jpg’ ’file-${(l:4::0:)1}.jpg’

samuel said 3:22PM on 2-24-2007

Man you didn't know this?! Check out IT-Falke Re-namer, it been around for ages and does a good job: http://it-falke.com/software/renamefiles/us_download.php

Vampaz said 1:08PM on 2-25-2007

LOL, you have started using windows today.

hazard said 9:07PM on 2-25-2007

sorry but this "feature" is more annoying than useful..

Ben said 7:19AM on 2-26-2007

It was just as interesting when downloadsquad blogged about it a few months ago .... don't you read your own blog? :S

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/05/09/batch-file-renaming-in-windows/

Featured Time Waster

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

View more Time Wasters

Featured Galleries

Defective by Design, London: Protest Pictures

Download Squad at the Crunchies After-Party

Android First-look: Amazon.com MP3 Store

Flickr Pool

www.flickr.com

Download Squad bloggers (30 days)

#	Blogger	Posts	Cmts
1	Jay Hathaway	111	5
2	Lee Mathews	75	33
3	Sebastian Anthony	45	152
4	Brad Linder	36	8
5	Jason Clarke	32	0
6	Grant Robertson	8	11
7	Dolores Parker	7	2
8	Victor Agreda, Jr.	7	1
9	Nik Fletcher	4	0
10	Matt Heerema	3	3
11	Paul O'Brien	2	0
12	John Burke	1	0
13	Download Squad Staff	1	0

More Tech Coverage

Control Shift It's all about the experience
Somewhat Frank Perspectives on tech as it fuses in everyday life
Switched Gadgets, web news and commentary
Urlesque Exposing bits of the web

Download Squad

Rename multiple files at once in Windows XP