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Quick File Renamer Help

Introduction
Adding and Managing Files
Searching for Files
Renaming Options
Testing and Renaming
Renaming on Mac
Simple Mode
Numbers and Padding
Advanced Mode
Advanced Renaming Actions

Introduction

Renaming a large group of files or folders is easy. First, add files to be renamed to the application. Then use an easy preset or create advanced renaming actions.

Adding and Managing Files

To add files, click Add Files , Add Folder , File Search, or drag and drop files onto the app. The files will be added to the Before Rename list.

Files are renamed in the order they appear in the Before Rename list. By clicking each column header in the Before Rename window you can change the order of the files based on their name, their creation date, or their modification date. You can also change the order of a file by highlighting it and pressing the up or down arrows next to the list. You can remove a file by highlighting it and pressing the X button. To clear the entire list use the Clear Files button in the program toolbar. You can also save and load file lists for later use.

Searching for files

You can search within any directory for files using wildcards in the name. To begin, press the File Search. Then select the folder you want to search in. You can also choose a search pattern:

  • *.* - finds all files
  • *.png - finds all png files
  • *hello*.* - finds all files with the word hello in the name
  • hello*.png - finds all PNG files that start with the word hello

Or use wildcards to exclude certain files. For example:

  • *.* - excludes all files
  • *.ini - excludes all ini files
  • *hello*.* - excludes all files with the word hello in the name
  • hello*.png - excludes all PNG files that start with the word hello

Leave the exclude field blank to not exclude any files.

Press the search button and the files found will be added to your Before Rename list.

Renaming Options

To save your files in their original location leave Original Location checked. Otherwise uncheck it and browse for the folder you want to save in. If you want to change the original files without making a copy you should check Rename Originals .

Testing and Renaming

Before your files are actually renamed a test must be performed to check for errors of conflicts. Automatic testing is enabled by default but can be disabled from the preferences menu. If automatic testing is disabled you must push the Test button to manually perform a test. After a test new names or errors will be shown in the After Rename list.

Renaming on Mac

The Mac OS X version of this app runs in a sandboxed environment that does not have access to all of the files on your computer unless you specifically select them. Renaming requires write access not only to each file, but to the folder they reside in as well. When you rename files you may be prompted to authorize the app to have write access to the folder where you are renaming files. Once you authorize a folder it is saved and you will not be prompted to authorize that folder again.

Simple Mode

Simple Mode renames files using presets created for the most common renaming actions. To use Simple Mode select the Simple tab. Then select one of the presets from the drop down menu. The following presets are available:

  • Change Name: Changes the name of the file to one you specify, and adds incremental numbers.
  • Rename music files with metadata: Renames with Artist, Album, Track Number, and Song Title
  • Rename photo with EXIF date: Renames to EXIF date adds incremental numbers to avoid duplicates.
  • Append photo EXIF date as prefix: Adds the EXIF date to the beginning of the file name
  • Append photo EXIF date as suffix: Adds the EXIF date to the end of the file name
  • Append photo EXIF camera make as prefix: Adds the EXIF camera make name to the beginning of the file name.
  • Append photo EXIF camera make as suffix: Adds the EXIF camera make name to the end of the file name.
  • Append photo EXIF camera model as prefix: Adds the EXIF camera model name to the beginning of the file name.
  • Append photo EXIF camera model as prefix: Adds the EXIF camera model name to the end of the file name.
  • Append photo EXIF resolution as prefix: Adds the EXIF resolution height and width to the beginning of the file name.
  • Append photo EXIF resolution as suffix: Adds the EXIF resolution height and width to the end of the file name.
  • Rename with file creation date: Changes the name of the file based on the creation date, and adds incremental numbers to avoid duplicates.
  • Append file creation date as prefix: Adds the file creation date to the beginning of the file name.
  • Append file creation date as suffix: Adds the file creation date to the end of the file name.

Numbers and Padding

Simple Mode will always add sequential numbers to your new file name when necessary. Depending on the quantity of files you are renaming the numbers may be padded with zeros. For example:

  • 1-9 files: File1.jpg-File9.jpg
  • 10-99 files: File01.jpg-File99.jpg
  • 100-999 files: File001.jpg-File999.jpg
  • and so on

The amount of padding is calculated automatically based on the number of files you are renaming. This ensures that they will always sort alphabetically and numerically.

