How to rename multiple files at once on a Mac

Renaming a single file on a Mac is very easy. But often you need to rename more than just one file. Sometimes you need to rename hundreds or thousands of files at once, and nobody really wants to select each file one by one and change each name manually. In cases like that, you should use apps that can easily rename multiple files at the same time.

How can you rename files in bulk on a Mac easily?

To batch rename files on a Mac, you can use:

  1. Finder, the built-in file manager of macOS
  2. Batch file rename apps, such as ForkLift
  3. Terminal, the built-in command line interface of macOS
Read More…

ForkLift 3.5.8 is available

Improvements

  • More date presets in the “Add Date” multi-rename module in the Multi-Rename Window

Fixes

  • Fixes the typo in the word Occurrences in the Multi-Rename window
  • Fixes an issue that made it impossible to transfer files from the location /System
  • Fixes an issue in the Multi-Rename window that caused the addition of a “d” character to the extension when changes were applied to “Name with dot”
  • Fixes an issue which caused ForkLift to ignore the port number of SMB connections set on the Connect Panel
  • Fixes an issue that allowed a certain kind of navigation in the file view while renaming an item, which caused several problems such as overlapping file names, the inability to rename another file, or the display of the previously selected item in a different location
  • Fixes an issue that allowed users to insert a line into the file name with the Alt-Return keyboard shortcut in rename mode
  • Fixes an issue where after a long upload ForkLift incorrectly displayed an error message that the upload wasn’t successful because the connection was closed
  • Fixes an issue that caused some shares appear twice in the sidebar
  • Fixes an issue that made it impossible to remove icons from the Toolbar, introduced in version 3.5.7
  • Fixes an issue that allowed to expand folders in the Search results with the Right Arrow key
  • Fixes an issue where ForkLift didn’t display an error message when some parts of an archive couldn’t be extracted and the unextractable files were missing from the extracted folder seemingly without a reason
  • Numerous minor fixes and improvements

Download ForkLift 3.5.8

ForkLift 3.5.7 is available

New

  • Renaming items on Backblaze B2
  • Moving items on Backblaze B2
  • Displays an error message when a file can’t be updated in the Preview Pane because of missing permissions
  • Added system sound for Empty Trash

Improvements

  • Updated system sounds

Fixes

  • Fixes an issue of the sorting order of the selected items in Icon View that caused problems for example during Multi-Renaming
  • The correct folder size is being displayed after a new folder has been created using the name of a recently deleted folder
  • Pressing the Tab key during renaming doesn’t insert a tab character into the name of the item
  • Selection in the Activities window doesn’t get lost when the item list updates
  • Fixes an issue that could cause a possible data loss when moving items over SFTP into a target location with not enough space
  • Fixes an issue where permissions were lost on Amazon S3 after renaming an item
  • Fixes an issue that caused the missing progress indicator during Search in Icon and Column View
  • Fixes an issue where local shares could appear twice in the sidebar
  • Fixes a possible data loss during remote editing
  • Fixes an issue that caused a possible crash when saving a file while remote editing on Amazon S3
  • Fixes a compatibility issue that could cause operations failing on certain WebDAV servers
  • Numerous minor fixes and improvements

Download ForkLift 3.5.7

Lower prices and a new business model

We have lowered the price of ForkLift and have moved to a new pricing model.

Buying a license to ForkLift allows you to use ForkLift for as long as you want and to install all minor and major updates for one year. If you wish to install a new version of ForkLift after that, you will need to renew your license. After the renewal, you will have access to free updates for one more year again.

If you buy ForkLift 3 now, you will be able to install all the updates to ForkLift 3 for one year and even to ForkLift 4, should ForkLift 4 come out within 12 months after the purchase. And even if you don’t want to renew your license, you will be able to keep using ForkLift for an unlimited time.

This change in the business model doesn’t affect license owners who have bought ForkLift 3 before the change, they can continue using ForkLift 3 and install all future updates to ForkLift 3 for an unlimited time. However, for these existing users, ForkLift 4 will be a paid upgrade.

From now on, our prices are the following:

Single-user license $19.95
Family license $29.95
Small business license $69.95

ForkLift 3.5.5 is available

New

  • Default Folder X Menu toolbar item and Default Folder X Drawer toolbar item

Improvements

  • It is possible to work with items that have an apostrophe in their names on Google Drive
  • The Git status of an untracked folder is marked with a question mark (?)
  • The Enter on the numeric keyboard is treated as a separate key, it is now possible to use it in keyboard shortcuts. Enter and Return are treated as two different keys

Fixes

  • Fixes a possible, rarely occurring update issue during remote editing
  • Fixes a crash when the S3 server name contains a colon (:)
  • Fixes a WebDAV issue introduced in v3.5.4 where on some servers, not every item was listed
  • Fixes a multi-rename issue where the Apply to all rule wasn’t treated correctly
  • Fixes a permission issue where it wasn’t possible to write into folders without Read permissions, such as the public Drop Box folder of another user on the same Mac
  • Fixes an issue where it wasn’t possible to change the keyboard shortcuts of the Back and Forward commands when the input source wasn’t English

Download ForkLift 3.5.5

ForkLift 3 Christmas Sale 2021 - All licenses are ~66% off for a limited time only

ForkLift 3 Christmas Sale – 66% OFF [The sale has ended]

The Holiday Season is just around the corner. This year, leave the heavy lifting to the professionals. Get your presents delivered to your doorstep and get your files transferred quickly and smoothly with ForkLift!

