Easily Rename All Files In Folders (NOOB vs PRO) & rename files based on an Excel table with PAD

[@LeilaGharani]

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[@legojenn]

One of the challenges that I find with Leila's advice and tips that for those us who work in large corporations and government is our systems are locked down and by design, we're running a generation behind on the operating system and one to two generations behind on our office suite. The upgrade cycle is tied to budgets and risk management. We can't take advantage. My personal computer has Windows 11 and O365, but tend not to do officey things on it. This is not a problem for Leila to solve, but it does simultaneously lead to a frustration about being left behind and hope that things will be easier in the future. In the meantime, I have my 1994 DOS for Dummies book that sits on my desk for bulk tasks and batch files for doing some, but not all, of these automated tasks.

[@j.ballsdeep420]

PowerShell. Shouldn't be locked out of that.

[@patrickmeylemans9627]

Portable apps 👍

[@cdoublejj]

@@patrickmeylemans9627 as long as you don't need a flash drive

[@cdoublejj]

@@j.ballsdeep420 that can be disabled in group policy for security.

[@cdoublejj]

Spot on! And for office 365 some gov orgs require on site NON-cloud software. Though I have heard there is hybrid for large orgs and gov. But yes. I have office 16 and 21 but not 365. She mentioned talking to an Microsoft product manager so this channel maybe a bit of shilling channel. MS loves to push people to new products. Like I noticed with the outlook search video she did for using the search function there was no mention that in older versions of office searching works live as you type each letter but an office 21 and it looks like 365 that feature is gone. She could have ever make some videos for folks using older versions of office would open up her channel to other demographics and help people out

[@MrRKWRIGHT]

I truly enjoy joining in all these comprehsensive curated courses out there which do so much to help us optimize our health and wellness, forgiveness and meditation, avoiding vulnerability in the workplace, getting more done in less time, even if we've haven't had enough restful sleep or a healthy nutritional breakfast because in the typical workplace these days, you're expected to get online early and start signing and returning documents, renaming all files in folders, and have them all done well in advance of COB (whatever that is anymore). Fortunately, many of these courses are brown bag lunch and learn events, which allow us to grab a sandwich while while we learn more from the life lessons learned by the host. Great job Leila!!!

[@joeldemoraes6823]

Thanks!

[@TheRohit456]

I had to do this recently, i just opened command prompt with cmd and ran a dir DOS command. With the results of the file list, i ran a ren (rename) command with the modified file name. (This works on any version of windows). A little search on dos commands will get you the job done.

[@fightclub1164]

true , lot less to learn

[@c17nav]

A few days earlier, I made a detailed step-by-step response implementing a DOS window and Excel spreadsheet to a post by a gentleman named Mustafa.

[@sammyjunior4168]

True. But people must eat every day, so...

[@olegyamleq7796]

you did this for the second one to replace the worker ID?

[@MrR40388]

That's fine unless you are not a techie. Many are command line phobic.

[@Muuip]

Just installed Power Automate and successfully changed files names! Great tool!!! 👍👍👍 Thanks for the tutorial, much appreciated!

[@LeilaGharani]

Great to hear!

[@ktalwandi]

Great content as always. Just a shortcut for the first task, Run powershell in the folder and enter the following command: dir | rename-item -NewName {"Chicago_" + $_.name}

[@marklord7614]

Thanks Leila. I knew about Power Automate, but it was really helpful to see it applied in a useful way. Videos like this will get you even more subscribers for sure.

[@denconstutube]

Excellent. I am embarrassed to admit it, but this is the first time I understand the power of Power Automate. Your videos are always great and educational. And cute!

[@workoholekhh7542]

This video is one the most helpful tips I ever watched and learned. Unlike those horrible channels that just waste our times, This channel is so USEFUL. Please never stop. You are so pro. Thank you.

[@adityapatnaik6079]

THIS IS NEXT LEVEL, love the NOOB

[@charlesgantz5865]

Great video introduction to Power Automate. One thing though. The first step should be to copy all the files to a new directory and rename from that directory. Otherwise, if you make a mistake in your Power Automate script you could lose all your files.

[@closetothee3785]

I would say better copy files manually as that process may also be in a mess if you make a mistake in your script

[@danielch6662]

Copying only works if all the files are reasonably small. Otherwise, you could be waiting a long time just to create your temporary backup. I think it might be easier to just create a batch file to do the renaming. The first example shouldn't take more than half a minute, and the second two minutes. For a couple of thousands of files.

[@closetothee3785]

@@danielch6662 well you don't need to copy all files. You can just copy a couple of files for a test. If that works then you can run the flow against all other files.

