6 Ways to Rename Files and Folders in Windows 10 – How-To Geek

You can rename files on Windows 10 in many ways. If youre still right-clicking and selecting Rename every time you want to change a files name, weve got some tips to make it faster.

Windows 10s File Explorer is a powerful tool. Did you know that there are four separate ways to rename a file or folder built-in? Theres a keyboard shortcut that lets you rename a file or folder without having to click a mouse, too.

All methods using File Explorer to rename a file or folder work identically for both.

Fire up File Explorer by pressing Windows+E, and navigate to a directory with either a file or folder to rename.

Click on a file or folder to select it, and click Rename from the Home menu at the top of File Explorer.

Once the name is selectedif youre renaming a file, not the file extensionyou can start to type a new name.If youve configured File Explorer to show file extensions, make sure only to change the file name.

When youre done typing, press Enteror just click somewhere elseto save the new name.

Fire up File Explorer by pressing Windows+E, and navigate to a directory with either a file or folder to rename.

Select the file with a single click, pause for a second, and then click one more time.

After the name is highlighted, type out a new name, and press Enter to save the changes.

To rename a file from the context menu, right-click a folder, and click Rename from the context menu that appears.

With the name of the folder highlighted, start typing out a new name, and press Enter when you finish.

If you prefer to use a keyboard shortcut, you can use one to highlight a file or folders name so you can rename it without using a mouse.

Select a file or folder with the arrow keys, or start typing the name. Once the file is selected, press F2 to highlight the name of the file.

After you type in a new name, press the Enter key to save the new name.

If you feel more comfortable in the Command Prompt, you can use the ren command to rename files or folders with ease.

One of the fastest ways to open a Command Prompt in the desired directory is from File Explorer. First, open File Explorer and navigate to the destination. Click the address bar and type cmd in, and press the Enter key.

To rename a file or folder, you can use the following commandif youre renaming a folder, just omit the file extension:

Although the quotes arent mandatory, theyre required if either of the current or new names has a space in them. For example, to rename the file Home Movies.ogv to First Birthday.ogv you would use the following command:

Windows PowerShell is even more powerful and flexible than Command Prompt when it comes to renaming files and folders in a command-line environment. While well only scratch the surface of naming your files, you can do some really powerful things, including piping cmdlets together to batch replace characters in a filename.

The quickest way to open a PowerShell window at your desired location is to first open the folder in File Explorer. Once there, click File > Open Windows PowerShell, and then click Open Windows PowerShell.

RELATED: 9 Ways to Open PowerShell in Windows 10

First, letslook at renaming a single file. For that, you would use the following syntax:

So, for example, to rename a file from SampleVideo.mp4 to My Video.mp4 you would use the following cmdlet:

PowerShell isnt just a shell. Its a powerful scripting environment you can use to create complex scripts for managing Windows systems much more easily than you could with the Command Prompt. If you want to learn how to use PowerShell cmdlets, weve put together a list of the best ones to get you started.

RELATED: 5 Cmdlets to Get You Started with PowerShell

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6 Ways to Rename Files and Folders in Windows 10 - How-To Geek