How to rename multiple files at once in Finder

Tired of sitting and struggling through file after file to change the name of, for example, a lot of pictures from your mobile? Stop immediately and read on and we will show you how you can quickly and easily rename hundreds or more files at once! Mac OS has both a simple built-in tool and there are also several more advanced third-party programs you can take advantage of.

Built-in Finder

In fact, you do not even have to leave Finder to rename multiple files at once. Mac OS File Manager has a built-in feature which, however, like many other features, is not obvious or easy to find if you do not know it is there.

Select two or more files. Then open the File menu or ctrl / right-click to display the context menu. Now you can see that the command “Rename” has become “Rename…” – select it and a dialog box will appear (normally when you rename an individual file or folder you do the editing directly in the file name without any dialog box).

Here you can choose between three types of changes, which you can switch between with the drop-down menu at the top left: Replace text, Add text and Format.

Replace text is search-and-replace in file names. For example, you can use it to delete a piece of text that is included in many file names, such as IMG in image files (IMG_1153.jpg and IMG_1156.jpg can only be 1153.jpg and 1156.jpg).

Add text does exactly what it sounds like. For example, if you have a bunch of photos from a vacation that already has dates in the file name, you can add something that describes what vacation it was (1153.jpg and 1156.jpg can be Legoland_1153.jpg and Legoland_1156.jpg).

Under Format, the full name of all files changes. Here you can enter a base name and choose whether it should be followed by an index number, a sequence number or the current date and time. You can also choose to place the number / date before the name (IMG_1153.jpg and IMG_1156.jpg can become Legoland_1.jpg and Legoland_2.jpg)

Unfortunately, it ends here. For example, you can not add dates from the photos’ exif data.

Third Party Rescue Program

If you want to rename many files with more sophistication than this, you can use one of a number of third-party programs with much more advanced setting options. The most famous program is A Better Finder Rename, which has been around since time immemorial (version 6.3 is the oldest listed on the developer’s website – it was released in 2004). Another option is Renamer which is also included in Setapp.

With A Better Finder Rename you can, for example, choose to add a date after the current file name and choose both how to format the date and which date to use (when the file was created or modified, today’s date or when a photo was taken according to its exif data ). For music files you can use mp3 / aac tags, and for really advanced operations you can use preset file lists or regex.