[@victor.craiovan]

Total Commander -> select files -> Files -> Multi-Rename Tool (Ctrl+M). Also a good search tool, synchronize directories, find duplicates...

[@Krysstof]

I was going to comment that as soon as I see the video title :D

[@concretemathematics8146]

Can total commander do that?

[@issiewizzie]

Goodness just remembered this program .... either way its all good

[@spicehedge]

If you don't have windows 11, then search for "Rname-it v3.1" It has been around since the 90's, it will do the same and has more functions. Rname-it is a Win95/98/NT file renaming utility that specialized in batch process renaming. It allows the user to select multiple files and rename them all at once. Files can easily be organized and grouped by renaming to a new common prefix and/or padded with a unique numerical or alphabetical value for sorting purposes. Also features Real Time Preview and Full (Final) Preview to ease the user in complicated renaming procedures. Great for graphics collectors and webmasters!

[@Deezter16]

you are missing the point, renaming is just a slice of what power automate can do? actually in this example she could have renamed in explorer without any tool

[@colormile-vid8888]

Yes! As always Leila is my savior. I've known about power automate and needed a tutorial on how to rename files. Before power automate I've been searching on how to rename files as this was a frustrating process to do. Luckily, I don't have a lot of files. BTW your videos are fun to watch. I love twin Leila 😁 and most of the time she represents me 🤣🤣🤣 Excellent performance. As always, thank you for sharing your expertise. Have a great day! ❤👍

[@jamesstramer5186]

If people follow your tutorials, they will save at least a couple of days worth of time. You are literally adding lifespan to people🤣

[@CharlesBabayi]

You are so awesome Leila. I can stop smiling whilst watching and listening to you. Cheers

[@jackennis9258]

Hi Leila, excellent video! Have you any plans to create a comprehensive course on Power Automate? 🙂

[@okim1541]

Leila, your videos never cease to amaze me!

[@rubendecastro3221]

Cant wait for your advance tips for this app. Really need help setting up the connectors.

[@davetastik]

You are very competent with communicating and explaining this subject

[@BerserkPublishing]

Used to work for MSFT in the early/mid 90s. This reminds me of internal tools we would add to Windows and use in house. I have to admit, as someone who used to have to recover HD for MSDOS users on a telephone via edlin, this GUI is awesome. It essentially allows anyone to create some really nice batch scripts via the GUI instead of going to the command line. Nice to see MSFT still putting out useful development tools that can change the way end users at any level work.

[@georgetosounidis5545]

Oh JESUS!! edlin.... EDLIN !!!! Only those who've used it understand the PAIN !!!

[@maha002]

Wow, it worked! I'm so happy that it's not complicated. Love your voice and tone, I can listen to you all day. You make complicated task into ease, love your calm clear guidance approach 👍👍

[@surabhibhalekar3127]

Excel is really the most powerful tool i came across...we can continue learn it whole life...thanks leila for this awesome video

[@russraimer736]

Leila - You are something else! Your videos are fantastic - watch your Excel, PowerPoint and others. What a neat presentation in this video - Noob vs Pro!!! Best to you! Hope to see more - I learn so much!

[@newbdagaming7744]

Thanks to Leila for showing this to the people of KZbin. 🙏🏽 Automating things had been for ages. Practically any programming language can be used to do so... But power automate do make it easier for everyone and specially for those who are not accustomed with coding. But then again you have to be good at creating steps of the algorithm.

[@LeilaGharani]

👍

[@canirmalchoudhary8173]

Expression of the girl at the end is mesmerizing. By the way for adding prefix and suffix, I may use MS PowerToys-Power Renane feature

[@Visionery1]

Interesting! I've used PCs since 1998 and taught Newbies one-on-one, yet never had a need for this. I'd just run the DOS ren command - after almost 25 years basic DOS commands still play an important role.

[@daitedve1984]

Total Commander is answer on all. :) It's not only best file manager (instead of clumsy Explorer), but also powerful set of tools, including mass renaming (w many options).

[@egmalls]

ليلي عبارة عن نحلة مليئة بالعسل.. شكرا علي كل ماتقدمية 🌹👋

[@joaopedrodelunafigueiredo4313]

Just discovered you a few days and i´m in love! Thank you for your content!

[@chrisyleenz]

O.M.G, your step by step explanation is soooooo well structured, loving it, and a bug thank you to you for doing this

[@Juliodax]

She explain very well!!!!!

