How to Batch Rename Folders on Mac

How do you rename multiple folders at once in Finder?

Finder's built in rename is genuinely useful for a quick fix. If every folder shares an obvious word you want gone, or you just want to add a common prefix, select them all, right click, and pick Rename. The catch is that it stops there. You cannot chain several changes, you cannot match by pattern, and you cannot preview a complex result before committing. For a one off cleanup that is fine, but for anything structured you will want a dedicated tool.

This is the same gap you hit when renaming files, which our guide to batch renaming files on Mac covers in depth. The good news is that Batchio closes the gap for folders using the exact same interface.

How do you batch rename folders in Batchio?

Start by setting the Rename scope to Folders. Now when you drag folders into Batchio or use the picker, the folders themselves appear in the list rather than the files inside them. From here the workflow is identical to renaming files. Add a Find & Replace rule to strip a repeated tag, a Change Case rule to normalize capitalization, or any of the other rule types, and stack them in the order you want.

As you build the chain, the live preview shows the old and new folder name side by side and highlights exactly what changes. When the preview looks right, click Rename. If the result is not what you expected, one undo restores every folder name at once. For the full breakdown of how the scope control behaves, see the folder renaming feature page.

How do you rename folders and the files inside them together?

Files and folders usually want different names. A video file might want a resolution tag and a sequence number, while its folder wants a clean title. In Both scope you can express that in one preset. Add a rule and, in its Applies to section, set the condition to Is a folder, then add a second rule with Is a file. Each side is renamed by its own rule, and the preview shows both kinds together.

The Smart Filters feature is what makes this precise, since any rule can be limited to just the files or just the folders you mean. If you would rather keep the two jobs separate, simply run the files first, switch the scope to Folders, and run the folders second.

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