Folders for project materials, meeting minutes, requirement documents, test reports, and others often use a unified naming convention. When the year or number needs to be updated as a whole, renaming them one by one can take a lot of time. This article uses the project material folder as an example to explain how to use a keyword list to batch replace multiple fields in folder names through HeSoft Doc Batch Tool . By following steps such as adding folders, setting precise search text, and filling in the keyword lists for before and after replacement, you can quickly change 2024 and 001 to 2025 and 002 uniformly.
In project data management, there are often a large number of structurally similar folders. For example, directories like project plans, requirements documents, design specifications, development code, test reports, project resources, meeting minutes, and archived files are usually uniformly prepended with a year and number for easy sorting and retrieval. The example in the screenshot shows a typical set of project data folders: each has "2024" at the beginning of its name and "001" at the end.
When a project enters a new year or batch, these directory names need to be updated synchronously. If you rename them one by one, you have to repeatedly enter rename mode, delete the old fields, and then type in the new fields. For dozens or even hundreds of project directories, this repetitive work is not only time-consuming but also prone to naming inconsistencies. This article will introduce a method more suitable for office scenarios: using HeSoft Doc Batch Tool to batch replace multiple keywords in folder names.
HeSoft Doc Batch Tool is an office software designed for batch processing needs related to documents and folders. Its value lies in delegating highly repetitive, rule-bound operations to the tool, such as batch processing file names, batch organizing folders, and batch processing office data-related tasks for Word, docx, doc, Excel, PDF, etc. This article focuses on batch renaming of folder names, helping you quickly switch your project data directories from old naming conventions to new ones.
Applicable Scenario: Why Project Data Directories Need Batch Keyword Replacement
Project data folders usually do not exist in isolation; rather, a group of directories together forms the project documentation system. A project might contain directories like Project Plan, Requirements Documents, Design Specifications, Development Code, Test Reports, Meeting Notes, and Archived Files. To maintain uniformity, these directories often use the same prefixes and suffixes.
When the prefix represents a year, annual changes create a need for batch updates. For example, switching from 2024 project data to 2025 project data requires replacing "2024" with "2025" in all directory names. When the suffix represents a batch or version, it might need upgrading from "001" to "002". Modifying both year and number simultaneously constitutes batch replacement for multiple keyword lists.
This requirement can also be extended to other scenarios: replacing an old project code with a new one; changing a client’s abbreviated name from old to new; upgrading a test version number from Alpha to Beta; updating department names from an old organizational structure to a new one; changing "Draft" to "Final" in archived directories. As long as the replacement rules are clear, batch processing can significantly improve efficiency.
Effect Preview: Comparison of Project Folders Before and After Batch Renaming
Before Processing: Directory Naming Rules Are Consistent but Need an Overall Update
The pre-processing screenshot shows multiple project data folders. You can see every folder name contains "2024" and "001". The area marked by the red box indicates that the parts needing modification this time are not the mid-section data type names, but the starting year and ending number.
Such naming is common; for instance, "2024_Project_Plan_001" denotes the 2024 batch 001 project plan directory, and "2024_Test_Reports_001" denotes the 2024 batch 001 test reports directory. If you now need to generate 2025 batch 002 project data, you must batch replace these two fields.
After Processing: Year and Number Updated, Project Data Classification Remains Unchanged
In the post-processing screenshot, all folders have been changed to the "2025_..._002" format. Examples include "2025_Archived_Files_002", "2025_Design_Specifications_002", "2025_Development_Code_002", "2025_Project_Plan_002", etc. Although the sort order might differ due to name changes or File Explorer sorting rules, the core result is: the old year and old number have been uniformly replaced with the new year and new number.
This effect is ideal for reusing project data templates. You can keep the business classification in the middle of the directory name and only update fields related to year, batch, or version, thereby quickly generating a new round of project folder structures.
Operation Steps: Batch Renaming Project Folders Using a Keyword List
Step 1: Select the Find and Replace Feature Under the "Folder Name" Category
After opening the software, navigate to "Folder Name" from the left sidebar. The screenshot shows the software's top-left area is " HeSoft Doc Batch Tool ", and the interface indicates that folder name-related features are being selected. In the right-side feature card, select "Find and replace keywords in folder names".
This feature name is very explicit and suitable for handling partial text replacements in folder names. Unlike a complete rename, it won't ask you to redesign the entire name, but only finds and replaces designated keywords. For project data directories, this preserves the original category names, reducing the risk of renaming errors.
After completing this step, you should enter the task page for this feature and begin selecting the folder records to be processed.
Step 2: Add the Project Folders to be Batch Renamed
On the feature page, click "Add Folder" in the upper right corner. This button is highlighted with a red box in the screenshot. After adding, the folders will appear in the list, which contains fields like serial number, name, path, creation time, and modification time.