[@zone07]

You know how I know that the Noob and the Pro are two different people? The Noob is taller! This is why I love this channel; the details! Thanks for introducing this very handy tool.

[@alclosebr]

I've been looking for something like this for years. Thank you Leila!

[@BrPalavraCristã]

lucky to have you to teach. thanks. I will learn as much as possible about this tool

[@rafaybobby5862]

Leila, you are the GOAT of this stuff. Thanks so much

[@tristandunn4628]

I'd have done a less user-friendly fix of doing a "dir" to put the file names into an Excel file. Using concatenations and the like, generate a list of new file names off that in a second column. Then make a command in a third column of "rename A1 B1" and copy and pasting that back into a command prompt. Nowhere near as elegant as this, and probably not as flexible, either. Thank you so much for this. This could come in really handy in the future :o)

[@hidayatkhan4453]

Oh God she is back with a stunning look and excellent short key. Just love the way you explain excel to us. Everyone including illetrate people's can easily benefit from your videos.

[@vijayarjunwadkar]

Very cool idea! Thanks Leila! I think learning Power Automate is a must going forward! If you are launching a course, nothing like it! And well, you enacted both "Noob" and "Pro", so professionally! 👌😄

[@CamMcGinn1981]

Oh, THATs impressive! Will take some mulling to work out how to impliment it at work, but I love the sound of this tool already.

[@salkabalani1482]

Powerful tool. Could make life easier for a lot of people. The only problem I see is that you are not able to debug your programming before you commit the changes. For example windows Power Toys PowerRename utility has a preview window showing all the changes about to be applied before you actually commit them.

[@dorianorellano4532]

Agreed, You can make a mess quick if you don't have the flow set up perfectly

[@AW-tc4hy]

Simply do a dir>file, import into excel then create batch file. More specific control

[@jimmorse9831]

Your alter ego is delightful. The content is extremely useful. Thank you.

[@LeilaGharani]

Glad you enjoyed it, Jim!

[@myakupozer]

Right on time Leila. I needed to rename 5000 files and you come up with that. Big thnx.

[@simonb7556]

A great tutorial 🙂 I agree with the DOS command option below (I am an old Guy....) but this brought me up to speed with PA Desktop which I have not seen for about a year and I am now inspired to get back with PA. It can do so much.

[@XLnCADMalayalam]

Awesome😀

[@cdyard1]

Great video, as usual. Oh, and I like seeing this Noob. From time to time, that's refreshing.

[@LeilaGharani]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@eduardocc555]

Thanks Leila, it works for me, but I used it to rename folders, using Excel to get information from those folder names to rearrange and rename them

[@hansangb]

Interesting. A simple "ren *.* Chicago-*.*" would have done it, but I can see how PowerAutomate can do so much more. I had no idea this even existed. Thanks.

[@codehash1549]

Best things learnt this year. Thanks.

[@joss.u.]

Content absolutely priceless! Thank you!

[@FredericLEGUEN-Excel]

Great explanantion and used of Power Automate 👍

[@neilgore]

Awesome .. Thanks, Leila .. loved the noob version... me most days..

[@subhamrai8918]

You explain very well, please make more videos for Power Automation 🙂

[@becometheexcelguy4197]

This is groundbreaking stuff Leila! Good job with the handholding as this can be intimidating

[@gadduke1]

Great video! I was able to use your tutorial to update file extensions for a migration project.

[@jonminer9891]

Hi, Leila, You are lucky to have such a nice helper! Thanks for sharing! Stay healthy!

[@LeilaGharani]

Thanks, Jon! You too!

[@-saviorvx.2168]

i recommrnd power toys it has powwer rename by microsoft a og tool from the xp days that been forgotten but does get updated .its less complicated and just higlight and rename , youll get a prompt to match case ny words and replace it with your desired name with other sorting features for a organized desktop , also has useful office tools like videoconfrence add on, window ontop of evehthing, keyboard shortcuts not sticky keys nd more, i m a coder so it saved me time

[@petr6617]

More videos with Mrs. Noob, please :-) And.. for boys and simply - Total Commander, Ctrl + M, counter, regular expressions and so on.

[@l.leticiaramirez-ramirez4133]

Leila, you are the best! Thanks for sharing this tool.

[@lizcollinson2692]

Great, power automate has always baffled me great to see how it could be used. I would have hanged the file name in the excel file too to be tidy.

[@nerenlakhraj5252]

Thanks Leila ... awesome task done in superfast time. Thanks for this tutorial.

