Rename files in bulk

Photos come off a phone as IMG_2831.JPG, chat exports as 微信图片_20240501.jpg. Hundreds of them in one folder, and finding a specific one means guessing.

How you probably do it today

Right-click → Rename → type a name → Enter → next one… Fine for ten files, painful for three hundred. Dedicated renaming tools mean learning yet another rule syntax.

Just say this

Rename the images in "Downloads" by capture date, in the format 2024-05-01_001.jpg

Other common phrasings you can copy:

Add the prefix May-2024_ to every file name in "Projects"

Remove the extra spaces and brackets from file names in "Assets"

Sort the files in this folder by modified date and number them from 001

What it will do

1. Show you a mapping table first — old name → new name, one row each
2. Tell you the count — how many files, and whether any names would collide
3. Wait for your OK — the actual rename happens only after you approve

What you get

• Files renamed and sorted exactly by your rule
• A mapping table, so you can trace any file back to its original name
• File contents are untouched — not a single byte changes

Other things to ask for

• Number files after sorting by capture date, modified date or size
• Add a project, client or date prefix
• Lowercase everything, strip Chinese brackets, remove duplicated numbering
• Normalise .jpeg, .JPG and .jpg into one form

What it cannot do

• Renaming can't be undone automatically. That's why it always shows the mapping table first — please actually read it before approving
• If two files map to the same new name it stops and asks, rather than overwriting
• It has no idea what's inside the photos, so it can't rename by content ("pick the ones with a cat" is not possible)

Next

• Other things it can do
• Download the desktop app
• FAQ