How to Rename Mul­ti­ple Files at Once on your Mac

In this tutorial, we will show you how to easily rename multiple files at once on your Mac. If there are a couple of files that need a name change, well that is not an issue. But things become challenging when there is a plentitude of files that calls for renaming. While you could still take the individual renaming route, but that is surely going to take up a lot of your valuable time. The next thing that you could try out is using a third-party app for the said purpose.

Although a viable option but downloading an additional app just for this purpose doesn’t sound a feasible option. Fortunately, your Mac comes baked in with a pretty handy feature that allows you to easily rename multiple files at once. Just keep in mind that it isn’t recommended to rename system app folders, filename extensions, or the Home folder. With that said, here are the required instructions.

How to Rename Mul­ti­ple Files at Once on Mac

In this guide, we will be sharing four different instructions set. The first one will show you how to rename a file by adding a counter, date, or number along with the required name. The second method deals with adding a common text to all the files whereas the third method will show you how to find and replace texts from multiple filenames at one go. Likewise, we will also show you the steps to undo all the said changes in just a single click.

Renaming Multiple Files

1. Head over to the Finder and select all the files that you need to rename. As far as selection goes, you could hold down the Shift key and then select the desired files, or you could also make use of the mouse.
2. Once the selection is done, right-click and select Rename [x] items from the menu that appears.
   
3. In the Rename Finder Items window that opens, select Format from the first drop-down menu.
   
4. Then, under the Name Format, you have three options to choose from:
   
   • Name and Index: It will add a number in the image’s name.
   • Name and Counter: It will add a counter (like 00001) in the image’s name.
   • Name and Date: it will add the date before or after each image’s name.
5. As for this guide, let us select Name and Index.
6. Then in the Custom Format field, you will have to add the text that you would want in each of these files. In this guide, let’s keep it “image”.
7. Under the Where field, you will have to specify if you want to add the Index (or Counter or Date) ‘before’ the name of the file or ‘after’. As for this guide, we are choosing ‘After’.
8. Finally, the Starts number signifies the positioning from which the Index should start. In this guide, we have entered 1.
   
9. With every detail filled up, hit the Rename button. According to our settings, the files will be named as image 1, image 2, image 3, and so on.

So these were the steps to rename multiple files at once your Mac. Let’s now check out some other features related to the above instructions.

Adding Text to Multiple Files on Mac

You could also add a common text to each of the selected files on your Mac. Here are the required steps (as an example, we would be adding the keyword “image” in each of the file names).

1. From the Finder, select all the desired files at once. Then right-click and select Rename [x] items.
2. Then in the first drop-down menu, select Add Text.
   
3. Now type in the desired text that you wish to have in each of your files. Let’s add the word “image”.
4. Likewise, you could also signify the position of this keyword by selecting from After name or Before name.
   
5. Finally, hit the Rename button and all your files will now have the “image” keyword. That’s it.

Not only the option to rename multiple files but the option of adding texts to multiple files at once on your Mac will also prove to be quite useful. Let’s now see how to replace texts from multiple files at one go.

Replacing Texts in Multiple Files Name at Once

Let’s suppose instead of “image” you end up adding “images” in all your renamed files. Well, not an issue, you could easily replace the text with the correct one and rectify this issue.

1. Head over to the Finder and select the desired files. Right-click on them and select Rename [x] items.
2. From the first drop-down, select Replace text.
   
3. Now enter the desired texts under the ‘Find’ and ‘Replace With’ fields.
4. For example, in this guide, we would add “images” in the first field and “image” in the latter one.
   
5. Once that is done, click on Rename. All the “images” keyword will be replaced with “image”.

Undo Changes

If you want to undo the last rename that you did, then here are the required steps:

1. Head over to Finder and select the desired files.
2. Then click on Edit and select the Undo Rename option.
3. Or you could also use the Command + Z shortcut key combinations.

That’s it. With this, we conclude the guide on how to rename multiple files at once on your Mac. Likewise, we have also listed out instructions to add a common text to all these files, find and replace texts as well as the steps to undo these changes. If you still have any queries, do let us know in the comments section below. Rounding off, here are some iPhone Tips and Tricks, PC tips and tricks, and Android Tips and Trick that you should check out as well.