Renaming a PC file is easy. Just right-click on the file name and select Rename from the drop down menu. Put your cursor in the file name and click and type in the new name. But remember to use the same file extension (.exe, .jpg, etc.,) or your file may not open.

But suppose you have a folder full of new photos, all labeled image01.jpg, image02.jpg, image03.jpg, etc., and you want to copy/paste them to another folder. Oops, the destination folder has photos with the same name and when you try pasting the new photos on top of them you get an error message that says:

This folder already contains a file called Image01.jpg. Would you like to replace the existing file?

You must now choose yes or no to proceed. If you select yes, and keep repeating it each time a file comes up you'll find that you've permanently clobbered a bunch of family photos with the same filename - photos you really cherished. This disaster could also occur when you FTP files for a new web page that ends up ruining an existing web page using files of the same name. In this case you don't even get a warning that you're replacing a file. What can you do to avoid this?

The solution, of course, is to rename files. No problem if you have only a few but if you have a bunch of files like image01.jpg through image60.jpg it would be a time-consuming job changing one file at a time. Well, read on because Windows XP has a renaming utility that perhaps some of you don't know about. For those without Windows XP there are freeware programs that can be downloaded to do the same job and more.

Renaming multiple files with Windows XP

Let's say you have a folder full of .jpg files labeled image01, 02, 03, etc., that you'd like to rename as Susie-birthday(01).jpg, (02), (03), etc.

Holding down the left button on your mouse drag the cursor down along the right side of the file names you want to change and then move the cursor to the left to highlight them and release the mouse button. Alternatively, you could select Edit/Select All from the taskbar to highlight the files. Now move the mouse cursor over the top file name, right-click and select Rename from the drop-down menu. The next step is important. Put the cursor in the first file name, click and rename it Susie-birthday(01).jpg and hit the Enter key and voila, all your files are renamed and numbered (01), (02), (03), etc.

I suggest you copy/paste a few files to a temporary folder to practice on to get used to using the utility. It's really neat.

Renaming multiple files with a freeware program

If you Google renaming files freeware you'll find numerous programs that are free, small and will rename multiple files. One I suggest is called 1-4a rename and available at http://www.1-4a.com/rename/. At first glance it looks rather complicated because it does much more than the Windows XP rename utility. After installing it, I was disappointed there were no help instructions but discovered that if you go back to the download web site and click on FAQ/Examples you can get a pretty good idea how the program works but you'll have to play around with it. For example, if you wish the new list of file names to be numbered you must use a "$" sign in the new file name. Windows XP does the job fine and quicker for me.

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3/3/06