[@furzkram]

- Open command prompt with - press (Win) + (r), type "cmd" and press (enter) - c: (enter) --- (or instead of "c* whatever the drive letter is that the files are on) - cd "\some\folder" (enter) --- (to keep the command shorter) - ren *.xlsx CompanyName*.xlsx (enter) OR - for %i in ("c:\some\folder\*.xlsx") do ren "%~i" "CompanyName-%~nxi" (enter) Leave command window with - exit (enter) Job done.

[@MrMgd33]

Loved this video!!! A definite help getting going with PA and completing these tasks that would have been still sitting on the ToDo List until we set up enough time to do this! THANKS! A Big Hug and great creative work!

[@michaelcoleman8709]

Leila - this is a game-changer ! Thank you for the primer.

[@manideepak6820]

Recently I have done these task with the help of command prompt this is more easier and user friendly than power automate and even more faster than power automate

[@harshindublin]

Agreed CMD can be fast but at times you want UI to do the job by giving instructions rather than writing shell script.

[@saradhiananth1613]

windows?

[@manideepak6820]

@@saradhiananth1613 yes

[@akbargani5658]

@@harshindublin you can create an excel template to write the script dynamically tho. And it's super easy script not a complex one

[@PhunkyBob]

For the first part of the video: 100% agree with you. For the 2nd part, how do you replace "ID" by "name" in the filenames with command prompt?

[@accnotech3863]

Great one Would love to see a complete course on power automate

[@McKaySavage]

Helpful video as always! I haven’t played with Power Automate for desktop yet. To comment on the video style, personally I am not a fan of the noob variation. Totally love that you’re exploring, but for what it’s worth, I came to your videos - and stayed for more than one course - because of your unique style. You’re clear, friendly, professional and so easy to follow without any of the gimmick and gotcha filler. So personally, I’d honestly say, don’t fix something that was never broken. I think your video style was and is great and IMHO, more views isn’t better, and imho, more views using catchy fast-moving videos doesn’t necessarily equate to more people really learning, no matter what Google reps will claim. Thanks for all you do! Keep it up!

[@-saviorvx.2168]

i recommrnd power toys it has powwer rename by microsoft a og tool from the xp days its less complicated and just higlight and rename , youll get a prompt to match case ny words and replace it with your desired name , also has useful office tools, i m a coder so it saved me time

[@husamsaeed9856]

Goooood Luck - You are in Good Hands with Leila!!! 😃

[@Abhismash]

I will do it by using Command Prompt, the DIR command. I will mark and copy in windows console and paste in excel. Data import and add ren before every row. Then export and save it as .bat file and execute.

[@rap923t]

Love your work Leila

[@mikeparker3865]

Thank you Leila and Noob! Love the video!

[@LeilaGharani]

Glad you enjoyed it, Mike!

[@asureshkumarin]

Awesome automation. Thanks for sharing 👍

[@JstEnlightened]

Great job, I am just beginning to get into power automate. Hope to see a lot more content.

[@LeilaGharani]

More to come!

[@MrSupernova111]

Incredible! I never heard of this tool! Your youtube channel is amazing! Thank you!

[@zzota]

Brilliant! I'd like to see more examples of what we can do with Power Automate 😃

[@LeilaGharani]

More to come! I have a few other examples already on the channel in case you're interested.

[@ronmcc4]

This is a tool I want to learn to use. Good acting too Leila. 😊

[@Kim_Lund]

Thank you! Thank you for your no nonsense an waffle free style. Have had a lot of help and guidance from some of your previous videos.

[@LeilaGharani]

You are so welcome, Kim!

[@cintanami87]

Hi Leila, thank you so much for that! I just have a question - at 10:21 you have the option to select a folder in 'File to Rename' field. I do not get this. What can I do to get it? Many thanks!

[@sriharim1596]

Mind blowing... excellent video.. thanks for sharing

[@LeilaGharani]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@deepakvarde]

you are simply awesome. Thank you for making such wonderful videos and enlightening us with tools that make our life easy. God bless you.

[@tamunghauzel17]

@Leila Gharani I have been subscribing your channel for years now. I gained a lot! Thanks to you.

[@salvaavlas5757]

I made an Excel sheet to do that and it works perfectly without any other program

[@mustafabeguwala7522]

I really like you videos. For this one though, the DOS command ‘ren’ is a lot simpler to use, and it works really well. :)

[@ko_tech]

That or using a file manager such as Total Commander and using its integrated multi-rename tool.

[@mr.c6674]

@@ko_tech, the last time I tried TC it installed a ton of other programs and always offered programs I wasn't interested in. Neva, eva, again!