All licenses are ~66% off for a limited time only. [Edit: The sale has already ended]

Single-user License – $29.95 $9.95
Family License – $49.95 $19.95
Small Business License – $99.95 $29.95

Download ForkLift 3Buy ForkLift 3 Now

ForkLift 3.5.4 is available

New

  • Option to disable SMB discovery, which could cause double entries of the same local share in the sidebar. If you want to disable SMB discovery, run the following command in Terminal: defaults write com.binarynights.ForkLift-3 DisableSambaDiscovery true
  • Previews SVG files
  • ForkLift now uses short-lived access tokens when connecting to Dropbox

Improvements

  • macOS Monterey compatibility improvements
  • Extended timeout period on S3 and Backblaze
  • During Move operations, issues like loss of internet connection or not enough space in the target location can’t lead to the deletion of the source items when the user clicks Skip in the error window to disregard the error message

Fixes

  • Fixes an issue where a parent folder appeared as its own subfolder on webDAV
  • Fixes a possible memory leak on FTP TLS
  • Fixes an issue where files inside an archive opened in the editor app defined in the Preferences of ForkLift and not in their default apps
  • Fixes a possible crash introduced in version 3.5.3 in Column View, which usually occurred when an item was clicked in the sidebar
  • Fixes the thumbnail loading issue introduced in version 3.5.3 in Icon View: thumbnails were only loaded after scrolling or resizing the thumbnails
  • Fixes an issue where the Quick Select option Select Matches didn’t jump to the match when there was only one match that wasn’t visible in the pane
  • Fixes an issue where permissions weren’t always kept during remote editing
  • Numerous minor fixes and improvements

Download ForkLift 3.5.4

ForkLift 3.5.3 is available

New

  • ForkLift uses the system log (Console App) to write FTP logs

Improvements

  • Improved loading and display of previews of items in Icon View
  • Significantly reduced memory usage during transfer size calculations

Fixes

  • Fixes an issue where ForkLift couldn’t open items on Google Drive with a plus sign in their names
  • Fixes the jumping around of the progress bar on remote connections on Big Sur
  • Fixes the multi-rename issue on remote connections
  • Fixes the Activities toolbar item that couldn’t be opened with Icon & Text enabled in the toolbar on Big Sur
  • Numerous minor fixes and improvements

Download ForkLift 3.5.3

ForkLift 4 sneak peek

We are postponing the release of ForkLift 4

In one of our latest blog posts, we discussed our plans for the new business model for ForkLift 4. The feedback from our users has been overwhelmingly positive, which has strengthened our decision about the new pricing model. In this last post, we also wrote that we were hoping to release ForkLift 4 in the spring of 2021.

We were planning to make fewer significant changes to ForkLift than in the previous major releases. And we certainly didn’t want to completely rewrite the code as we did in the past major versions. That was one of the reasons why we hoped that we could release ForkLift 4 in the spring. However, we are postponing the release of ForkLift 4 because we have decided to make a major overhaul once again.

First and foremost, we want to add more new features to ForkLift 4 than planned so that we can call it a new major version with a clear conscience.

Also, because of the complexity of ForkLift, we need to keep the code of ForkLift clean and sustainable. That is a standard we have set for ourselves. That is good for the developer and the users as well. A maintained, sustainable code is easier to work with, and it allows new functionality to grow. The maintainability of the code will become even more significant now that we are switching to the new model of continuous development.

We want to create a solid foundation that we can later easily build on. If we want the code to stay relevant, then we have to change bigger parts of it, and it is better to change some of the core functions now, before the release, than a few months later on the live code.

There are some new technologies and implementations (for example, SwiftUI) that we want to use in ForkLift 4, which would allow us to build a more robust and future proof app. These new solutions are reducing the complexity of the code too. There is only one thing that can improve the app besides writing code, and that is deleting some unnecessary code. It feels good and liberating to delete something old and unnecessary entirely or replace it with a much simpler solution. But unfortunately, using these modern implementations has its price too, and this price is the compatibility. ForkLift 4 will likely require a recent macOS version, but we hope that by the time ForkLift 4 comes out, this won’t be such a big issue.

Since we had announced that ForkLift 4 might come out in the spring, a lot of people asked if they should purchase ForkLift 3 now or wait until the new version comes out. Users who need or want to buy ForkLift now should buy it now and shouldn’t postpone the purchase. In the past, we always introduced grace periods for the users who had bought ForkLift in the months before the release of the next major version. We will work out a fair concept this time too, where users won’t need to purchase ForkLift twice within a given period. We will make sure that this will be a fair offer.

If you could add ONE feature to ForkLift 4, what would it be? Let us know in the comments which is the one, most important feature you definitely would like to see in ForkLift 4.