Solution 1: Select multiple files in Explorer
If you press F2 when more than one file is selected in Windows Explorer, only one file—the active file—gets a text field for you to type in. Nothing will happen to the other selected files, at least not yet.The active file is important, since its name is used as a template to rename the other selected files. Read More in detail about Batch Renaming Files In Windows Without Third Party Software
If the file marked as active is not the one you want to use, hit Esc, and then hold the Ctrl key while clicking another file. If the new file was highlighted, it will become deselected—in this case, just Ctrlclick the file once more to reselect it. Then, press F2 again to show the text field. Rename the active file as desired, and press Enter when you’re done. The active file keeps its new name, and then Explorer assigns the same name plus a number, in parenthesis—to all the other files.
What happens when you try to rename multiple files in Explorer
Old filename New filename
My file.doc (the active file) The Penske File.rtf
Grandma.jpg The Penske File (1).jpg
Readme.1st The Penske File (2).1st
Purchases.mdb The Penske File (3).mdb
Chapter 2 (a folder) The Penske File (4)
Although Explorer doesn’t show you a preview of your new filenames, you can undo a multiple rename operation as easily as a single rename operation by pressing Ctrl-Z once for each file that was renamed. Want to undo a single rename of 17 files? You’ll need to press Ctrl-Z 17 times.
An alternative is to use the ren command , either directly from the Command Prompt (cmd.exe), or from a batch file or PowerShell script. First, use the cd command, to change the working directory to the folder containing the files you wish to rename. For example, type:
cd c:\stuff
to change to the C:\stuff folder. If the folder name contains a space, enclose it in quotation marks, like this:
cd "c:\Progam Files\stuff"
Next, use the ren command to rename the file; the general syntax is:
ren source
destination where both source and destination can be any combination of permissible characters and wildcards. Two wildcards are allowed: an asterisk (*), which is used to match any number of characters, and a question mark (?), which is used to match only a single character. For example: Rename a single file
ren oldfile.txt newfile.txt
Change the extension of all .txt files to .doc
ren *.txt *.doc
Rename the first part of a filename without changing the extension
ren document.* documentation.*
Remove the extensions of all files in the folder
ren *.* *.
Change the first letter of all files in a folder to “b”
ren *.* b*.*
Add a zero in front of numbered chapter files (note the quotation marks)
ren "chapter ??.wpd" "chapter0??.wpd"
Rename all files with an “s” in the fourth position so that a “t” appears there
instead
ren ???s*.* ???t*.*
Truncate the filenames of all files in the folder so that only the first four characters
are used
ren *.* ????.*
Now, using wildcards takes a bit of practice and patience. The more you do it, the better intuitive sense you’ll have of how to phrase a rename operation. To make things simpler, try issuing several successive ren commands instead of trying to squeeze all your changes into a single step. If a naming conflict occurs, the ren command never overwrites a file. For example, if you try to rename Lisa.txt to Bart.txt, and there’s already another file called Bart.txt, ren just displays an error.
Solution 3: Use a third-party add-on
Got a lot of files to rename? Use Power Rename, part of Creative Element Power Tools (http://www.creativelement.com/powertools/). To use the tool, open the Creative Element Power Tools Control Panel, turn on the Rename files with ease option, and click Accept. Then, highlight any number of files to rename, right-click, and select Power Rename. Or, open the Power Rename utility (Figure) and drag-drop the files onto the window.
"Power Rename makes it much easier to rename many files at once"
Select the renaming criteria to your right. The first option, As Specified, allows you to type a file specification with wildcards, as described previously, but the real power lies in With Operation, and the operations that follow. For instance, you can insert text anywhere, remove text (crop), search and replace text, add numbering, and even fix numbered codes in files downloaded from the Web.
