Rename Files in Bulk
If you have FileCenter Professional, there's an easy way to rename a whole batch of files simultaneously using the Split view.
Example 1: Unified Name with Counter
Try a common scenario: renaming a collection of digital photos from their default numeric names to something more sensible, like Beach House 01.jpg, Beach House 02.jpg, etc.
Open the Split View. In the top window, go to the folder that holds the files you want to rename. If you don't want to move the files, select the same folder in the bottom window.
In the middle bar (labeled Drag & Drop), select the Move option on the left and Rename on Drop. Next to that, enter the filename you want for the files, minus the counter (e.g. Beach House). Now in the top window, select all of the files you want renamed, and drag them to the files list in the bottom window. Like magic, they'll all change to the new name with a counter.
Example 2: Retain the Original Name
The first example is great if you want all of the files to have the same name, but what if you want to retain the original name? For example, what if you have a lot of descriptive filenames, but you want to add the text "Jones Estate" at the beginning? This is where we use naming options.
Click the Naming button on the main toolbar, then Add a new naming option. In our example, we'll type Jones Estate in the Expression field. Next we'll select the General option above, highlight ORIGINAL Name, then click Insert Field into Expression. Let's add some spaces and a dash to separate that from our Jones Estate text. The final expression should look like this:
Jones Estate - «ORIGINAL Name»
Click OK, then Close the naming options dialog. Now back in FileCenter, we'll do exactly the same thing we did in the first example. The only difference is that instead of typing in a filename, we're going to click the drop-arrow at the right of that filename field and select our naming option from the list (you might need to select a file before that option will show up).
Like before, drag and drop your files from the top view to the bottom. FileCenter will rename them automatically using your naming option.
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