TheRename Tutorial

An fast 'n' easy way to rename lots of files

Written by Tom from Tom's Newbie Booster

In this short tutorial we're going to look at a bit of free software which I've found to be totally invaluable. In this business, you'll frequently find that you have to rename large numbers of files. An example would be if you bought a set of pictures and each picture had a file name something like ASX11p222.jpg. You'd probably want to name each picture something descriptive eg. foot-fetish-pic.jpg OR name it something numeric like 001.jpg

Content providers and everyone else in this business have their own methods for naming files. Chances are that you'll have to rename those so that they make sense to you and work in YOUR system and way of working.

Make sure you also read:

Naming files for the adult web

... there's some more advice about what and how to name files.

It would be pretty easy to go to the file, right click it, and then choose RENAME (or perform a similar process on the Mac). But what happens if we have a folder that has 20 pics that need renaming? How about ONE HUNDRED pics that need renaming... Now we've got a serious problem. Any task in this business that is repetitive and slow to perform means that it's taking up valuable time.

Luckily there's a bit of software which we can use to rename files. It's called TheRename and it's available 100% free here: DOWNLOAD THERENAME Download and install it...

Renaming files numerically and in sequence

I want to cover probably the most common renaming procedure that adult webmasters come across - which I touched on a moment ago: Naming files numerically. eg.

01.jpg
02.jpg
03.jpg

One common time you'd need to rename files would be if you were creating say 24 picture pages by duplicating 01.html by copying and pasting it into the same folder 23 times. You'd end up with something like:

01.html
Copy (1) of 01.html
Copy (2) of 01.html
Copy (3) of 01.html
Copy (4) of 01.html
...

Again, renaming these files to 02.html 03.html and so on would take a long time. So this is what we need to get TheRename to do.

Getting started...

1) Create a webpage and save it as webpage.html into a folder on your hard disk.

2) Using windows explorer or another file exploring folder - go into that folder.

3) Now highlight the file and press CTRL + C

4) Now press CTRL + V x 29 times.

5) You should now have something that looks a bit like this:

Using TheRename

Now lets rename these files. This process might take a bit of practice, and even seem time consuming at first. But trust me - it will save you hours of hard work.

1) Start TheRename.

2) First of all choose the folder where the pics are. You do this by choosing the correct disk from the first drop-down box, and then by double clicking to the right folder in the window directly below that. When you get to the correct folder, you'll be able to see the files in the window below that.

3) Make sure the file filter window is blank - with nothing selected.

4) Make sure prefix is set to 'Modify Prefix'.
The prefix is the bit before the dot in the file name. There's probably never a time when you'd want to rename the bit after the dot in a file's name.

5) Below that, click on the 'Counter' tab.

6) Click and put a tick in the 'Add Counter' check box.

7) In 'Begin Value' - put '01'.
This will be the number of the first file.[/p]

8) In Step, put 1
[i]This is how much each file's number will be increased by.

9) In digits, put 2

10) The drop down box to the right of that should say 'Decimal'.
This should always be set to 'Decimal'.

11) Click and check 'Replace Prefix'.

12) Under the files window (at the bottom left of the software window) click 'Select All'.

Your screen should now look like this:

13) Click 'Preview'.

This is a great habit to get into. This lets you see what the files will look like after the batch rename WITHOUT actually making any changes. This is a trial run which will let you correct any errors in the software's settings.

14) Click OK to close the preview window.

15) Now let's rename these files for real! Click on 'Start'. Boom! The files should all rename from 01.html to 30.html - like this:

The files should now look like this:

You can do this trick with pictures, webpages - or any other kinds of files that you need to batch rename numerically. It's also a great way to build up a site's pages from templates. Once you've created one picture page - you can do what we've done in this tutorial to build up the other pic pages from that one.

That's it! Lemme know if you have any problems...

Have fun and happy renaming!

TOM ^"^