When you download images from your digital camera to your computer, the file names of the images have nothing to do with the events or scenes in the pictures. Renaming each file manually is time-consuming, but using this Windows XP technique, you can quickly rename a folder of digital photos all at once. When you use this technique on a folder, all the files in the folder end up with a single name (including a sequential number) that relates to the subject of the images. Using this technique to rename your digital photos makes it easier to locate the one you’re looking for at a later date a photo named museum of flight august (18).JPG, for example, is easier to find than that same photo named DSCN1518.JPG.

Lets’ see how to do this.

1. First open a folder of digital photo files whose names you want to change.
2. Click Edit and then click Select All. You could also use ‘Ctrl+A’.
3. Right click on the first digital photo file in the list and then click Rename. The name of the first digital photo file is highlighted and ready to be edited.
4. Type the name you want to use to identify all the digital photo files in the folder. Choose a name that allows you to identify a photo from this folder at a later date.
5. Press Enter on your keyboard to rename all the digital photo files in the folder and add sequential numbering to the file names.

It’s really very fast and convenient.

Suppose you want the sequence to start from a particular number, while renaming the first image, add the number in brackets. For example, if you name the first image birthday (51).jpg, then the other photos will be automatically named birthday (52).jpg, birthday (53).jpg…..etc. Needless to say, you can use this technique for any kinds of files, not just photos.

Recommended reading: How to mass/batch rename files.

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