How to rename multiple folders starting from a certain text? Batch rename tutorial

Want to rename a large number of folders uniformly starting from a certain text, without having to delete the preceding characters one by one. This article uses START as the common boundary to demonstrate how to import multiple folders in HeSoft Doc Batch Tool , select the rule for deleting all content to the left of the specified text, and control whether to keep the anchor text. After processing, different prefixes such as Backup_START and Build_START will be removed, while START and the batch, status, and version information to its right remain unchanged.

In team collaboration and project archiving, folder names often undergo multiple rounds of changes. In the early stages, to distinguish sources, people may add identifiers such as Backup, Build, Client, Data, and Design to the beginning of names; by the stage of unified delivery or long-term storage, these prefixes are no longer needed. If common text such as START exists in all names, it can be set as the new starting point for the name, allowing bulk deletion of the characters before it.

This article introduces not ordinary one-by-one renaming, but a method for bulk folder renaming based on text boundaries. The goal is to process Backup_START_tempFiles_END_Final into START_tempFiles_END_Final, and Project_START_alpha_END_Report into START_alpha_END_Report. The content before START is removed, while START itself and the information to its right remain unchanged.

The entire operation is completed through HeSoft Doc Batch Tool . As office file batch processing software, it can apply the same rule to multiple folders, making it suitable for resolving repetitive organization tasks involving large quantities and similarly structured names. Compared with manual modification, rule-based processing makes it easier to ensure consistent naming results.

1. Applicable Scenarios: When Do You Need to Unify the Starting Point of Names

"Making multiple folders uniformly start naming from a certain text" is common in the following office scenarios:

• Project material delivery: Department or personnel prefixes were used for internal management, but for external delivery, only the names after the formal project marker are retained.
• Historical directory archiving: Folder names contain temporary descriptions such as Backup, Temp, and Old at the front, and they need to be uniformly cleaned up before archiving.
• Directory cleanup after system migration: Exported directories carry source system fields, but all valid business names start from the same keyword.
• Batch task organization: A large number of directory prefixes differ, but the latter half uses a fixed structure of batch numbers, version numbers, and statuses.
• Standardizing team naming: Directory names created by multiple people have messy starting text, and the goal is to use common text such as START, official version, or project number as a unified starting point.

This requirement is different from simply deleting a fixed prefix. If all names start with Backup_, you can directly delete the fixed text; but when the left sides are respectively Backup_, Build_, Invoice_, and Project_, no fixed prefix exists. In this case, you need to use the commonly occurring START as a positioning boundary and delete the content of varying lengths to its left.

2. Preview of Effects Before and After Processing

Before Processing: Different Content Exists Before the Common Text

The folders before processing are shown in the figure. Although START appears in the middle of each name, there are different English words and underscores on its left side.

The example names can be divided into three parts:

1. The left prefix to be deleted, such as Backup, Build, Client, and Data.
2. The common text START that serves as the positioning boundary.
3. The right-side content to be retained, such as tempFiles_END_Final and debugInfo_END_Release.

After clarifying these three parts, the rule becomes very clear: delete the first part and retain the second and third parts. Because the length of the first part is not fixed, a fixed character count should not be used as the main basis.

After Processing: Folders Uniformly Start from START

After the batch task is completed, the directory names become a unified structure, and all folders start with START.

As can be seen from the screenshot, the content after START still exists, for example:

• START_2024Draft_END_Archive
• START_alpha_END_Report
• START_debugInfo_END_Release
• START_oldVersion_END_Approved
• START_sampleChunk_END_Clean

After processing, the directory names are more unified, and searching, sorting, and checking by name are also more intuitive. It should be noted that after the prefixes are deleted, File Explorer may re-sort the names according to the new names, so the display order of the folders in the list may change.

3. Detailed Operation Steps

Step 1: Open the Folder Name Function Category

Open HeSoft Doc Batch Tool , and select "Folder Name" in the left navigation bar. This category is used to process directory names, not to modify the Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, or image content inside the folders.

After entering the category, click "Delete Text in Folder Names".

This page also provides other name tools, but what this article needs to complete is a deletion operation. After selecting the corresponding function, you can then set up cleanup based on the range to the left of the specified text.

Step 2: Add Multiple Folders to the Processing List

On the "Delete Text in Folder Names" page, click "Add Folders" in the upper right corner and select the directories to be renamed this time. After adding, the selected folders will be displayed in the table.

There are 10 records in the screenshot, and the table provides information such as names and paths. It is recommended to check from the following perspectives:

• Whether all names contain START.
• Whether the content on the left side of START is indeed what is intended to be deleted.
• Whether the content on the right side of START is the valid name that should be retained.
• Whether the folder paths belong to the scope of this processing.
• Whether parent directories, test directories, or other business directories were accidentally added.

If incorrect records are found, you can use the delete operation in the corresponding row to remove them from the list. After confirming that the number of records and directory names are correct, click "Next".

Step 3: Select "All Content to the Left of a Certain Text"

After entering "Set Processing Options", you can see multiple operation types. This article selects "All content to the left of a certain text".

This option uses the specified text as the boundary and includes the content to the left of the boundary in the deletion range. It solves the problem of "unfixed left-side length but fixed positioning text". For example:

• Backup is to the left of START and will be deleted.
• Build is to the left of START and will be deleted.
• Invoice is to the left of START and will be deleted.
• Project is to the left of START and will be deleted.

Regardless of the length of these words, the software determines the boundary according to the actual position of START, without requiring users to count characters one by one.

Step 4: Enter the Text Used for Positioning

Enter START in the "Text" input box. This field is marked as required, so it must be filled in accurately.

