For example, if the file name were vac-sick-evacuation request form 03-10-08.xls, the resulting filename would be vacation-sick-evacationuation request form 03-10-08.xls. This solution is going to work fine in this case, but it's not going to work for all possible cases.

You can also press the little button to the left of Start, which will reload the newly renamed filenames into the tool for further manipulations. Have no fear: there's an Undo button that will undo the last rename operation in case you made an error, even if you close and reopen the Multi-Rename Tool. Now you can press Start to make the changes final. Notice how the New name column changes instantly as you type to show the resulting file names. Rename all files replacing 'vac' with 'vacation'. You can find a full manual in Appendix A. I find it better to show the capabilities of this tool in examples, rather than boring descriptions.

I fire up Total Commander, highlight the files using the gray *, right clicking and dragging on the names, or pressing Insert – the possibilities are endless, and fire up the Multi-Rename Tool from the Files menu (or just Ctrl-M). Vac-sick-leave request form 03-10-08.xls vac-sick-leave request form 05-30-07.xls vac-sick-leave request form 10-16-07.xls vac-sick-leave request form 11-22-07.xls vac-sick-leave request form 12-19-07.xls The tool supports regular expressions (regex) to execute more advanced operations. In my example, I'm going to use 5 files, but feel free to extend it to any number – multi is multi after all. Now for some quick tasks I'd like to accomplish using the Multi-Rename Tool in under a minute each that would otherwise take me ages (also being quite boring and tedious). I've been using it for more than 10 years now and seriously can't imagine my computer without it. You can download a shareware version of Total Commander at I encourage you to buy it after you try it as it'll soon become an integral part of your life. In this tutorial, I will use my favorite must-have file manager called Total Commander (formerly, Windows Commander) and its brilliant Multi-Rename Tool. You are also an extremely productive person with evangelical ideals of making every task as efficient as it can be.

If you're like me, you constantly move and rename files and directories.

Total commander multi rename tool