Patrick Swesey coded out of frustration one day when he needed to change the filenames of hundreds of TV episodes, but couldn’t find a decent bulk file renamer.
His piece of software, which he called Simple File Renamer, runs on Windows XP through the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0. However, his installation file does a funny thing when you try to install it using Firefox – it fails to install.
But it remains the easiest option – if you get past changing your default browser to IE for a second – and are looking for a good way to rename multiple files quickly.
Free Simple File Renamer for Windows XP – [PatrickSwesey]
Why go through all of the hassle to install this software on Windows XP when Windows Explorer will already do this very simply and effectively?
If you have all of the files you wish to rename in a single folder you can select all then right click on any file and choose to rename. It will look like you are only changing the name on a single file until you hit enter then all of your files are renamed sequentially. I know from experience this works on .jpg and .mp3 files, so I don’t see why it wouldn’t work for video files also.
Hope this helps
huh. i just tried that.
it works pretty well. it helps to name the first file with a (1) in the name. otherwise it appears to fall out of the sequence.
thanks for the tip, kevin!
Try a utility called RenameFiles ( http://it-falke.com/software/renamefiles/us_download.php ).
I’ve been using it for years, and it’s just a no-install, portable exe.
Can this rename the file extensions as well?
C:\temp\lifehack >dir /b
one.foo
two.foo
C:\temp\lifehack >rename *.foo *.bar
C:\temp\lifehack >dir /b
one.bar
two.bar
I use a program called “The Rename Program” personally. It looks like its developers, a company called Nerd Generation (http://www.nerdgeneration.com), no longer exist, so I can’t find a link for you.
You can, however, read a short review here: http://joeminarik.com/node/119 . As you can see, it runs on its own (no install needed) and is *very* flexible (I usually use it for renaming TV episodes too, although you can use it for anything). And no hurt in trying it since it doesnt install anything, right?
If you can’t find this freeware via Google, send me an email and I’ll send you the attachment (rename ATsign raviudeshi dot.com). G’luck y’all!
An alternative (without the install hassles) is RenameMaster (http://www.joejoesoft.com/). It can do the hole lot – insert, replace, add numbering, change extensions.
Oops, that should be “whole lot” not “hole lot”!
I’ve used A.F.5. Rename Your Files for a couple years now and love it. Free and offers different options for how you want to rename your files.
Mark++ demonstrates how useful some command line knowledge can be. I am sometimes surprised by seeing specialized software utilities that do very simple things like this.
Many times, a simple batch file, multi-select or holding down the Shift or Alt key can work wonders.
1-4a Rename is an excellent freeware utility makes light work of renaming large collections of files. Great for series of digital camera photos or MP3 music files. No installation or .NET Framework required!
I use http://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk for renaming my digital pictures.
I use Quick File Rename, it’s not free but is really ridiculously powerful, no .Net nonsense required, you can even tag MP3, Ogg Vorbis and MPC. Also it looks damn good too!
total commander. magic tool :)