Serial

Serial Rename

This function is intended to be used when renaming a series of related files, such as digital photographs of an event or possibly database files. It takes a fixed base name as its template and adds a serialized number to it. The base name may be whatever desired but must be legal file name characters. The extension is changed to that used in the template.

See Renaming Multiple Files for methods to invoke this function, other multiple file rename functions and error handling.

Note: The renaming of multiple files is limited to the current directory. This version will not recurse though subdirectories.

Initiation

The Serial Rename function is initiated on selected file(s) by:

• LMB clicking the Data Panel Name button.
  
• Alt+N
  
• Menu item Files->Rename

Upon initiation, the Rename button label changes to Rename Files when more than one file is selected. A rename edit field appears under the Rename Files button and extends to the right edge of the FS/2 window. The first file in the selected list is presented in the edit field as the template to modify. Note the names of the six selected files and the template used in the example below:

Serial Rename Template

The template consists of a base name for all the files, optionally with an extension. When the template is modified, the Rename Files button will turn green (signifying the name has been edited). In the example above, the base name is 'animals_' and the extension is '.jpg'. Ignore the edit cursor in the example.

Press and hold down the Alt key. The Rename Files button will now be labeled "Serialize". Click it and release the Alt key. This action presents a Serial Rename dialog window. In that dialog window, select the Start and Limit parameters.

Serial Rename Parameters

The Start control sets the initial numeric value and the Limit control sets an upper limit numeric value. If a limit of '99' is selected, the number will be a two-digit number, '999' will be a three-digit number, .etc.

Click OK and the Rename Confirmation dialog window appears showing how the first file will be renamed in the Rename field and the template used is shown in the titlebar. Clicking the dialog Rename button will rename the files one at a time with each push. All selected files may be renamed in one step by clicking the Rename All button. The Skip button is pushed to skip the current file and the Edit button returns the mode to the edit field for further editing.

Serial Rename Confirmation

In the example shown, the selected files are renamed as shown below:

Serial Renamed Files