The example shows 8 records, all with names following the "2024_Data_Type_001" format. This step is very important because the software will perform batch replacements on the records in this list later. You should confirm that all entries in the list are the project data folders you currently intend to rename, and avoid adding other irrelevant directories by mistake.
Pay attention to two points when checking: first, whether the name indeed contains the keywords to be replaced, such as "2024" and "001"; second, whether the path is correct, to avoid processing identically named test directories or historical directories in other locations. Once confirmed, click "Next" at the bottom.
Step 3: Set Exact Text Lookup
After entering the processing options page, select "Exact Text Lookup" in the "Search Mode". This option is selected in the screenshot. Exact lookup is suitable for handling fixed text fields, such as the year 2024, number 001, version V1, status Draft, etc.
If your project folder naming is relatively standardized, it's recommended to use this method first, as it is simple, intuitive, and easy to verify. As long as you know what the old keywords are, you can directly fill them into the list.
Step 4: Fill in the Keyword List to Find
In the "Keyword List to Find" on the left, enter the old keywords line by line. The example shows "2024" on line 1 and "001" on line 2. This means the software will look for these two texts in the selected folder names.
If your actual needs involve more keywords, you can continue adding others. For example, changing a project code from P-A to P-B, a version number from V1 to V2, or a client abbreviation from ABC to DEF can all be written in line by line. The key is that every old keyword must have a correct corresponding new keyword on the right.
Step 5: Fill in the Replacement Keyword List
In the "Replacement Keyword List" on the right, enter the new keywords corresponding to the same line numbers. In the example, line 1 is "2025", corresponding to "2024" on line 1 on the left; line 2 is "002", corresponding to "001" on line 2 on the left.
This step determines the final renaming result. If filled in correctly, "2024_Project_Plan_001" will be processed into "2025_Project_Plan_002". If you only want to replace the year and keep the number, just fill in that one set of rules; to replace multiple fields simultaneously, fill in multiple lines as shown in the screenshot.
A prompt beside the right-side title says "Leave empty to delete", so if you don't want to delete a keyword, do not leave the corresponding replacement line empty. For batch renaming tasks, it's recommended to review line by line from top to bottom after filling them in.
Step 6: Click Next and Follow the Process to Complete Processing
After setting the keyword rules, click "Next". The process flow at the top of the interface shows subsequent steps like "Set Save Location" and "Start Processing". Follow the software interface prompts to finish. Before starting the process, it is recommended to double-check if the renamed folder names will conflict with existing directories. For instance, if a folder named "2025_Project_Plan_002" already exists at the same location, you need to handle it cautiously to avoid problems caused by duplicate names.
Once processing is complete, return to your File Explorer to view the results. If the folder names match the post-processing screenshot, the batch renaming was successful.
FAQs and Considerations
1. Is the change in folder name sort order an anomaly?
No, it's not. After the folder names change, File Explorer might re-sort them based on the new names. Therefore, the order you see might differ from the pre-processing order, but as long as the keywords in the names have been correctly replaced, this is normal.
2. Can I replace only a part of a folder name?
Yes. The example in this article solely replaces the "2024" and "001" parts of the name, while the content in the middle, like Project Plan, Test Reports, remains unchanged. The advantage of batch keyword replacement lies in partial modification, rather than complete overwriting.
3. Do I need to be mindful of case sensitivity for English keywords?
There is an "Ignore Letter Case" option in the screenshot. If your keywords are in English, for example, project, Project, PROJECT, you need to decide whether to ignore case based on the actual naming situation. If your folder naming rules are strictly case-sensitive, you should set this option cautiously.
4. Why check the path before processing?
When folder names are the same or similar, just looking at the name might not be sufficient. Checking the path allows you to confirm that you are processing the target directory, not a backup directory, template directory, or test directory. Verifying the path before batch processing is an important step to reduce operational errors.
5. Does this method work if the folders contain many office files?
Yes, it does. The folders can contain Word documents, docx, doc, Excel spreadsheets, PDF files, images, or other project data inside. This article deals with the outer folder names, aiming to standardize the data directory structure for easier future searching, sharing, and archiving.
Summary: Turning Project Data Directory Renaming from Manual Work into Rule-Based Processing
When there are many project data folders with a uniform naming convention, using a batch processing tool for renaming is most suitable. Through the "Find and replace keywords in folder names" feature of HeSoft Doc Batch Tool , you can map old keywords to new ones in a list and complete field replacements for multiple items at once.
The example in this article uniformly replaced "2024" with "2025" and "001" with "002" in the project folder names, preserving the project data classification while rapidly completing the year and number update. For users who frequently maintain project directories, archive documents, and organize departmental materials, it is recommended that the next time you encounter a similar task, instead of manually renaming each one individually, first organize a keyword list, then use the batch replacement feature to complete the processing.