This is a great way to keep similar files together, such as a project, photos from a trip, or anything else. This method adds sequential numbers in parentheses beside each file name. Press Enter to change the names for all other selected files.įor example, I had a list of images that I wanted to change from the default date-naming convention to something simpler to read.

To batch rename files, just select all the files you want to rename, press F2 (alternatively, right-click and select rename), then enter the name you want on the first file. Using File Explorer to batch rename files in Windows is usually the easiest way, though it doesn’t give you quite as much control as PowerToys.

You can do all kinds of things here, like bulk-select the text formatting for the new filenames, choose whether to apply the changes to the filename and the extension, and more. This offers you a more targeted way of batch-renaming files, setting different rules for different files within one big selection that you made and even giving you previews of what the new file names will look like before you commit. Here, you can search for specific letters, words or numbers within your selection, then choose to rename all the entries that contain those expressions (so in my case, I’m replacing all screenshots with the number “3” in them to “Jan.” So go select all the files you want to batch-rename, right-click one, then click PowerRename (or “Show more options” then PowerRename in Windows 11). Once you’ve installed PowerToys, PowerRename will automatically integrate into your right-click context menu.

Among its many features is something called PowerRename, which offers a more advanced and in-depth way to batch-rename files on Windows 10 and Windows 11. PowerToys is Microsoft’s dedicated software for Windows power users. You can mostly do batch-renaming using Windows’ in-built functionality, though there is one super-handy app (developed by Microsoft) that will give you that extra bit of control over your renaming.

Batch rename folders