Points to note when entering:

1. Do not write START as start or Start, unless that is exactly how it appears in the original folder.
2. Do not unintentionally add spaces before or after it.
3. If similar characters are used in the names, the actual content of the original names should prevail.
4. If different folders use different positioning words, tasks should be created in batches, and one rule should not be forcibly applied to all.

In this example, all 10 folders contain uppercase START, so the same positioning text can be used for batch processing.

Step 5: Set Whether to Include the Positioning Text

"Include this text" is an important boundary option for this operation. In the screenshot, the switch is off, indicating that when deleting the content to the left of START, START itself is not included in the deletion range.

Therefore:

Notes_START_privateText_END_Public

will be processed as:

START_privateText_END_Public

If the goal is to retain START, this switch should remain off. If the user actually wants the result to start from privateText, that belongs to a different deletion range and requires re-confirming the "Include this text" setting. Before batch processing, be sure to carefully consider whether the positioning word should be retained.

Step 6: Enter Save Location Settings

After confirming the processing options, click "Next". From the process navigation at the top of the page, you can see that the third stage is "Set Save Location". Complete the save-related settings according to the interface prompts.

Folder name processing may affect the original paths, so at this step you should confirm according to actual data management requirements. If the directories are very important, it is recommended to keep a backup of the unchanged names in advance, or first perform the task on copied test folders.

Step 7: Start Processing and Check the Results

After completing the save location settings, enter the "Start Processing" stage. Before formal execution, it is recommended to confirm the following rule summary again:

• Processing target: folder names.
• Operation type: all content to the left of a certain text.
• Positioning text: START.
• Whether to include the positioning text: off, meaning START is retained.

After starting the processing, wait for the task to complete. Then open the corresponding directory and check the names before and after processing. You can prioritize spot-checking two types of records with shorter and longer prefixes, such as Build and Invoice, to confirm that left-side content of different lengths has been correctly deleted.

4. Explanation of the Operation Logic: Why START Is Retained

Many users easily misunderstand "delete all content to the left of a certain text" as deleting that text together with it. In fact, whether the positioning text is retained also depends on the "Include this text" option.

This example can be understood as establishing a deletion area to the left of START. When the switch is off, the deletion area ends before START, and START does not belong to the deletion area; when the switch is on, whether the positioning text is included in the processing range changes. Therefore, to obtain the result shown in the screenshot, in addition to selecting the correct operation type, you must also keep "Include this text" off.

This design allows the same type of function to adapt to two common needs: one is to retain the boundary word so that all names start from the boundary word; the other is to delete the boundary word and the content to its left, retaining only the subsequent business text. This article uses the first approach.

5. How to Improve the Safety of Bulk Folder Renaming

1. Run a Representative Test First

Select three to five samples from all directories, including the shortest prefix, the longest prefix, names containing numbers, and names with special status text. Copy the samples and execute the same rule, and only process the complete data after confirming the results are correct.

2. Group Names with Different Structures

If some folders use START while others use BEGIN or other markers, tasks should be created separately. Batch processing emphasizes applying the same rule, and mixing different structures together increases the risk of missed processing.

3. Keep the Original Directory List

Before processing, you can keep a screenshot or export a name list for post-processing verification. Even if recovery is not needed, you can quickly confirm whether each directory name change meets expectations.

4. Check External Path References

Folder renaming does not automatically modify content that references old paths. If hyperlinks in Word documents, external links in Excel workbooks, shortcuts, scripts, or business systems use the original directory paths, they may need to be updated synchronously after renaming.

5. Do Not Ignore Permission and Occupancy Issues

Before formal operation, close the programs that are using these directories and confirm that the current user has the corresponding directory operation permissions. If individual folders do not change, check whether they are occupied or restricted by permissions based on the actual environment.

6. Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can Chinese folder names be processed?

This article demonstrates English START, but the core logic is positioning by specified text. In actual use, you should fill in according to the common text in the folders and verify through a small number of samples whether Chinese, numbers, or mixed characters can produce the expected results.

2. What happens if there is no content before START?

Such names themselves already start from START and have no left prefix to delete. To make the task results easier to check, you can classify them separately before adding, to avoid confusion with the directories to be cleaned.

3. What if there are two STARTs in a name?

The repeated occurrence of the positioning text in the same name is a special case and may cause the boundary to differ from manual understanding. Do not directly execute it in large batches together with ordinary names. Instead, copy that directory first for testing, and decide on the processing plan only after confirming how the software determines the position.

4. Why did the folder order change after processing?

After deleting the original prefixes, the system sorts according to the new names. Directories that were originally arranged by Backup, Build, and Client now all start from START, and subsequent characters will participate in sorting, so the change in display position is normal.

5. Can this method process docx, xlsx, or pdf file names?

This article uses the "Folder Name" module, and the target is directory names. doc, docx, xls, xlsx, ppt, pptx, pdf, txt, jpg, png, and others are files. If you need to modify these file names, you should enter the function corresponding to file names in the software and reconfirm the processing target and rules.

7. Summary

To make a large number of folders uniformly start naming from a certain text, the most important thing is to find a stable common boundary. In the example, the prefixes Backup, Build, Client, Invoice, and others have different lengths, but START always exists, so in HeSoft Doc Batch Tool you can select "All content to the left of a certain text", use START to locate the position, and delete the characters to its left.

After keeping "Include this text" off, START will be retained, and the batch, version, and status information on the right will not change due to prefix cleanup. For periodic directory organization work, this batch rule can reduce the time spent on one-by-one renaming and improve naming consistency. It is recommended to back up important data first, select a small number of samples for testing, and then follow the steps in this article to add all folders and execute the processing.