{"id":4725,"date":"2016-12-02T19:59:05","date_gmt":"2016-12-02T14:29:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=4725"},"modified":"2019-05-12T02:53:01","modified_gmt":"2019-05-12T02:53:01","slug":"quickly-rename-multiple-files-consecutively-using-tab-key","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/quickly-rename-multiple-files-consecutively-using-tab-key\/","title":{"rendered":"Quickly Rename Multiple Files Consecutively using Tab key"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want to quickly rename a set of files in a folder consecutively without using F2 (Rename) or ENTER keys every time? Here is a couple of neat tricks for you.<\/p>\n

Let’s say you have a set of files in a folder and you want to rename them all. What most users do is select a file, press F2, edit the name and press ENTER. Then you move on to the next file either by clicking it or pressing the arrow keys, and then do the time-consuming “F2-Rename-ENTER” sequence again.<\/p>\n

There is an easier method to save keystrokes (and your time) that most users aren’t aware of.<\/p>\n

Option 1: Use Tab after renaming a file<\/h2>\n

Select the first file, press F2 to rename it. After renaming a file, don’t press ENTER. Instead, use the TAB key. This not only sets the focus on the next file, but also keeps the rename mode On (as if you pressed F2 on each file).<\/p>\n

\"rename<\/p>\n

Imagine the number of keystrokes or mouse-clicks you can save using this method, especially when you have a large number of files in a folder.<\/p>\n

Option 2: Multi-select files and Rename them (adds number suffix)<\/h2>\n

To rename a set of files in a folder in a single operation, select the first file by clicking it. Press Ctrl + A to select all files in the folder.<\/p>\n

Press F2 and rename the first file. This also changes the names of the other files, but an additional number (incremented for each subsequent file) will be appended to the filename automatically.<\/p>\n

\"rename<\/p>\n

For example, if you name the first file as image.jpg, the system will rename it as image (1).jpg, next file will be image (2).jpg and so forth. This option can be handy when you save your Windows Spotlight images<\/a> from the Assets folder, and wish to give friendly names for those files.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Want to quickly rename a set of files in a folder consecutively without using F2 (Rename) or ENTER keys every time? Here is a couple of neat tricks for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":75163,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/rename-photos-date-taken-prefix\/","url_meta":{"origin":4725,"position":0},"title":"How to Rename Photos to “Date Taken”","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 13, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"When you take a picture using your digital camera or smartphone, metadata is stored inside the photo files. The EXIF or metadata can include information such as the resolution, camera settings, the date the picture was taken, and even the GPS coordinates. Many users want to rename the photo files\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Utilities"","block_context":{"text":"Utilities","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/utilities\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"bulk rename utility - rename preview","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/bru-preview-rename-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/bru-preview-rename-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/bru-preview-rename-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3140,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/rename-user-profile-folder-windows\/","url_meta":{"origin":4725,"position":1},"title":"How to Rename User Profile Folder in Windows 10\/11","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 24, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This article explains in detail how to change the name of your user profile folder in Windows. In some cases, it's necessary to manually rename the user profile folder because Windows truncates the user profile folder name to a certain number of characters when creating the user account. For instance,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"user account profile folder","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/user-profile-folders-featured.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/user-profile-folders-featured.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/user-profile-folders-featured.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/user-profile-folders-featured.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":27947,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/cant-rename-files-upper-lowercase-usb-drives\/","url_meta":{"origin":4725,"position":2},"title":"Why Can’t I Rename Files to Upper or Lowercase on USB Drives","author":"Ramesh","date":"September 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a user query where they're unable to change the file name extension to lowercase from uppercase (or the other way) on external drives. For instance, the command-line to bulk change the extension (ren *.WAV\u00a0 *.wav) may work on the system drive but not on an external drive. Query: My\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"usb flash drive","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/usb-flash-disk.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1825,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/error-rename-move-folder-not-exist\/","url_meta":{"origin":4725,"position":3},"title":"Fix: Cannot Rename or Move Folders – The File or folder does not exist","author":"Ramesh","date":"March 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When you try to move or rename a folder in Windows 10 or 11, the errors Can't find the specified file, and The file or folder does not exist occur. 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And, when you close the folder window, it terminates and restarts Explorer -- i.e., crashes the Explorer shell process. 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