How to rename multiple files at once in Windows 10

In Windows 10, you can rename a single file in File Explorer by selecting it and pressing F2. What if you wanted to rename many files at once? A lesser known feature of File Explorer is the ability to rename more than one file. It is a bit crude - you get little control over how exactly to rename them but if you only wanted to rename a folder full of pictures or music tracks serially, it is possible.

Many alternative file management apps have the ability to rename several files at once. For example, my favorite file manager Total Commander comes with a really impressive "Multi-Rename" Tool, which supports search and replace, regular expressions, case conversion and many other useful options.

Let's see how to rename multiple files at once in Windows 10 using just File Explorer.

1. Open File Explorer.
   Tip: you can press the Win + E shortcut keys together on the keyboard to open it quickly.See Shortcuts with Windows (Win) key every Windows 10 user should know.
2. Go to a folder with files you need to rename in:
3. Select more than one file or folder. To do that, hold down the Ctrl key and click on each file and then let go of the Ctrl key. Another way to select files is by using the arrow keys and space bar. If you hold down the Ctrl key, you can press the arrow keys and select multiple files using the Space bar.
4. Now press F2 on the keyboard. The name of the last select file will become editable:
5. You must enter the desired name for the selected item in a specific format. For example, I will give the name "my super text (1)" for the file I am renaming above.
   Press Enter. You will notice that all the rest of the selected files will get the same name but the number will be incremented automatically!

See this video:

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This feature is really useful when you have no other file management app installed, but need to group rename a bunch of files. Also, this trick works even in previous windows versions.

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