Sick of a filename or folder name in Windows 10? Then change it. Just right-click the offending icon and choose Rename from the menu that pops up. Windows highlights the file’s old name, which disappears as you begin typing the new one. Press Enter or click the desktop when you’re through, and you’re off.
Or you can click the filename or folder name to select it, wait a second, and click the name again to change it. Some people click the name and press F2; Windows automatically lets you rename the file or folder.
- When you rename a file, only its name changes. The contents are still the same, the file is still the same size, and the file is still in the same place.
- To rename large groups of files simultaneously, select them all, right-click the first one, and choose Rename. Type in the new name and press Enter, and Windows renames that file. However, it also renames all your other selectedfiles to the new name, adding a number as it goes: cat, cat (2), cat (3), cat (4), and so on. It’s a handy way to rename photographs.
- Renaming some folders confuses Windows, especially if those folders contain programs. And please don’t rename your main folders: Downloads, Documents, Pictures, Music, or Videos.
- Windows won’t let you rename a file or folder if one of your programs currently uses it. Sometimes closing the program fixes the problem. Other times, you need to restart your PC. That releases the program’s clutches so you can rename it.
The Name statement renames a file and moves it to a different directory or folder, if necessary. Name can move a file across drives, but it can only rename an existing directory or folder when both newpathname and oldpathname are located on the same drive. Name cannot create a new file, directory, or folder.