Advanced Mode

Advanced Mode gives you many more options for renaming files through the use of Renaming Actions. The following renaming actions are available:

  • Change Name - Changes the name to the text you specify
  • Clear Name - Removes the existing name entirely. Useful when you want to replace the name with Metadata from images, movies and audio files.
  • Add Numbers - Adds sequential numbers to each file. You can choose the starting number, the zero padding (for example,zero padding of 3 digits would produce name001.jpg, name002.jpg), how much to increment the number between files and whether to add the numbers as a prefix or suffix
  • Replace Text - Searches for text in the current name and replaces it
  • Remove Text - Searches for text in the current name and removes it
  • Add Prefix - Adds text to the beginning of the file name
  • Add Suffix - Adds text to the end of the file name
  • Add Date - Adds a date. You can use the file creation, modification, or current date. You can specify the format using the variables YYYY / MM / DD / hh / mm / ss
  • Make Lower Case - makes the file name lower case
  • Make Upper Case - MAKES THE FILE NAME UPPER CASE
  • Make Proper Case - Makes Each Separate Word Start With An Upper Case Letter
  • Audio Tags - Add tags from audio files such as MP3, iTunes and WMV files using ID3, AAC, Quicktime or ASF. Also works with some movies.
  • Photo Tags - Add tags from photos using Exif data
  • Regular Expression - Search and replace using RegEx

To add an Action simply select it from the drop down list. Then press the Add Action button. You will be prompted for additional information if necessary.

When you test or rename your files the Actions you have selected will be run sequentially from top to bottom. You can reorder your actions using the up and down arrows, or remove them using the X button. You can have multiples of the same action type. The order of your Actions can make a difference in the final name of your files.

You can Save and Load Action lists using the Save Actions and Load Actions buttons.

You can clear your Action list by using the Clear Actions button.

Advanced Renaming Actions

Change Name

When you configure this Action you will be prompted to enter a new name. Enter the new name and press OK. The existing name will be completely overwritten with the new name.

Clear Name

Removes the name entirely. The extension will not be changed.

Add Numbers

When you configure this Action you will be prompted to choose the starting number, zero padding, increment and position.

Starting Number - This is the first number that will be used to rename a file.
Zero Pad - This is the number of digits that will be filled in with a zero. This is important to ensure that your renamed files will sort properly. For example, choosing 3 would result in: 001.jpg, 002.jpg, 003.jpg, 004.jpg, etc.
When choosing how many padding digits to use, take into account the number of files you are renaming. For example:

  • Up to 9 files: No padding necessary
  • Up to 99 files: At least 2 digits
  • Up to 999 files: At least 3 digits
  • Up to 9999 files: At least 4 digits
  • and so on

Increment - This is the amount that the starting number will be incremented for each file. For example, choosing 1 would result in 001.jpg, 002.jpg, 003.jpg, etc. Choosing 2 would result in 001.jpg, 003.jpg, 005.jpg, etc.
Position - Prefix or suffix

Replace Text

When you configure this action you will be prompted to enter a the text to find, and the text to replace it with. For example, if your files were named HawaiiPictures001.jpg through HawaiiPictures016.jpg and you entered "Pictures" as the text to find, and "Photos" as the text to replace, the new files would be named HawaiiPhotos001.jpg through HawaiiPhotos016.jpg.

Remove Text

When you configure this Action you will be prompted to enter the text to remove. Whatever text you enter will be completely removed from the resulting name. For example, if your files were named HawaiiPhotos001.jpg through HawaiiPhotos016.jpg and you chose "Photos" to be removed, the resulting file names would be Hawaii001.jpg through Hawaii016.jpg.

Add Prefix

When you configure this Action you will be prompted to enter a new prefix. The text you enter will be added to the beginning of the file name. For example, if your files were named Hawaii001.jpg through Hawaii016.jpg and you chose "Vacation" as the prefix, the resulting file names would be VacationHawaii001.jpg through VacationHawaii016.jpg.

Add Suffix

When you configure this Action you will be prompted to enter a new suffix. The text you enter will be added to the end of the file name, before the extension. For example, if your files were named Hawaii001.jpg through Hawaii016.jpg and you chose "Vacation" as the suffix, the resulting file names would be Hawaii001Vacation.jpg through Hawaii016Vacation.jpg.

