Windows 10 PowerToys Just Got A Big Update

Microsoft has dropped a brand-new open-source Windows 10 PowerToy, and it’s just as fun and useful as the other two. This new addition, “PowerRename,” gives you a simple method for batch-renaming files within File Explorer. It’s free, easy, and worth the 10 seconds it takes to install on your system.

To get started, hit up Microsoft’s GitHub for PowerToys and download the latest release. Once you’ve installed it, all three PowerToys—FancyZones, PowerRename, and Shortcut Guide—should be enabled by default, but you can check this by right-clicking the tiny icon in your taskbar and selecting “Settings.”

Assuming PowerRename is working, all you have to do is pull up File Explorer, select a few files you’d like to rename, right-click, and select “PowerRename” from the context menu.

From there, PowerRename is easy to figure out. Type in whatever text you want to change to in the top field (“Search for”), and put whatever text you want to change in the bottom field (“Replace with”)—as you just saw in the above animation.

What I love about PowerRename is that you’ll get a real-time preview of your changes in the (appropriately named) Preview window, so you can make sure what whatever it is you’re trying to do—with whatever options you select, if you use those—works out perfectly.

Speaking of, if you’re curious what those options do, here’s Microsoft’s quick descriptions:

  • Use Regular Expressions: If checked, the Search field will be interpreted as a regular expression. If not checked, the Search field will be used as a text to be replaced with the text in the Replace field.

  • Case Sensitive: If checked, the text specified in the Search field will only match text in the items if the text is the same case. By default we match case insensitive.

  • Match All Occurrences: If checked, all matches of the text in Search field will be replaced with the Replace text. Otherwise, only the first instance of the Search for text in the item will be replaced (left to right).

  • Exclude Files: Files will not be included in the operation.

  • Exclude Folders: Folders will not be included in the operation.

  • Exclude Subfolder Items: Items within folders will not be included in the operation. By default, all subfolder items are included.

  • Enumerate Items: Appends a numeric suffix to file names that were modified in the operation. Ex: foo.jpg -> foo (1).jpg

  • Item Name Only: Only the file name portion (not the file extension) is modified by the operation. Ex: txt.txt -> NewName.txt

  • Item Extension Only: Only the file extension portion (not the file name) is modified by the operation. Ex: txt.txt -> txt.NewExtension

Though, honestly, this all makes PowerRename sound much more complicated than it is. You’ll probably be fine with the basic search/replace functionality, and that preview? It makes me kiss my fingers like a chef. What a great little utility.

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