How to Mass Rename File Extensions
If you have a group of files that you need to rename, using Windows Explorer can be an exercise in frustration, as it will only let you rename files one at a time. Luckily, all versions of Windows can also run an old MS-DOS shell, called a command prompt. “Ren,” the renaming command, is one of the few commands available in DOS, and when combined with an asterisk, which is used as a wild card character, you can change the extension of all the files in a folder in under a second.
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Instructions
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Right-click anywhere on your desktop and choose “Create New Folder” or scroll over “New” and click “Folder,” depending on your operating system.
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Type “temp” to give the folder that name and press “Enter.”
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Double-click on the “Temp” folder and the folder where all the files you want to change are located.
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Select all the files you want to rename and move them to the temp folder. You can select multiple files by holding down the “Ctrl” button, or you can select everything by pressing “Ctrl-A.” Move the files by clicking on the selected files and holding down the mouse button, dragging the mouse to the destination folder and releasing the mouse button.
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Click the Start button in the lower left corner of your desktop and click anywhere in the “Search” box. If you are using an older version of Windows, you may have to click “Run” here.
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Type “cmd” into the box and press “Enter.” The command prompt window will appear.
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Type “cd desktop” and press enter. Then type “cd temp” and press enter.
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Type the following: “rem *.xxx *.yyy” “xxx” is the three letter extension currently attached to the files, and “yyy” will be the extension you want to use. Press enter to complete the process. You can type “exit” to quit the command prompt and then move your files back to their original folder in the same manner that you moved them to the “temp” folder.
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Tips & Warnings
If you are trying to rename files with different original extensions all to the same ending extension, you can use “*.*” instead of “*.xxx.” Just be sure that there are no files in the folder that you don’t want to change, as this will change every file in the folder.
References
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