Renaming a file in Windows 10 is easy. Just right click and select Rename. But doing this for a few dozen or a few hundred folders becomes tedious. Luckily, it’s easy to batch rename files in Windows 10 using File Explorer, PowerShell, or Command Prompt.
Batch renaming files in Windows 10 using File Explorer
If you have a set of images or other files that have something in common, you can rename all the files to use the same basic structure.
For example, you can rename all your 2019 Disney World vacation photos to “2019 Disney World vacation photos.” When you batch rename files in Windows 10 using File Explorer (aka File Manager), each file gets the new name with a number at the end, like (1), (2), etc
Open file manager and navigate to the folder that contains all the files you want to rename.
Choose See > details in which layout group in the band. This allows you to view the full name of each file in the folder.
Select all files in the folder by selecting and holding the first file change Then select the last file. Or you can choose Ctrl+A to select all files as well.
Choose Warm welcome > Rename out organizer group in the band. This will change the first file into a field where you can type the new file name. Enter the filename you want to use to rename all files.
When you press EnterYou will notice that all other selected files have been given the same name with a number at the end to distinguish each file.
Using File Explorer to batch rename files in Windows 10 is as fast as renaming a single file, with just a few extra clicks.
If you mistyped the name or changed your mind about renaming all files, you can press Ctrl+Z to undo your last renaming operation.
Rename multiple files in batch with PowerShell
If you prefer to rename all your files using a command line tool, PowerShell is a great tool.
In the last example, you can use PowerShell to rename all files so that the first word of the file name is “Our” instead of “My”.
Select the start menu, type powershell and select Windows PowerShell to open the app.
Use to navigate to the directory where your files are stored CD to navigate through folders.
Once you are in the correct directory, enter the command:
you | rename-item -NewName {$_.name -replace «My», «Our»}
Then press Enter.
How the parameters of this function work:
- To you: Sends all files in the folder to the rename command
- Rename Article: A PowerShell command to rename files
- $_.name: Symbolizes each of the replaced files
- -substitute: Tells PowerShell that the action to take on each folder is to replace the name
- “My”, “Our”: The first word in quotes is the word in each title to be replaced and the second word is the one you want to replace it with
The Dir command in PowerShell has many functions.
The command to rename items in PowerShell has a different syntax that you can use. For example after renaming with “$_ “Foreword – $_” add to “Foreword-” at the beginning of each filename.
When the command completes, you will find that all of your files have been renamed as you specified.
Rename multiple files in batch with Command Prompt
You can also rename multiple files using Command Prompt and File ? (point d’interrogation) Joker.
Launch Command Prompt and navigate to the folder where your files are stored.
Enter the command
ren *.* ???????????????-vacation.jpg
Then press Enter.
You will now see that all files have been renamed, keeping the original first 12 characters of the filename and adding “-Holidays” to the end.
Using Command Prompt is an easy way to quickly rename files while keeping a unique part of the filename and adding something descriptive at the end.
Whether you batch rename files in Windows 10 using File Explorer, PowerShell, or Command Prompt really depends on the original file names and how you want to rename them.