Furthermore, you can replace those same characters by inserting text at a specified index. So for example if you had a series of files named Lyrics_ACT01_Maria.txtLyrics_ACT01_Tonight.txtLyrics_ACT02_TheRumble.txtLyrics_ACT02_Somewhere.txt You could remove the “ACTXX” characters very easily by defining the number of characters to be removed (5) and the index to start removing at (8- the 8th character from the beginning, starting at 1). You can remove any number of characters from a file name and specify an index to start with. Allows similar preservation or changing of extensions.Set Extension– fairly self-explanatory.Add Prefix/Suffix– again, self-explanatory.Remove/Insert Characters– this is where NM really has an advantage over Automator. Unlike Automator, NM allows you to define a prefix or suffix to the sequence.Change Case– Allows Capitalization, all capitals, or all lowercase.

This also means you can just drag a Folder into NM to rename the contents.įind and Replace– includes regular expression matching and an option to preserve extensions and ignore case.Number Sequentially– Allows you to number in steps other than one, set a prefix and suffix, keep or remove the original name and extension. The list of files pops up, and you can select filters (Folders, Folder Contents, Files) to dictate what gets renamed. To rename files, drag them into the left-hand window pane. While Automator has a wealth of other actions that you might find useful, Name Mangler does one thing and does it well. Name Mangler picks up where Automator falls short. If you want to drag a folder into Automator and have it work on the folder’s contents, use “Get Folder Contents.”)Īutomator is included with OS X and is located in the Applications directory by default. – Drag the Finder items to be renamed into the proper Window.(Note: with “Get Specified Finder Items“, Automator will not distinguish between directories and files when running. – Choose which action you want and adjust the parameters of the action to suit your needs. You can change the base name (file name without extension), full name (file name with extension), or extension only. Name Single Item– I don’t know why you wouldn’t just change the name of the file in Finder without launching Automator, but for completeness the feature is included. What if I wanted to remove the last 3 characters from a file name and replace it with “xyz”? Not in Automator. You can only replace a specific string, meaning the file name has to contain what you want to replace in order for Automator to do anything.

Replace Text– This is where I think Automator really falls short. Make Sequential– You can only add a sequence at the beginning or end of a file name. You can’t, for example, change moscow.jpg to Moscow.jpg. Text– You can only add text at the beginning or end of the file name.Ĭhange Case– You can only change the entire file name or extension at once. The stamp can only be added at the beginning or end of the file name. The options are fairly self-explanatory, but there are some limitations.ĭate/Time– you can only add a date or a time stamp, but not both. With Automator you can change the file name in the following ways:ĭate/TimeTextChange CaseMake SequentialReplace TextName Single Item If you want to be safe you could add this as well, but I usually don’t. Note: You will be prompted to add a “Copy Finder Items” action. Drag the Automator action “Rename Finder Items” to the right-hand window pane. Drag the Automator action “Get Specified Finder Items” to the right-hand window pane.3. Open Automator, choose “Custom” when the screen prompts you to select a starting point.2.Batch renaming in Automator is quite simple, even if you’ve never used it before.

Batch file rename application