You need both for this to work, otherwise Automator won’t know what files you’re looking for. The first action listed above is how you find the files you want to batch rename, and the second item is the piece that does the actual renaming work. For the sake of this tutorial we’ll be renaming the originals. This is asking if you want a copy of the files being renamed made, or if you wish to rename the originals. Once you’ve dragged each of these over, it should look like this:Ī warning box will come up when you try to add the Rename Action. Next, drag the following items out of the full list of Actions into the Workflow Space: Whether you want to give all your vacation pictures the same prefix, or you want to update all those screen shots for your project to look more professional, Automator has you covered, here’s how.įirst things first, you need to open up Automator ( Applications > Automator) and start a new Workflow, then click Choose. We all have files that would use a good batch rename, and this can help get that done. This is probably one of the easiest and most effective uses of Automator for a beginner. Here is how to use Automator to rename files in OS X. There are applications out there you can purchase to rename files en masse, or you can use the software that came for free with your OS. Getting into Automator can be a little scary, which is why we started you off with a simple yet effective use of it. At its core, Automator is a basic scripting application that allows you to stack those scripts together with drag-and-drop simplicity, giving you a powerful tool to fight repetition and busy work getting more done with less work. Automator is an application bundled with OS X for quite a few versions now, but it is often misunderstood and used even less.

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