Smart Filters: Rename Only the Files You Mean

Every rule in Batchio can be limited to just some of your files. Smart Filters let you combine several conditions with And or Or, so a single rule targets exactly the files you intend and leaves the rest untouched. The live preview shows which files each rule will change.

How do you apply a rule to only some files?

Each rule has an Applies to section. Add one or more conditions there, such as name contains, name matches a regex, extension is, or in folder, and the rule only runs on files that match.

When a rule has no conditions, it applies to every file you loaded, which is the default. The moment you add a condition, Batchionarrows the rule to the matching files and shows the effect immediately in the preview. Because filters live on each rule individually, one chain can hold several rules that each act on a different slice of the same batch.

This is what makes it possible to rename a mixed folder sensibly. Photos get one treatment, documents another, and everything else is left alone, all in a single pass.

What is the difference between And and Or filters?

With All, every condition must match for the rule to apply, which is a logical And. With Any, the rule applies if at least one condition matches, which is a logical Or.

Say you only want to prefix invoices that are PDFs. You add two conditions, name contains invoice and extension is pdf, and set the combinator to All. Now a file named invoice_2024.pdf is renamed, while invoice_2024.jpg and report.pdf are both left alone because each fails one of the two conditions. Switch the combinator to Any and the rule would instead apply to anything that is either an invoice or a PDF.

You can add as many conditions as you need. A single condition behaves just like the simple filters you may already know, so the feature stays easy for basic cases and scales up only when you want the extra control.

Which conditions can you filter by?

You can filter by name contains, name matches a regular expression, extension is one of a list, or the file is in a specific folder. Empty conditions are ignored, so a half typed filter never blocks a rule.

The regex condition is the most flexible, letting you match names by structure rather than exact text. The extension condition accepts a comma separated list, so you can target several types at once, such as jpg, png, heic. The folder condition is handy when you have loaded files from more than one place and want a rule to touch only one of them. Our regex renaming guide covers pattern matching in more depth.

Whatever conditions you set, the live preview highlights exactly which files a rule will change, so there is never any doubt before you apply.

How do filters work with multiple rules?

Each rule keeps its own filter, and rules run top to bottom. You can reorder them with the up and down controls and disable any rule without deleting it, so you can build precise, multi step workflows.

Because filters are per rule, a single preset can rename several groups of files in one go. One rule might add a date prefix to only your videos with the Video Metadata rule, while another cleans up only your documents with Find & Replace. Reordering lets you control which transformation happens first, and disabling a rule lets you test variations without losing your setup.

Once your filtered chain does what you want, Batchio Pro lets you save it as a preset and reuse it any time, so a complex, targeted workflow becomes a single click.

Target Exactly the Right Files

Combine conditions with And or Or so each rule touches only the files you mean. Batchio includes all 12 rule types free.

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Marcel Iseli

Creator of Batchio · Indie App Developer

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Marcel Iseli is an indie app developer and the creator of Batchio. He builds native macOS utilities focused on productivity and file management.