This article explains how to use HeSoft Doc Batch Tool to add the same prefix to multiple folder names at once, for example, changing directories like Annual_Plans, Backup_Data, etc. uniformly to 2025-12Annual_Plans, 2025-12Backup_Data. The article combines before-and-after processing effect images and software operation screenshots, explaining the steps in the order of selecting a function, adding folders, setting a prefix, and continuing with processing. It is suitable for users who need to organize project materials, archive monthly folders, or standardize team shared directories.
In daily office work, many teams encounter the same issue: more and more folders are created with names that seem distinct, but locating and archiving them later becomes very time-consuming. For example, project materials, client files, financial records, meeting minutes, and technical documents are stored across multiple folders. If these folders all belong to the same month, the same project phase, or the same delivery batch, it's best to uniformly add a date or project number prefix to their names. Manually renaming them one by one is feasible, but when the number of folders reaches dozens or hundreds, repetitive operations are not only slow but also prone to omissions, typos, or format inconsistencies. This article aims to solve the problem of batch adding prefixes to many folder names. We will combine screenshots to demonstrate how to use office software like HeSoft Doc Batch Tool to add prefixes like 2025-12 to the front of multiple folder names at once, thereby reducing repetitive work and improving file organization efficiency.
Applicable Scenarios: When is it suitable to batch add prefixes to folder names
Batch adding prefixes to folders is essentially a batch folder renaming requirement. It does not change the content within the folders but uniformly modifies the beginning part of their names. This operation is very common in office scenarios, especially suitable for data directories that need archiving by time, project, department, client, or version.
For instance, administrative staff need to uniformly add a month identifier to collected material folders; financial staff need to add period prefixes like 2025-12 to various accounting directories; project managers need to add project phase codes to folders like Annual_Plans, Project_Reports, Team_Meetings; design, marketing, or technical teams might need to uniformly mark directories like Marketing_Assets, Design_Documents, Technical_Notes as belonging to a specific delivery batch. With prefixes, folders will be naturally sorted in File Explorer, making subsequent retrieval easier by date or code.
If only one or two folders are involved, manual renaming is not a big problem. However, when there are many folders, manual renaming introduces three risks: first, inconsistencies in spaces, dashes, or date formats may occur when typing prefixes; second, it's easy to accidentally skip a folder; third, the operation time is uncontrollable, impacting subsequent work. The positioning of HeSoft Doc Batch Tool is as office file batch processing software. Its core value is consolidating these repetitive file operations into a single workflow, allowing users to focus on data assessment and business processing, rather than repeatedly pressing F2, copying, pasting, and pressing Enter.
Effect Preview: What changes before and after processing
Before Processing: Folder names without a unified prefix
From the screenshot before processing, you can see several business folders in the current directory, such as Annual_Plans, Backup_Data, Client_Files, Design_Documents, Finance_Records, Marketing_Assets, Project_Reports, Resource_Library, Team_Meetings, Technical_Notes. Their original names are clear but lack a unified date or batch identifier. If these folders all belong to materials from December 2025, it will be difficult to quickly determine the archiving time later based solely on their original names.
After Processing: '2025-12' is uniformly added to the start of all folder names
The screenshot after processing shows that the same prefix '2025-12' has been added to the beginning of each folder name, for example, Annual_Plans becomes 2025-12Annual_Plans, Backup_Data becomes 2025-12Backup_Data, Client_Files becomes 2025-12Client_Files. As a result, this batch of directories has a consistent archiving label visually, making future sorting and filtering by name more convenient.
It should be noted that the example prefix in the screenshot is '2025-12'. In actual use, you can input other content based on your own management rules, such as '2025Q4-', 'Project A-', 'Client Name-', 'Archive-', 'Reviewed-', etc. It is recommended to establish a unified team naming convention in advance, especially for date formats, connectors, and project code formats, to prevent different members from using different writing styles.
Operation Steps: Using office software to batch add prefixes to folder names
Step One: Enter the relevant function area for folder names
After opening HeSoft Doc Batch Tool , you can see different types of office processing entries in the left navigation bar, including File Name, Folder Name, File Organization, Word Tools, Excel Tools, PowerPoint Tools, PDF Tools, etc. Since the target for modification this time is folder names, not the files like docx, doc, xlsx, pdf themselves, you should select the 'Folder Name' category on the left.
In the Folder Name function page, you can see multiple function cards related to folder renaming, such as Find and Replace Keywords in Folder Names, Insert Text into Folder Names, Add Prefix and Suffix to Folder Names, Folder Name Case Conversion, Delete Text from Folder Names. The current goal is to add the same text string to the beginning of multiple folder names, so choose the 'Add Prefix and Suffix to Folder Names' function.
The purpose of this step is to clearly tell the software that the objects to be processed are folder names, and to select the processing rule type of adding a prefix or suffix. Choosing the correct function is very important; if you mistakenly select a file name-related function, you might enter a workflow for processing file names instead of folder names.
