Many system-exported data folders automatically come with letter prefixes or temporary codes, such as ABC20240101, DEF20240202. If you only need the date part at the end, deleting the first 3 characters one by one would be very inefficient. This article explains how to use HeSoft Doc Batch Tool to batch remove the first 3 characters from folder names using the "Delete Text in Folder Name" and "Position Range 1:3" rules, quickly obtaining standardized and uniform date folder names.
When organizing office documents, whether folder naming is consistent directly affects retrieval efficiency. For instance, in a directory with a large number of folders named by date numbers, each name has an additional 3-letter prefix: ABC20240101, BCD20241010, DEF20240202. The truly valuable information is the date number at the end; the preceding letters are merely redundant content left over from export systems, project sources, or temporary classifications.
If you only need to change one folder, just press F2 to rename and delete a few characters. However, when faced with dozens or even hundreds of folders, manual operation becomes repetitive labor: select a folder, enter rename mode, move the cursor, delete characters, confirm, and then process the next one. This process is not only slow but also prone to accidentally deleting digits of the date, leading to subsequent sorting and archiving errors.
This article demonstrates a method more suitable for office scenarios: using HeSoft Doc Batch Tool to batch-delete text within a specified position range in folder names. In the example, we will delete the first 3 characters of each folder name, meaning the position range is set to 1:3, ultimately retaining only the numeric date at the end.
Applicable Scenario: Office Directories Requiring Batch Cleanup of Folder Name Prefixes
This method is particularly suited for handling folder names with a consistent structure. For example, sales order folders preceded by channel abbreviations followed by order dates; project delivery folders preceded by project team codes followed by delivery batches; financial voucher folders preceded by export identifiers followed by months or dates; folders generated by download platforms preceded by random letters followed by recognizable numbers.
As long as the position of this redundant content is consistent, you can use a "position range" for batch deletion. In the example for this article, the 1st to 3rd positions of each folder name are unwanted letters, while the subsequent 8 digits need to be retained. Therefore, for this type of task, there is no need to find and replace ABC, BCD, DEF individually, nor write complex scripts; you simply set the deletion range.
HeSoft Doc Batch Tool is a batch processing tool within office software, with its core value being the reduction of repetitive operations. It turns folder name processing into a step-by-step workflow, which is more user-friendly for those unfamiliar with command lines or scripts, and more suitable for daily office staff such as administrative personnel, finance staff, operations staff, and data managers.
Effect Preview: Prefixes Are Not Unified Before Processing, But Length Is Consistent
From the screenshot before processing, you can see that folder names have yellow folder icons on the left, with names composed of letter prefixes plus numbers. Red markings highlight the letter parts at the beginning of the names, such as ABC, BCD, DEF, GHI, JKL. These prefix contents are not entirely the same, but their length is consistently 3 characters.
This is the typical scenario for "position range deletion": the text to be deleted is not a single fixed word, but appears at the same position. If you use a normal find-and-replace, you would need to process multiple prefixes like ABC, BCD, DEF separately; whereas using a position range, you just tell the software to delete positions 1 through 3.
Effect Preview: Folder Names Become Pure Date Numbers After Processing
After processing, the folder names have been uniformly converted to a numeric format. The original ABC20240101 becomes 20240101, GHI20240303 becomes 20240303, MNO20240505 becomes 20240505. Such names are more concise and also more suitable for sorting by date.
From the results, it's clear that the batch deletion did not change the core numbers at the end, only removing the redundant 3 characters at the beginning. For users who need to manage directories by date, month, or batch, this processing can significantly improve subsequent retrieval and statistical efficiency.
Step 1: Select the Delete Text Function in the Folder Name Category
After opening the software, first note the product name in the upper left corner; you can see it is HeSoft Doc Batch Tool . The left side of the software provides multiple tool categories, including Home, Task Flow, All Tools, File Name, Folder Name, File Organizing, Word Tools, Excel Tools, PowerPoint Tools, PDF Tools, Text Tools, Image Tools, Video Tools, Audio Tools, etc.
The current task is to process folder names, not file content, nor Word, Excel, or PDF document content. Therefore, you need to click the Folder Name category on the left. After entering, select Delete Text in Folder Names from the feature cards.
The purpose of this step is to enter the correct batch rename function module. After selecting this function, the software will guide you through a wizard to add folders, set deletion rules, and execute the batch process. For batch deletion of folder name prefixes, suffixes, or characters in a specified range, this entry point is the most direct.
Step 2: Add Folders to Be Batch Processed
After entering the function page, the top displays the current task as "Delete Text in Folder Names". There is an Add Folders button in the upper right area, along with entries for Clear, More, and other operations. Click Add Folders to add the folders whose names you want to uniformly clean up to the list.
