How can I rename loads of photos in one go?

Q

I recently downloaded hundreds of photos from Google Photos because I was worried about Google deleting them. The trouble is that they all have names like ‘Img_170618277.jpg’. Can you recommend an easy way to rename my image files without going through them one by one?

A

You can rename multiple files in one go using File Explorer in Windows 10. Open the folder containing your photos, click the View tab and choose Details or List. Press Ctrl+a to select all the files, then right-click the first image in the list and choose Rename. Type your chosen name, and keep pressing Enter to apply it to every file. This will be followed by sequential numbers in brackets – for example, ‘holiday (1)’, ‘holiday (2)’ and so on.

A more sophisticated solution is to use Bulk Rename Utility ( www. bulkrenameutility. co.uk), which is free for personal use. This tool can rename thousands of files in one go, and is particularly useful for images because it’s able to extract EXIF data from JPEGS.

Bulk Rename Utility’s interface looks confusing at first, but it’s actually simple to use. In the folder tree top left, choose the folder containing your photos, then press Ctrl+a to select them all. Click the ‘Renaming Options’ menu and choose ‘Extract Exif data (Photos)’ from the ‘ID3/ Exif Data/ File Properties’ side menu.

Next, click the dropdown menu next to Name in the options below and choose Remove to clear the current file names. Enter the name you want to use instead and it will be applied to all images in the folder. You can now add the date they were taken to the file name. Click the Mode dropdown menu in the Auto-date section then choose whether to include the date as a prefix or suffix. Do the same in the Number section, if you also want to number your images. Finally, click the Rename button bottom right (see screenshot) to save your photos with their new names.

Do you need our advice on what software to use? Just email us at letters@computeractive.co.uk