This is a guide to Bulk Rename Utility.

Batch Renaming Examples

Predefined rules and templates, shown as real before-and-after examples you can adapt to your own files.

How predefined rules work

Bulk Rename Utility applies a stack of small rules to every selected file in order — remove, add, replace, renumber, change case, adjust dates — and shows you the combined result in a live preview column before anything is written to disk. You can mix multiple rules together for one renaming pass.

Example 1 — Cleaning up camera photo names

Rule stack: remove the IMG_ prefix, insert a descriptive name, then append a sequential number.

IMG_0001.JPG Iceland_Trip_001.jpg
IMG_0002.JPG Iceland_Trip_002.jpg

Example 2 — Standardizing a music library

Rule stack: replace underscores with spaces, apply title case, and move the track number to the front using a template.

01_bohemian_rhapsody.mp3 01 - Bohemian Rhapsody.mp3
02_we_will_rock_you.mp3 02 - We Will Rock You.mp3

Example 3 — Dating invoices consistently

Rule stack: extract the file's last-modified date and insert it at the front in ISO format, then remove inconsistent trailing text.

invoice_final_v2.pdf 2026-03-14_invoice.pdf
Invoice(FINAL).pdf 2026-03-18_invoice.pdf

Common rule types at a glance

Rule TypeWhat It DoesTypical Use
RemoveStrips characters from a fixed position, or a specific substring, from each filename.Removing camera prefixes like IMG_ or DSC_.
ReplaceSwaps one piece of text for another across all selected files.Turning underscores into spaces.
AddInserts fixed text at the start, end, or a specific position.Adding a project or trip name to every file.
NumberingAppends or inserts a sequential counter, with control over start value and padding.Ordering a batch of photos or scanned pages.
CaseConverts text to UPPER, lower, Title Case, or Sentence case.Standardizing inconsistent capitalization.
Date/TimeInserts a file's created or modified date/time using a chosen format.Sorting files chronologically by filename.

Need more precise control?

Learn how to go further with regular expressions for pattern-based renaming.

Explore Regex Renaming