How To Rename Multiple Files At Once On Windows OS

Renaming a single file is effortless on Windows OS, but problems emerge when you have to change the name to an extended list of files in a particular folder, even though you can always use third-party tools (Microsoft PowerToys) to hurry up the process. Windows 10 ships with different ways to make it easier to change the name of the files using File Explorer, PowerShell, and Command Prompt.

Let us see how to rename multiple files at once with easy steps:

Start Windows Explorer by clicking Start, then go to All Programs, Accessories, and finally click on Windows Explorer.
Select multiple files in a folder by holding down the CTRL key while clicking on the desired files.
Press F2 after selecting the files.
Type in the new name and press ENTER to save the changes.

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Table of Contents

How To Rename Multiple Files At Once

There are three different methods on how to rename multiple files at once. Let’s have a look at them one by one.

Rename Multiple Files Using File Explorer

File Explorer comes up with the quickest methods. To rename multiple files in the same name structure, work on these steps:

First, open File Explorer the browse the files to change their names. Then click on the View tab and select the details view.
Then click the Home tab and click the “Select all” button.
You can also press Ctrl+A on the keyboard to select all the files, which is a shortcut. After that, click on the Rename button from the “Home” tab and type the new name. Then press Enter.
After you finish the steps, the chosen files will be renamed using the same naming structure with a count number. For example: autumn_photos_2020(1).jpg and autumn_photos_2020(2).jpg. If you made an error, you could use Ctrl+z as a shortcut to quickly undo the changes, or you can click the menu button from the title bar and select the “undo” button. So this is how File Explorer can help us to rename multiple files at once.

Now, let’s discuss how file explorer can help us rename multiple files one at a time. Check this out if you have to dispose of your computer.

To rename multiple files:

First, open File Explorer and search for the files to rename. Then click the “view” tab and select the details view. After that, select the first file in the folder and click the home tab. Then, click the rename button and rename the file.

One can also press the F2 button or right-click the file and select the rename option from the context menu, or you can click the file once and slowly snick the name to trigger the rename action. Then press the Tab key to hop and trigger the rename action for the next file below. Finally, confirm the new file name. Keep repeating these steps to rename all the files.

Using PowerShell

You can use PowerShell to rename a single file and multiple files as well. To rename a single file, follow the steps:

First, open Start and search for PowerShell. Open PowerShell and type: the cd PATH\TO\FOLDER command to search the folder with files to rename. In the above command, you can replace PATH\TO\FOLDER with the authentic way to the location.
Then type: the 1s command to view the listing of the files and press Enter. Then type: 1s| %{RENAME-ITEM $_-NewName(“NEW-FILE-NAME-{0}.EXTENSION” -1%nr++)} command to rename multiple files and press enter.
In the above command, replace “NEW-FILE-NAME” with the actual name you want. After completing these steps, all the files will be renamed using the name you specified.

Renaming a single file in PowerShell is very easy. The steps used in renaming multiple files will also be used, but only one command will change.

After typing “1s”, you have to use: Rename- Item “OLD-FILE-NAME.EXTENSION” “NEW-FILE-NAME.EXTENSION. “ In this command, remember to use old and new file names and extensions.

Using Command Prompt

Command Prompt offers many ways to rename multiple files. It also helps in renaming a single file. First, let’s discuss renaming various files.

To rename multiple files, first, open Start and search for Command Prompt. Then click the top outcome to open the app. Type: cd c: \PATH\TO\FILES command to navigate to the folder with files to press Enter. Then type: “dir” to view the listing of the files and press Enter. After that, type: ren *.FILE-EXTENSION ???-FILE-NAME.* to rename the files in bulk and press Enter.

In this command, replace “FILE-EXTENSION” with the extension of the files you want to update and “FILE-NAME” with the name you want to add to the files. The asterisk * is a wildcard. It tells the ren command to rename everything with a specific extension. The question mark? is also a wildcard. It acts as a character of the original name you want to keep as part of the new name.

After you finish these steps, it will rename the files. Now let’s discuss renaming a single file using Command Prompt.

To rename a single file,

First, open Start and search Command Prompt. Then click on the top outcome to open the app. Then type the cd c:\PATH\TO\FILES command to navigate to the folder with the files to rename. After that, type: the “dir” command to view the listing of the files in the location and press Enter. Then type ren “OLD-FILENAME.EXTENSION” “NEW–FILENAME.EXTENSION” to rename the file and press Enter.

In the command, put back “OLD-FILENAME.EXTENSION” and “NEW-FILENAME.EXTENSION” with the old and new names you want to give. The quotation marks are only needed if the name holds space. After that, repeat the previous steps to change the name of the file. Once you finish these steps, Command Prompt will rename the file with the new name you chose.

Reasons

Here are some reasons why we should rename files:

To adhere to specific file-naming conventions for particular industries or organizations.
Ensure files are named logically and consistently across different devices or platforms.
To improve the user experience by making files easier to understand and navigate.
To facilitate collaboration by clarifying which files are related to which project or task.
To protect sensitive information by changing file names to something less identifiable.
To reduce clutter and confusion by removing unnecessary characters or words from file names.
To maintain files in an accessible, orderly manner.
To prevent name conflicts when several files share the same name.
Help improve the clarity and descriptivity of files.
To keep naming conventions consistent.
To enhance file filtering and searchability.
To make it simpler to recognize and trace file changes.

FAQs

How do I mass renaming files on Windows?

To mass rename files on Windows, first, select all the files you want to rename by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking on each file. Then, right-click on one of the desired files and choose Rename from the context menu. Rename the file and press Enter. This will rename all the selected files with the same name but with a number added to the end of each filename.

Can I rename all files in a folder at once on Windows 10?

On Windows 10, you can rename all files in a folder at once. Open File Explorer. To pick every file in the folder, press Ctrl + A. Then, choose Rename from the context menu by right-clicking on one of the selected files. Enter after renaming the file. With a number appended to the end of each filename, this will rename all the files in the folder with the same name.

How do I perform mass file renaming with different names on Windows?

To perform mass renaming files with different names on Windows, you can use bulk rename tools such as Bulk Rename Utility or Advanced Renamer. These tools allow you to customize the renaming process with various options, such as adding prefixes or suffixes, replacing text, changing cases, and more.

Can I use a command prompt to rename multiple files on Windows?

You can bulk rename files on Windows 10 using the command prompt in Windows. Ren, followed by the names of the current and new files, must be entered as a command. Using the command ren.txt new .txt, for instance, will rename all .txt files in the current folder to new .txt.

How can I undo a mass file renaming operation on Windows?

If you have closed the File Explorer window or the bulk rename tool, you may need to rename the files back to their original names manually. To undo a mass file renaming operation on Windows, you can use the Ctrl + Z keyboard shortcut immediately after renaming. This will undo the last renaming operation and restore the original filenames.

Conclusion

So these were three different ways how to rename multiple files at once on Windows. We hope these methods were useful to you and you will use them to rename your files. Let us know how useful these tips were to you in the comments section below. We would be very happy to hear from you! Moreover, if you need to share files between Mac and Windows, there are ways to do that.

Carly Earl

Carly Earl, Guardian Australia’s pic editor, was a photographer and pic editor in Sydney for 8 yrs. She worked for The Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph.