When project files, client folders, or version archive directories contain a large number of identical keywords, modifying folder names one by one is not only time-consuming but also prone to omissions. This article uses the example of batch replacing "version-1" with "v-2" in multiple folder names to introduce how to use HeSoft Doc Batch Tool to complete folder keyword replacement, helping users quickly standardize directory naming and improve file organization efficiency.
In daily office work, many teams create folders based on projects, clients, months, or version numbers. For example, materials like market plans, financial forecasts, risk assessments, and supplier management documents often contain fixed text such as version-1, old, draft, 2025, or department abbreviations. As projects progress, these folder names need to be uniformly updated to new version identifiers, such as changing version-1 to v-2. If there are only one or two folders, manual renaming is acceptable; however, if you need to handle dozens or hundreds of folders at once, modifying them one by one is highly inefficient and prone to omissions, incorrect changes, and case inconsistencies.
This article addresses the problem of batch replacing keywords in folder names. We will combine screenshot demonstrations to explain how to use folder name-related functions in the office software HeSoft Doc Batch Tool to batch replace version-1 with v-2 in multiple folder names. This method is suitable for various office folder naming scenarios, such as project directories, Word document folders, Excel report folders, PDF archive directories, and image material directories.
Applicable Scenarios: When to Batch Replace Keywords in Folder Names
Batch replacing keywords in folder names is suitable for all office scenarios requiring a unified directory naming convention. For instance, when a company project upgrades from version-1 to v-2, the version numbers in all project folders need to be updated simultaneously; when a client name, department abbreviation, year, month, or phase identifier changes, it needs to be uniformly replaced across many folder names; historical archive directories containing old identifiers like old, temp, and draft need to be updated to formal names; and folder names exported from external systems that do not meet internal standards need batch organization.
As seen in the screenshot, the folder names before processing include multiple directories such as client-proposals-version-1, competitive-analysis-version-1, executive-reports-version-1, and go-to-market-version-1. The first part of these names represents different business content, while the latter part uniformly includes version-1. Our goal is not to change the business names but to replace only the common keyword version-1 with v-2. This preserves the original directory meaning while completing the version identifier update.
If using the system's built-in renaming method, you typically need to select a folder, press F2, move the cursor, delete the old text, type the new text, and then move on to the next folder. The more folders there are, the more apparent the repetitive labor becomes. The value of batch processing in office software lies in transforming repetitive operations into a single rule set, allowing the software to execute uniformly according to the rules, thereby reducing manual work and the probability of errors.
Preview of Results: Folder Names Containing version-1 Before Processing
Below is the list of folders before processing. As you can see, the keyword version-1 appears in multiple folder names, generally located at the end of the names. Examples include client-proposals-version-1, marketing-campaigns-version-1, and revenue-forecast-version-1. In the screenshot, the keywords to be replaced are marked with red boxes, and red arrows point to these recurring version texts.
Before batch operation, it is recommended to confirm two things. First, confirm that the text to be replaced is completely consistent; for example, in this case, it is version-1, not version or version_1. Second, confirm that the keyword appears only in the positions that need replacement. If some folder names contain similar text that should not be modified, you need to choose the search method carefully in the subsequent settings, or first filter the folders to be processed.
Preview of Results: version-1 Uniformly Replaced with v-2 After Processing
After processing is complete, the original version-1 has become v-2. You can see that client-proposals-version-1 has become client-proposals-v-2, competitive-analysis-version-1 has become competitive-analysis-v-2, and executive-reports-version-1 has become executive-reports-v-2. Other folders were also replaced according to the same rules.
This result shows that the software did not change the part of the folder name indicating business content but only replaced the specified keyword. For project version updates, file archive adjustments, and batch directory standardization, this method is more stable than manual modification and makes it easier to maintain a uniform naming format.
Step 1: Enter the Folder Name Tool and Select the Keyword Replacement Function
After opening HeSoft Doc Batch Tool , you can see multiple tool categories in the left function bar, including File Name, Folder Name, File Organization, Word Tools, Excel Tools, PowerPoint Tools, PDF Tools, Text Tools, Image Tools, etc. Since this task involves processing folder names, not the filenames of docx, doc, xlsx, pdf, etc. files themselves, you should enter the Folder Name category on the left.
In the Folder Name function area, select Find and Replace Keywords in Folder Names. In the screenshot, this function card is located in the first position, indicating its purpose is to batch find and replace keywords in file folder names. Although the description mentions folder name keywords, the actual operation goal is to replace the specified text within the folder names.
The purpose of this step is to enter the correct processing module. Many users confuse file names with folder names: if you want to modify the names of specific files like Word, Excel, or PDF documents, you should choose file name-related tools; if you want to modify the name of the directory itself, for example, the folder name D:\test\client-proposals-version-1\, you should choose the Folder Name tool. The processing object in this example is folders, so select Find and Replace Keywords in Folder Names under Folder Name.
Step 2: Add Folder Records to be Batch Processed
After entering the function page, the current tool name, Find and Replace Keywords in Folder Names, is displayed at the top. The page uses a step-by-step process, including Select records to process, Set processing options, Set save location, and Start processing. The first step is to add the folders to be processed to the list.
You can see the Add Folder button in the upper right corner; click it to add the folders that need processing to the task list. In the screenshot, 10 records have been added, and the table fields include Number, Name, Path, Creation Time, Modification Time, and Actions. Each row corresponds to a folder, such as client-proposals-version-1, competitive-analysis-version-1, executive-reports-version-1, etc. The summary below shows the record count as 10, indicating that the same set of replacement rules will be applied to these 10 folders.
The expected result of this step is that all folders to be processed appear in the list, and the name and path information are available for verification. Before clicking Next, it is recommended to check whether the list contains only the folders that need modification. If there are directories added by mistake, you can remove them using the delete icon in the action column; if the wrong batch was added, you can also use the Clear button on the interface to reselect. Batch processing is highly efficient, but the premise is that the processing scope must be accurate.
Step 3: Set the Search Text and the Replacement Keyword
After confirming the folder list is correct, click Next to enter the Set processing options page. The screenshot shows areas for Search method, Additional options, List of keywords to find, List of replacement keywords, etc. In this example, Exact text search is selected, meaning the software will perform an exact match based on the entered text.
Enter version-1 in the List of keywords to find on the left, and enter v-2 in the List of replacement keywords on the right. This way, the software will search for version-1 in each folder name and replace it with v-2. In the screenshot, these two input areas are marked with red boxes, clearly showing the correspondence between the search text and the replacement text.
This step is the core of the entire operation for batch replacing keywords in folder names. If the search text is entered incorrectly, the software won't find the content to replace; if the replacement text is entered incorrectly, incorrect new names will be generated after processing. Therefore, it is recommended to copy the old keyword directly from the folder name and paste it into the List of keywords to find to reduce manual input errors. In this example, the old keyword is version-1 and the new keyword is v-2, corresponding one-to-one.
The interface also provides options like Use formula for fuzzy text search, Ignore letter case, and Match whole word only, not as part of a word. From the screenshot, this session used Exact text search, and no additional options were checked. For a clearly structured, case-fixed version number text like version-1, exact search is usually more intuitive. If your folder names contain case differences like Version-1 or VERSION-1, you might consider using the ignore case option based on actual needs, but before batch execution, it's still recommended to confirm the rules meet expectations.
Step 4: Continue to Set the Save Location and Start Processing
After setting the find and replacement keywords, click the Next button at the bottom of the page. According to the process flow at the top, the subsequent steps will enter Set save location and Start processing. The screenshot did not show the specific content of these two pages, so the button or option names not shown are not elaborated here. In actual operation, simply continue completing the setup following the software wizard and start processing at the final step.
Before starting the process, it is recommended to review three aspects again: First, is the number of records to process correct (e.g., 10 in this example)? Second, is the search keyword version-1? Third, is the replacement keyword v-2? Executing only after confirmation can effectively prevent batch mis-modifications.
After processing is complete, go back to the folder's location to check; the folder names should show the processed effect, i.e., all uniformly ending with v-2. If a folder is occupied by another program, or if there are insufficient permissions to modify a directory, it may affect the processing results. It is recommended to close the occupying program or operate with an account that has the necessary permissions.
Common Questions and Precautions
1. Does this modify the folder name, or the names of files inside the folder?
This tutorial demonstrates modifying folder names, meaning the directory name itself. For example, the last-level directory in D:\test\client-proposals-version-1\ will be renamed. It does not automatically modify the names of Word, Excel, PDF, image, or other files inside the folder. If you want to process docx, doc, xlsx, pdf filenames, you should use file name-related tools.
2. What if I only want to replace part of the folders?
In the first step when adding folders, simply add only the directories that need processing. If folders that don't need modification appear in the list, you can delete them via the action column. Controlling the processing scope before batch replacement is safer than restoring it afterward.
3. What happens if version-1 appears multiple times?
Judging by the function name and setup logic, the software searches for the specified keyword in the folder name and replaces it. If a keyword appears in multiple places within a single folder name, you should generally check the replacement result carefully. For complex naming, you can test the rule on a few folders first, then expand it to the full batch.
4. Why is using exact text search recommended?
Exact search is suitable for replacing clear, fixed keywords like version-1, 2024, draft, old, etc. Its advantage is that the rule is intuitive, and users can easily judge the result. Fuzzy search or formula-based rules are better suited for more complex scenarios but require a clearer understanding of the rules.
5. Is a backup necessary before batch processing?
If the folders involve important project materials, contracts, financial statements, client delivery files, etc., it is recommended to back them up or verify the rules in a test directory first. Batch renaming itself significantly improves efficiency, but maintaining caution with important data is a good office habit.
Summary: Use Batch Processing to Reduce Repetitive Renaming and Improve Directory Organization Efficiency
Batch replacing keywords in folder names is a very common but easily underestimated need in office file organization. Whether it's uniformly changing version-1 to v-2, or batch updating year, month, client abbreviation, project phase, or department identifiers, rule-based processing can reduce a large amount of repetitive labor.
Through the Find and Replace Keywords in Folder Names function in HeSoft Doc Batch Tool , users only need to complete the steps of selecting the function, adding folders, setting the search and replacement text, and continuing to execute the process to quickly update multiple folder names. For office workers who frequently manage Word folders, Excel report directories, PDF archive directories, and project folders, such batch processing tools can effectively improve file management efficiency and reduce omissions and errors caused by manual operations. It is recommended to prioritize using the batch replacement method the next time a large number of folders need to be renamed uniformly.