How to Rename Multiple Files of a Folder in Excel?

Have you ever had a circumstance arise when you wanted to swiftly and effectively rename several files in a folder? When dealing with a large number of files, manually renaming each one can be time-consuming and error-prone. Fortunately, there is a quick fix that makes use of Microsoft Excel's capabilities.

In this tutorial, we'll walk you through each step of how to use Excel to rename numerous files in a folder. By the end of this article, you'll be armed with a simple and efficient approach to quickly rename your files.

Rename Multiple Files of a Folder

Here we will first create a VBA module, then select the folder to complete the task. So let us see a simple process to learn how you can rename multiple files in a folder in Excel.

Step 1

Consider an Excel sheet where you have a list of new names and old names, similar to the below image.

First, right-click on the sheet name and select View Code to open the VBA application.

Step 2

Then click on Insert and select Module, then copy the below code into the text box.

Insert > Module > Copy.

Code

Sub RenameFiles()
Dim xDir As String
Dim xFile As String
Dim xRow As Long
With Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogFolderPicker)
   .AllowMultiSelect = False
If .Show = -1 Then
   xDir = .SelectedItems(1)
   xFile = Dir(xDir & Application.PathSeparator & "*")
   Do Until xFile = ""
      xRow = 0
      On Error Resume Next
      xRow = Application.Match(xFile, Range("A:A"), 0)
      If xRow > 0 Then
         Name xDir & Application.PathSeparator & xFile As _
         xDir & Application.PathSeparator & Cells(xRow, "B").Value
      End If
      xFile = Dir
   Loop
End If
End With
End Sub

In the code A:A indicates old names, and column B represents new names.

Step 3

Then click F5 to run the module. Then select the folder containing the files and click OK to complete the task.

F5 > Select Folder > Ok.

This is how you can rename multiple files in a folder in Excel.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have used a simple example to demonstrate how you can rename multiple files in a folder in Excel to highlight a particular set of data.