Once added, the table lists the sequence number, name, path, creation time, modification time, and operations for each folder. The screenshot shows 10 records, with paths located in the D:\test\ directory, and names such as ABC20240101, BCD20241010, DEF20240202, etc.
It's recommended to carefully check the list in this step. Because the nature of batch processing affects multiple records at once, if folders that don't need processing are mistakenly added, they will also be modified by the same rules. When checking, focus on the "Name" and "Path" columns to confirm they come from the same target directory and that the name structure follows the pattern where "the first 3 characters need to be deleted, and the rest need to be retained".
After confirmation, click Next at the bottom of the page. The expected result is that the software proceeds to the second step, "Set Processing Options," where you can start defining exactly which segment of text in the folder names to delete.
Step 3: Use Position Range 1:3 to Delete the First 3 Characters
On the Set Processing Options page, the software provides various deletion types. The options visible in the screenshot include all numbers, all whitespace, the rightmost few characters, all content between two texts, all Chinese characters, all content, all content to the left of a certain text, position range, all English letters, the leftmost few characters, all content to the right of a certain text, etc.
If your goal is "delete the first 3 characters of the folder name," the most intuitive method is to choose Position Range, and then enter 1:3 in the range input box. The screenshot shows that Position Range is selected and 1:3 is entered.
Here you need to understand the meaning of the range: 1 means starting from the 1st character of the folder name, 3 means ending at the 3rd character, connected by a colon. Upon execution, the software will delete the text in positions 1 to 3 for each folder name. Taking ABC20240101 as an example, ABC is deleted and 20240101 is retained; taking PQR20240606 as an example, PQR is deleted and 20240606 is retained.
If your folder prefix is not 3 characters but 4 or 5, you need to modify the range according to the actual situation. For example, to delete the first 4 characters, you should set the corresponding start and end range, rather than copying 1:3. Before batch processing, it's best to count the character position clearly using one or two names to avoid setting incorrect rules.
Step 4: Proceed to Next Step and Execute Processing
After setting the position range, click Next at the bottom. Following the page flow, the subsequent steps will lead to "Set Save Location" and "Start Processing". Before actually starting, check three items again: is the processing list correct, is the deletion range correct, and are any folders currently occupied by other programs.
For folder name modifications, the most common issue is that certain folders are open or occupied by programs, potentially preventing renaming. Therefore, it's recommended to close subdirectories, document editors, or other programs that might be using the folders in the relevant File Explorer window before processing. Once confirmed, follow the software wizard to the start processing step and let the tool automatically complete the batch renaming.
After processing is complete, return to the original directory to check the results. If the folder names have changed from "letter prefix + date number" to "date number,” it means the batch deletion of text in the specified range is complete.
Common Issues and Precautions
1. Why not use the "All English Letters" option?
The "All English Letters" option is indeed visible in the screenshot. If your folder names only have letters at the beginning, using that option might achieve a similar effect. However, this article emphasizes "all text within a custom range." Position range is more suitable for clearly deleting from a specific position to a specific position, especially when the content to be deleted might contain letters, numbers, symbols, or mixed characters; the position range is more universal.
2. Will different folder name lengths cause issues?
As long as the target character positions to be deleted are consistent, slight differences in length usually do not matter. However, if some folder names are less than 3 characters long, or if the first 3 characters are not the content intended for deletion, they should not be mixed in the same batch. It's recommended to filter out folders with a consistent structure before batch operation.
3. Is backup needed before batch renaming?
For important data, a backup or a copy in a test directory is recommended. Although this operation only modifies folder names and will not proactively delete files inside like docx, doc, xlsx, pdf, images, etc., incorrect rule settings during batch renaming can increase the extra workload for recovery.
4. Why did the order change after processing?
After the folder names change, File Explorer might sort them by the new names. After processing, the names become a numeric date format, and the system will display them in the new name order; this is normal.
Summary
The key to batch-removing the first 3 characters of folder names lies in converting manual repetitive deletion into rule-based processing. Through HeSoft Doc Batch Tool , first enter the Folder Name category, then select "Delete Text in Folder Names," add the folders to be processed, and finally select "Position Range" in the operation type and enter 1:3 to delete the first 3 characters of multiple folder names at once.
This method is suitable for organizing system export directories, project folders, date-archived folders, and batch-downloaded materials. It reduces repetitive labor, lowers manual renaming errors, and makes folder naming more standardized. Next time you encounter a large number of folder names requiring the deletion of text at a fixed position, prioritize using this batch processing method instead of manually renaming one by one.