How to rename multiple photos at once

On Windows: select and press F2

Select the files in the order you want, press F2, type a name, then press Enter. Windows names the set Name (1).jpg, Name (2).jpg, and so on.

It is effective but basic: no automatic date, no three-digit numbering. With more than 99 files, alphabetical sorting puts Name (100) right after Name (1), which breaks chronological order. PowerToys, Microsoft's free utility, includes a PowerRename module that handles patterns and numbering properly.

On macOS: Finder's rename feature

Select the files, right-click, then choose “Rename…”. Finder offers three modes: replace text, add text before or after the name, or apply a format with a counter or date.

The “Format” mode is the most useful: it combines a base name, an index or counter, and a starting number. It is the free equivalent of a dedicated renaming tool.

From the command line, to go further

PowerShell on Windows renames a selection sorted by date with clean three-digit numbering:

$i = 1; Get-ChildItem *.jpg | Sort-Object LastWriteTime | ForEach-Object { Rename-Item $_ -NewName ('vacation-{0:D3}.jpg' -f $i++) }

To rename based on the actual capture date, ExifTool, free and available on every system, reads EXIF metadata: exiftool '-FileName<DateTimeOriginal' -d '%Y-%m-%d_%H%M%S%%-c.%%e' . produces names like 2026-07-04_221503.jpg, with an automatic suffix if two photos were taken in the same second.

Choose a name that will last

A good photo name contains a date in YYYY-MM-DD format, a short context and a three-digit number. For example: 2026-07-04-fireworks-003.jpg.

Putting the date first guarantees that alphabetical sorting gives chronological order, on every system, including in a ZIP archive or a shared drive. Avoid 07-04-2026: in that format, every July 4th sorts together regardless of the year.

• 2026-07-04-fireworks-003.jpg — dated, in context, numbered
• Lowercase, hyphens instead of spaces, no accents
• At least three digits for numbering
• Never use \ / : * ? " < > | in a file name

Renaming versus organizing

Renaming answers “what is this?”. Organizing answers “where is it?”. Both are useful, but when you need to find a photo, location often does more work than the name.

If your photos are already in an archive, start by sorting by date: you get a usable year / month structure immediately, without touching a single file name. Renaming then becomes optional, and limited to the folders that really deserve it.

On a smartphone

Neither iOS nor Android offers native batch renaming for gallery photos, which identifies them by something other than their name. Renaming makes more sense once files are transferred to a computer or exported to an archive.

That is actually the right time to do it: right after importing, while you still remember which event each series belongs to.

The traps of batch renaming

Renaming is permanent once the window is closed: Ctrl+Z does not survive for long. Work on a copy until you are sure of the pattern you chose.

Watch the selection order too: on Windows, numbering follows the display order at the moment you rename. Sort the view by date before selecting, or your numbers will mean nothing.