[@ko_tech]

@@mr.c6674 You must have downloaded it from the wrong site then or it was a different (but similar) program which there are a lot. If you download TC directly from the developer's site, you'll get one of the most old-school looking installers, but it's also very straightforward and most importantly bloat-free.

[@c17nav]

I have to agree. I have done this more efficiently with a regular spreadsheet without macros or add-on utilities by: 1. Shelling out to a command line window. 2. Changing to the folder affected. 3. Using "dir > files.txt" to create a file listing the folder's files. 4. Opening the new "files.txt" file to select (Ctrl-A) and copy (Ctrl-C) the results. 5. Switch to Excel and paste (Ctrl-V) the results to a desired cell (e.g., A1) 6. Delete the rows of the files I don't want to rename and unnecessary header/footer rows. 7. Use the Data tab's utilities to parse/separate/discard the files' date/time groups and sizes from their names. 8. Use Excel's string functions to create a rename command in B1. For example, A1's file is named "MyDoc.txt" and I want to add "_old" to all the file names. I could create a string equation: ="ren "&A1&" "&LEFT(A1,FIND(".",A1)-1)&"_old"&RIGHT(A1,4) As displayed in B1, the rename command would be: ren MyDoc.txt MyDoc_old.txt File names with spaces between words must be surrounded by quotes. Either adjust the string equation with &ASCII(34) surrounding the filename.extension where necessary, or (optionally) by adding quotes after converting the string equations to their text equivalent values. For example, A1's file is named "My Doc.txt", the string equation would be: ="ren "&ASCII(34)&A1&ASCII(34)&" "&ASCII(34)&LEFT(A1,FIND(".",A1)-1)&"_old"&RIGHT(A1,4)&ASCII(34) As displayed in B1, the rename command would be: ren "My Doc.txt" "My Doc_old.txt" 9. Copy B1's command adjacent to the cells in column A. This allows comparison between column A's original state versus column B's end state. 10. Select the B column's cells and copy (Ctrl-C) them. 11. Go back to the command window. 12. Press Ctrl-V to execute the copy buffer's contents as a batch file. By the way, whichever method you wish to employ, backup the original files.

[@say-kaydelights814]

@@c17nav How about considering a different approach - if its a one time only task - use explorer make a folder, select and copy (or move) files you need to rename to the new folder. Shell to the new folder and issue ren *

[@swittocx]

Wow, very interesting! Thanks, Leila!

[@venkatiyer7459]

As usual no words to appreciate your work ... thanks a lot

[@LeilaGharani]

So nice of you

[@muhhammadmonir1790]

Hey leila this is fun and engaging 💞

[@abhishekupadhyay6938]

Amazing!!! Another amazing tool developed by Microsoft. Thank you very much for sharing your knoledge. I will think where I can use this to automate processes in my work.

[@ivanadefieu1927]

Thank you so much for this video ! Clear & useful, nothing to add, it s just perfect

[@AKG58Z]

This tool automates any task but for renaming bunch of files together I use Bulk Rename utility which is way easier for me since I understand most of it so I can rename any thing instantly just by inputting what I need and press one button to rename all.

[@JustMe-sh8nd]

Ooh Wauw.. i did not know about PA.. again you opened a new world to explore and use in my work. Thank you so much for all your video's 💓

[@LeilaGharani]

My pleasure. It really is a powerful tool!

[@earthb67]

Loved it! Good luck noob!!

[@Bugkiller666]

I learned something new .Thank you Laila !

[@Freedomfastlane100]

Awesome tips always, thank you so much! 👏👏👏👏🌹🌹🌹🌹

[@reng7777]

Thanks Leila for such valiable content!!!

[@mzmarquette]

As usual, very informative and I will need to watch this video many times to remember all of the intricate steps. And double thumbs up, since I'm in Chicago... it's not important to the subject matter, but I know you used Chicago as the name change example because of all of your videos I refer back to when I can't remember how to do something in Excel... especially formulas! *(well that's what I'm saying and sticking to it lol)* 😁😁😁😊

[@franciscunninghamjr.3496]

Loved the alter ego!

[@scapy360]

Hi Leila. Excelent Video - as always! I have a question - and I hope I can handle it with power automate. I have several excel sheets, which I have to update every month to get the current data. Until now I open the excel sheet, right click on the table and "update all". I have to to this in ~30 tables. I wonder, if there is a way to include this procedure into power automate. Any idea to do so? Thanks a lot and best regards, Ronny

[@danielseguin913]

Awesome video. Didn’t know that. Thanks for sharing.

[@karenmcpoyle687]

Love her! Great teacher!