Rename files inside subfolders based on Excel columns

[martosko]

I have a 2-column spreadsheet. Column A is a list of current filenames. Column B is a list of new filenames, in the same order. See this image:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Bia8MKgX8Zc_HfsU_e3Y5MIsPO4awLRb/view?usp=sharing

The files are in a bunch of subfolders within a directory. There's a copy on my Windows machine and another copy on a Microsoft Sharepoint server.

The goal is for BRU to find each file whose name is in Column A (somewhere in a subfolder), and replace the filename with the corresponding entry in Column B. There's only one level of subfolders inside a single directory, but there are more than 60 of these subfolders. Each might contain just 1 file, or more than 30.

I can't figure out how to accomplish this. Help, please?

[Admin]

Hi,

Renaming From A Text File

With Bulk Rename Utility it is possible to rename files according to a text file. The text file should contain a list of "old name" and "new name" pairs, separated by a pipe symbol ( | ) or a comma ( , ). Bulk Rename Utility will read ANSI and Unicode (UTF-16) text files. Starting from version 3.5, Bulk Rename Utility can also read UTF-8 encoded files, e.g. CSV files from Excel.

To use this facility, create a text file in for the correct format, for example:

Track001.mp3|Headlong.mp3
Track002.mp3|Rushes.mp3
TRACK003.mp3|AnywhereIs.mp3

or use comma separated (CSV)

Track001.mp3,Headlong.mp3
Track002.mp3,Rushes.mp3
TRACK003.mp3,AnywhereIs.mp3

One entry per line.

Next, click the Import Rename-Pairs on the Actions menu and select your file. If the file is valid, then select all the files to rename and you will see the "new name" column reflecting the contents of the text file.

When comparing the current filename with the text file, the application ignores the case of the filename, e.g. it will match Track001.mp3 and TRACK001.mp3. This makes it easy to rename the files.

Click on "Rename Pairs Imported" to show the list of imported renaming pairs.

-->> Specifying Full Paths

You can also specify full paths, such as c:\folder\track1.mp3, in the first column for the old file names.
Then Bulk Rename Utility will match these names against the full path and not just the file name.

You can export the full paths from BRU to the clipboard to then use in Excel for instance.

Select all files to export. Right click and select clipboard copy from the menu.

Text File Requirements

Bulk Rename Utility will read ANSI and Unicode (UTF-16) text files.
Starting from version 3.5, Bulk Rename Utility can also read UTF-8 encoded files, e.g. CSV files from Excel.

Note: You can view all the imported rename-pairs by selecting 'View Imported Rename-Pairs' from the Bulk Rename Utility menu or by clicking on "Rename Pairs Imported" on the main window.

If you hover the mouse pointer on "Rename Pairs Imported", Bulk Rename Utility will show the current imported file path as a tool tip.

[martosko]

Thank you very much for the clear instructions. I'll try this, and I bet it saves me an insane amount of time.

[Admin]

Let us know how it goes!