Challenge:
We have a few hundreds Microsoft Word documents with old catalog names as their file names. We need to rename them with these new catalog ID as their new file name. Good thing is that we already have these old/new catalog name pairs in an Excel worksheet.
To save the time of manually changing all file names, we come up two solutions/approaches to automate the process.
Let’s see, we already have the Excel file as the below. In the first column (A2 to A1400) there are the old catalog IDs which are the existing file names (for instance, IP-38-009P.doc). And the second column (from B2 to B1400) has the new file names we need to rename.
Now in the cell C2, enter a text string “copy ” (without the quotation). And in the cell D2, enter a formula
=CONCATENATE(C2," ",A2,".doc ",B2,".doc")
Then highlight the cell C2 and D2, and drag the right bottom cross till the cell D1400. The Excel file should look like the below:
Copy all Column D texts and paste to a text editor, then name the new text file as “renameDocs.bat”. The batch file content should look like the below
copy IP-38-009P.doc 228-10232.doc
copy IP-38-008P.doc 228-10233.doc
copy IP-38-007P.doc 228-10234.doc
copy IP-38-006P.doc 228-10227.doc
copy IP-38-005P.doc 228-10231.doc
copy IP-38-004P.doc 228-10229.doc
Last, copy your new renameDocs.bat into the same folder of all your Word documents. And double click renameDocs.bat file to copy and rename all your files whose names are in the Column A of above Excel file.
Solution 2, use Bulk Rename Utility to do so (Complex one)
Some times, you might need more features in the rename process. Then a handy file utility named Bulk Rename Utility can be helpful. I have included its download link at the end of this post. You can download the installer or just download its zip file without the need to install on your computer.
After you install or extract, you launch the application and you will see the following screen.
You will see a lot of rename options at the bottom, but do not be panic since they are all self-explanation.
In my above situation, I just need to do a little modification on my Excel file to generate a text file. Since Bulk Rename Utility only takes text file which should contain a list of "old name" and "new name" pairs, separated by a pipe symbol ( | ).
Use the same method as my Solution 1, we can easily create a text file with the correct format based on the original Excel file. For example:
IP-38-009P.doc|228-10232.doc
IP-38-008P.doc|228-10233.doc
IP-38-007P.doc|228-10234.doc
IP-38-006P.doc|228-10227.doc
IP-38-005P.doc|228-10231.doc
IP-38-004P.doc|228-10229.doc
As you see, there is one entry per line.
Next, click the Import option on the File menu and load the text file. If the file is valid then you will see the "new name" column reflecting the contents of the text file.
Not like the Solution #1, this utility can give a preview before you make the final file name changes. Of course, there are more other features in the utility too. You just need to read its manual to explore more tips on the ways to rename hundreds or thousands file easily and quickly.
Enjoy!
Reference Link – Bulk Rename Utility download page URL: http://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/Download.php
I never thought of this, what I did was to use a batch rename files application but this could work too. The only difference, you simply rename bulk files directly, no more coding but if I knew this was possible I could use this too.
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The fastest way of File Renamer is using the ‘Easy Rename’ action, which will remove every name, let you add some text and put some increasing numbers on the end of each file name in simple step. And you get an instant preview every step of the way before you rename multiple files or folders.
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so what would be the hottest consumer elecdtronic items for the year 2010?”`~
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