You will notice that the suffix is added after the numbers in this example. That is because the numbers existed in the name before the suffix was added. To counteract this, instead of the Add Suffix Action you could use the Change Name action with the text "HawaiiVacation" and the Add Numbers Action. That would result in files named HawaiiVacation001.jpg through HawaiiVacation016.jpg.

Add Date

When you configure this action you will be promtped to choose the date and position.

Date:

  • File Creation Date - This is the date the file was created on the computer
  • File Modification Date - This is the date the file was last modified
  • Today - The current date
  • Custom Date - When you choose this the calendar will become active. You can select a custom date using the calendar control.

Position:

  • Prefix - Adds the date to the beginning of the file name
  • Suffix - Adds the date to the end of the file name, before the extension

Format

You may specify a custom date format using the following variables:

  • YYYY - the four digit year
  • MM - the two digit month
  • DD - the two digit day
  • hh - the two digit hour
  • mm - the two digit minutes
  • ss - the two digit seconds

It is not necessary to use all of the variables, and you may arrange them in any order you want. You may add additional text to the format, such as using periods to append the date nicely to the end of a file name:

.YYYY.MM.DD

When renaming, each of the variables will be replaced by the actual date values.

Change Extension

When you configure this action you will be prompted to choose a new extension. The new extension will replace the old one. For example, if your files were named HawaiiVacation001.jpg through HawaiiVacation016.jpg and you chose ".png" as the new extension, the resulting file names would be HawaiiVacation001.png through HawaiiVacation016.png.

Make Upper Case

When you configure this Action no addition input is necessary. If your files were named HawaiiVacation001.jpg through HawaiiVacation016.jpg the resulting file names would be HAWAIIVACATION001.jpg through HAWAIIVACATION016.jpg.

Make Lower Case

When you configure this Action no addition input is necessary. If your files were named HawaiiVacation001.jpg through HawaiiVacation016.jpg the resulting file names would be hawaiivacation001.jpg through hawaiivacation016.jpg.

Make Title Case

When you configure this Action no addition input is necessary. If your files were named HawaiiVacation001.jpg through HawaiiVacation016.jpg the resulting file names would be Hawaiivacation001.jpg through Hawaiivacation016.jpg.

Title Case simply makes the first letter of each word upper case, and the rest of the characters lower case. A different example is if your files were named "hawaii vacation 001.jpg" through "hawaii vacation 016.jpg". In this example, the resulting file names would be "Hawaii Vacation 001.jpg" through "Hawaii Vacation 016.jpg".

Audio Tags

When you configure this action the first file in your Before Rename list will be used to gather available metadata tags. Available tags can then be selected from the drop down box and used to create a renaming format. Alternatively, you can select an audio file to extract metadata tags from using the Browse for tags button.

To create a new naming format based on metadata, select a tag from the drop down list and click Insert Tag. Your selected tag will be added to the Format field. You can arrange tags and type text into the format box to create exactly the name you want. For example:

[Artist].[Album].Track[Track_Number].[Title]

When renaming, bracketed items will be replaced by the actual metadata values from each file. For your convenience, the first four tags listed are Artist, Album, Track Number and Title. Clicking the insert button four times will insert them in the most common audio file name format.

If you wish to use only tag data when generating your file name be sure to add a Clear Name action before your Audio Tags action.

Position:

  • Prefix - Adds the metadata to the beginning of the file name
  • Suffix - Adds the metadata to the end of the file name, before the extension

Photo Tags

When you configure this action the tags from the first item in your Before Rename list will be used to gather EXIF metadata tags. Available tags can be selected from the drop down box. Alternatively, you can select a photo file to get metadata tags from using the Browse for tags button.

.size[ResolutionX]x[ResolutionY]

When renaming, bracketed items will be replaced by the actual metadata values from each file.

If you wish to use only tag data when generating your file name be sure to add a Clear Name action before your Photo Tags action.

Position:

  • Prefix - Adds the metadata to the beginning of the file name
  • Suffix - Adds the metadata to the end of the file name, before the extension

Regular Expression (RegEx)

This search and replace uses a regular expression (RegEx) pattern to search and replace items in the file name. For example, a search for [abc], and replace of D will replace every letter a, b or c with the letter D. HawaiiCabin001.jpg would become HDwDiiDDCin001.jpg. For more information please see the Wikipedia entry for RegEx.