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Batch renaming guide for multiple files in OS X Yosemite surfaces

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In the realm of “cool/useful operating system tricks”, this ranks up pretty high.

The cool cats at TekRevue have posted a guide as to how to perform batch renaming in OS X Yosemite. This becomes handy as your number of files grows and you need a decent system for organization.

Prior to OS X Yosemite, Mac users looking to batch rename files in the OS X Finder would have to turn to third party tools. Renaming single files was simple enough, but if you had to rename multiple files, you’d need apps like Renamer or NameChanger.


With OS X Yosemite, however, Apple has integrated basic batch renaming capabilities directly into Finder. To use it, simply highlight or select multiple files in a Finder window, right-click (or Control-click) on the selected items, and choose Rename.

Instead, try the new Batch Rename feature in OS X Yosemite. First, select all of the files you want to rename, which in this case is all of them. Then, right-click (or Control-click) on the selected files and choose Rename.

A new window will appear offering some basic options for batch renaming your files.

Replace Text: allows you to find and replace only certain parts of an existing filename.

Add Text: allows you to add text to the beginning or end of the existing file name.

Format: this is what most people envision when they think about batch file renaming. This option lets you get rid of the original file name entirely and replace it with your own.

When you’re all set with your desired batch rename, just click Rename to apply the changes. You’ll now find that all of your files have the new name and sequence, saving you the time and hassle of renaming them by one-by-one.

Longtime users of third party batch renaming tools will recognize that the new batch rename features in OS X Yosemite are relatively basic. Third party tools still offer more features and capabilities, and power users will likely want to stick with existing renaming solutions offered by the Terminal and Automator. But for everyone else with basic renaming needs, OS X Yosemite and Finder are all you need.

If you’ve found a cool trick or workaround for OS X Yosemite, please let us know in the comments.