How To Batch Rename Files on Mac and Windows

This article will show you how To Batch Rename Files on Mac and Windows. When getting together a group of documents and files for someone else or to keep for yourself, you may find that the names of the documents aren’t quite right for the job. This is especially true when putting things from more than one place into the same folder.

On a Mac, it’s easy to change the name of a single file. But you often need to change the name of more than one file. Sometimes you need to change the names of hundreds or thousands of files at once, and no one wants to go through and change the names of each file one by one. When that happens, you should use apps that make it easy to change the names of many files at once.

On Windows 11/10, it’s easy to change the name of a single file. The problem comes up when you need to change the names of a lot of files in a certain area. You can speed up the process of renaming a long list of files by using File Explorer, PowerShell, Command Prompt, and even the Microsoft PowerToys app.

How To Batch Rename Files on Mac

• From the dock, click on Finder.
• Find the files to rename.
• Hold down Shift and select the files.
• From the Finder window, select Action.
• Click on Rename (number) Items…
• At the drop-down menu, from the set of rename tools, select Format.
• Choose a format for the structure you want:
  • Name and Date
  • Name and Index
  • Name and Counter
• At Custom Format, add a name for the batch of files.
• Type in a Starting number; it can start from any number. Once you’re done, click Rename.

How To Batch Rename Files on Windows

• Open File Explorer and navigate to where your files are saved.
• Right-click on the first file in the folder, then click “Rename.”
• Type the new name for the file, then press the Tab key on your keyboard. This will simultaneously save the file’s new name, then select the following file so you can instantly start typing a new name for that as well.
• Continue typing file names and pressing Tab to cycle to the next file, until all your files are renamed.

Batch rename multiple files

• Open File Explorer and navigate to where your files are saved.
•  Select all the files you want to rename. You can do this either by clicking and dragging your cursor across the files, or by holding the Ctrl key and clicking once on each file.
• Right-click the first of the highlighted files and click “Rename.”
• Type in the new file name — remember that this will be applied to every file you’ve selected — and press the Enter key.
• All selected files will be renamed, using a “[File name] [number]” format to keep each file individually identifiable.

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