Rename File List to Order in Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox

Cloud computing is the latest buzzword these days. It has completely transformed the way the data was traditionally stored and shared. When you drop a WhatsApp message to your friend, you are using cloud technology. When you login to your bank account online and get a glimpse of your online transactions or perform an e-banking transaction, you’re using the cloud infrastructure.

Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox are some of the popular names that come into mind when one talks about the cloud. Each of them offer free plans to try out their services with restrictions on the storage that can be used. If you need more storage, you’re required to upgrade. If you’re regularly storing files on the cloud, you might have felt the need to rename your files at some point in time.

The Need of Renaming Files

There may be several occasions when you would have felt the need to rename your files in an orderly manner. Let’s say you’re regularly transferring photos from your digital camera to the PC and then uploading them to Dropbox or any other cloud storage. By default, these file names contain a base filename and an incremental number (for example, DSC_1020.jpg, DSC_1021.jpg, etc).

Because the file names are not descriptive in nature, it becomes terribly difficult to find a photo when you need to view it. Besides, there is always a possibility of accidentally deleting a wrong photo file because of misleading filenames. It’s always a good idea to organize your files in an orderly manner by renaming them with descriptive names.

Rename File List

If you have dozens of files, you can rename them manually one by one. If you have a large collection of files, manually renaming them is not an option.

• New Name: Use this renaming rule to specify a completely new name to your files.
• Remove Text: Use this renaming rule to remove a specific character or a set of characters from the file names. For example: Remove “lion” from “mountain_lion.jpg”.
• Replace Text: Use this renaming rule to find specific instances of characters and replace them with new text. For example: Replace “newyork” with “ny” in “newyork_001.jpg”.
• Trim Text: Use this renaming rule to reduce the length of your filename. You can shorten the text from its beginning as well as end. For example: If the original file name is “galaxy_wallpaper003.jpg”, trimming the first 7 characters from the file name will turn it into “wallpaper003.jpg”. Similarly, you can trim characters from the end also.
• Prefix: Prefix is the text to be added at the beginning of the file names. For example: Adding the prefix “test_” into the file name “cricket_records.xlsx, will make the new filename “test_cricket_records.xlsx”.
• Suffix: Suffix is the exact opposite to prefix. Suffix is the text to be added at the end of the file name. For example: Adding the suffix “_records” into the file name “test_cricket.xlsx” will turn it into “test_cricket_records.xlsx”. Please note that you can also add suffixes after the file extension (in our case, .xlsx). But doing so could make your file name inaccessible. Change file extension suffixes only in the appropriate manner and when you understand the risks involved.
• Numbering: Use this renaming rule to add incremental numbers to your files. You can start incremental numbering from any number (such as 10), and not necessarily from 1. For example: Adding the numbering rule will turn your file name “nature_wallpaper.jpeg” to “nature_wallpaper 1.jpeg”.
• Swap: Swap is another renaming rule that changes the position of two texts. For example: Swapping the words “nature” and “wallpapers” in the original file name “nature_wallpaper.bmp”, will turn the new file name into “wallpaper_nature.bmp”.
• Insert At: Use this renaming rule to insert specific character(s) inside your file names. For example: Inserting the characters “ 1920×1080” into the file name “video.mp4” at position 6, will turn it into “video 1920×1080.mp4”.
• Upper Case: Use this renaming rule to change the text case to uppercase. For example: Change “software.exe” to “SOFTWARE.exe”. You can also apply the upper case rule to file extensions, if required. This will turn your file name into “SOFTWARE.EXE”.
• Lower Case: Use this renaming rule to change the text case to lowercase. For example: Change “SOFTWARE.exe” to “software.exe”. Much like upper case, you can apply this rule to file extension as well.

Steps:

1. Visit the Cloud File Renamer website and register a free account.
2. Click on the cloud storage platform that contains the files you want to rename (for example, OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox or Amazon S3).
3. Click on Add New Drive and login to your drive.
4. If your account is protected with 2-Factor Authentication, you would need to enter the OTP for verification.
5. Click on Yes or OK to provide the required file access and file management permissions.
6. Once you’re done, your folders list will appear on the left.
7. Select one of the folders and then click on Load Files button to load the files on the right-hand side list box.\
8. Use the Select Files button to bulk check/ uncheck files.
9. Check the files you want to rename and then select a renaming rule (for example: Replace Text).
10. In the Find textbox, type the word you want to replace. In the Replace With textbox, type the new word you want to replace with.
11. To replace all instances of the word, select Replace All.
12. To replace only the first or last instance, select the Replace First or Replace Last option.
13. If you want to ignore the case, select the Ignore case option.
14. Click on Add Rule.
15. You can also add more rules if you need.
16. Finally, click on Rename to start renaming the files.