Step Two: Add the folder records to be processed
After entering the 'Add Prefix and Suffix to Folder Names' page, the interface displays a step-by-step process. Step 1 is 'Select records to process'. You can see the 'Add Folder' button in the upper right; click it to add the folders to be batch renamed into the list.
From the screenshot, you can see the software has loaded 10 folder records into the table. The table lists columns such as Serial Number, Name, Path, Creation Time, Modification Time, and Actions. The Name column is used to confirm the current folder name, the Path column confirms the folder's location, and Creation and Modification Times help users determine if the correct directory is selected. The bottom shows a record count of 10, indicating that 10 folders will be batch processed this time.
The expected outcome of this step is that all folders needing a prefix are present in the record list. Before proceeding to the next step, it is recommended to quickly check the names and paths row by row to avoid including folders that don't need processing. If a certain item shouldn't be included, you can use the delete icon in the Actions column to remove that record; if the list is incorrect, you can also use the clear button on the interface to re-add. The screenshot also shows entries for filtering, sorting, etc. Before actual processing, this information can be used for auxiliary verification, but do not proceed directly without confirming the list.
Step Three: Set the prefix text to be added
After confirming the folders to be processed, click 'Next' at the bottom to enter Step 2 'Set Processing Options'. In the screenshot, you can see the 'Add Prefix' switch is turned on, and the input box is filled with '2025-12'; the 'Add Suffix' area is in an off state. The current requirement is to batch add text to the beginning of folder names, so you only need to enable 'Add Prefix' and enter the content to be prepended to the names in the input box.
This step is the most critical setting in the entire workflow. Whatever you input will ultimately be added to the beginning of each folder name. For instance, inputting '2025-12' will change 'Annual_Plans' to '2025-12Annual_Plans'; if you input '2025-12-', it will become '2025-12-Annual_Plans'. Whether a connector is needed depends on your naming habits. The example in the screenshot did not add a dash after the date, so the processed name is '2025-12Annual_Plans'. To improve readability, many teams might choose formats like '2025-12_' or '2025-12-', but the actual practice should follow internal standards.
After completing the settings, proceed by clicking 'Next'. The process prompt at the top of the interface also includes the stages 'Set Save Location' and 'Start Processing'. Since this is a batch operation to modify folder names, it is recommended to double-check the prefix text for correctness, especially numbers, dates, connectors, and spaces, before entering final processing. After confirming there are no errors, follow the prompts of the software interface to complete the subsequent steps and start processing.
Common Questions and Notes
1. Should I add a separator to the prefix content?
Whether to add a separator mainly depends on readability and team convention. The effect in the screenshot is '2025-12Annual_Plans', where the date and original name are directly connected. If you wish for clearer separation, you can input '2025-12-' or '2025-12_' as the prefix. It's best to determine a unified rule before batch processing, otherwise different batches of directories might end up with various writing styles.
2. Is a backup needed before batch renaming?
Renaming folders typically does not change the content of the Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PPTs, PDFs, images, or text files inside them. However, name changes may affect shortcuts, scripts, synchronization rules, or reference paths used by other software. Therefore, if these directories are referenced by other programs, it's advisable to confirm dependencies first; for important data, it is recommended to create a backup before batch processing or first verify the effect on a small number of test directories.
3. What if I select the wrong folder?
In the Step 1 list, you should focus on checking the Name and Path. In the screenshot, each folder displays a full path, like C:\Users\11623\Desktop\Files\Annual_Plans\. This type of path information helps determine if folders in the correct location are selected. If you find records that shouldn't be processed, remove them before starting the process; it's not recommended to restore them one by one after processing is complete.
4. The folder name already has a prefix; can I add another one?
Based on the logic of batch adding a prefix, the software will prepend the user-set text to the beginning of the name according to the settings. If some folders originally already have the same prefix, reprocessing them might result in a duplicate prefix. Therefore, review the list before processing, or use sorting, filtering, etc., to assist in discovering items with abnormal names first.
Summary: Reduce time cost of repetitive renaming with batch processing
Batch adding a prefix to many folder names is a very practical operation for data organization, project archiving, monthly classification, and team collaboration. Through HeSoft Doc Batch Tool , the repetitive labor of opening and renaming each folder individually can be transformed into a standard process of selecting folders, setting the prefix, and confirming the operation. In this article's example, 10 folders had the '2025-12' prefix added in one go, resulting in uniformly formatted names after processing, making subsequent searching and archiving more convenient.
If you are organizing a large number of project folders, client data directories, or department shared folders, it is recommended to first determine the naming convention and then use a batch processing tool to complete the unified renaming. This not only reduces manual input errors but also makes the file directory structure clearer, truly applying the batch processing value of office software to daily work.