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How to Batch Rename Files using PowerRename in Windows 11?

Narendhiran Vijaykumar — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 03:29:00 +0000

PowerToys is a collection of helpful tools made by Microsoft to make using Windows easier and more efficient. These tools allow you to manage windows, change keyboard shortcuts, pick colors, rename multiple/bulk files at once, and more. PowerToys is open source, which means anyone can use and improve it. It is especially useful for people who want to customize and make their Windows experience better and more productive.

Renaming multiple files at once can be a tedious process, especially when dealing with hundreds of them. Fortunately, I found a way to make this much easier using the PowerToys utility from Microsoft! PowerToys includes a feature called “PowerRename” that allows us to rename batches of files instantly. In this tutorial, I will share all the possible methods to rename batch files using the PowerRename utility provided by Microsoft PowerToys.

What is Powertoys’ PowerRename?

PowerRename is a tool that enhances the standard file renaming capabilities in File Explorer. This utility allows you to perform complex renaming tasks using search and replace, bulk editing, and regular expressions (regex). It is designed to minimize the effort needed to manage and rename batches of multiple files efficiently.

Why Choose Powertoys’ PowerRename?

With PowerRename, you can able to do the following functions:

Search and Replace Text: You can easily find specific text in file names and replace it with new text.
Use Regular Expressions: You can apply complex patterns to rename files.
Preview Changes: This option allows you to see how files will be renamed before finalizing the operation.
Undo Renames: You can quickly reverse changes using the standard Windows Explorer undo feature.
Filter Results: You can simply select which files to rename by filtering results based on various criteria.

You can download the latest version of PowerToys from the official GitHub repository. Alternatively, my brother wrote a helpful guide on how to download and install the PowerToys tool on your Windows 11 PC.

1: Batch Rename Files using PowerRename:

After installing PowerToys, open the application by searching for it in the Start Menu. Once it’s open, scroll down a bit until you find the “PowerRename” option in the list on the left side. Click on it and make sure the function is enabled, as shown in the image below.

Enable PowerRename Function from Powertoys

Below the “Enable PowerRename” option, you’ll see “Shell Integration“, which lets you choose how you want the PowerRename option to appear in the context menu. If you select “Default and extended context menu“, the PowerRename function will appear on both the regular context menu when you right click a file or folder. If you choose the “Extended Context Menu only” option, the function will only appear when you press Shift button and right click.

First, open the folder that contains the files you want to rename in batches.
Then, select all the files you want to rename, hold down the Shift key on your keyboard, and right click the selected files.

Hold Shift Key and Right Click bulk files

Once you click the PowerRename option, the PowerRename window will appear on your screen.

PowerRename Bulk Files Selected Window

The PowerRename interface consists of several key components:

Search For: Enter the text or pattern you want to find in the file names.
Replace With: Enter the text you want to replace the search pattern with.
Options Panel: Various checkboxes to customize your renaming, including:
- Case Sensitive: Match case exactly.
- Match All Occurrences: Replace all instances of the search text within the name.
- Use Regular Expressions: Enable regex patterns for advanced renaming.
Files, Folders & Sub-Folder: Clearing causes files and folders to be excluded from the operation.
Text Formatting: Convert items to all lowercase, all uppercase, title case (where the first character of each sentence is capitalized), or capitalize every word.
Preview Window: Displays the before and after names of the files so you can review the changes.

When the window appears on your screen, you’ll see two input fields: “Search for” and “Replace with“. In the “Search for” field, enter the text you want to find in the selected files. In the “Replace with” field, enter the text you want to use as a replacement in the selected files.

I entered “file” in the “Search for” field and “file-type” in the “Replace with” field, then clicked the Apply button. This instantly renamed all the selected files with the new text.

Bulk Files Renamed Instantly using PowerRename

As you can see in the above image, the files have been renamed as file-type.txt.

1a: Replace Part of Filename in Multiple Selected files:

If you want to replace part of the filename in the selected files, just enter the text you want to find in the “Search for” field and the text you want to use as a replacement in the “Replace with” field. For example, PowerRename will search for “file” in the selected file names and replace it with “text” in all the chosen files.

Replace and rename a part of multiple selected filenames in bulk

As shown in the image above, PowerRename instantly replaces and renames a part of the filename with the text entered in the “Replace with” field for all the selected files.

1b: Remove Part of Name from Multiple Selected Files:

With PowerRename, you can remove a part of the name from multiple selected files. To do this, enter the text you want to remove in the “Search for” field, and leave the “Replace with” field empty. Then, click the Apply button. This will replace the text with an empty string, effectively removing it from the filenames of the selected files.

PowerRename Removed a part of Bulk Selected File Names

As shown in the image above, PowerRename instantly removes a part of the filename with the empty field in the “Replace with” field for all the selected files.

1c: Remove Spaces in Filename from Multiple Selected Files:

The PowerRename function lets you remove any empty spaces from the filenames of selected files. To do this, enter a space ” “ in the “Search for” field, leave the “Replace with” field empty, and click the Apply button. This will remove all the spaces in the filenames of the selected files.

PowerRename Remove Empty Spaces from Selected Files Filenames’

As shown in the image above, PowerRename instantly removes the spaces of the filename with the empty field in the “Replace with” field for all the selected files.

1d: Change File Extension in bulk Selected Files:

The PowerRename option allows you to change the extension of multiple selected files at once. Below the “Replace with” field, you’ll find an “Apply to” dropdown box. Click this dropdown, and you will see three options: “Filename + Extension,” “Filenames Only,” and “Extension Only.” You need to choose “Extension Only.” Then, in the “Search for” field, you need to enter the existing file extension, and in the “Replace with” field, enter the new extension you want to apply to all the selected files.

Replace File Extensions using PowerRename option

As shown in the image above, PowerRename instantly replaces the file extension (txt) of the filename with the extension (docx) in the “Replace with” field for all the selected files.

1e: Rename Files in Sequential Numbering to Selected Files:

With PowerRename, you can automatically add a sequential number to the end of each filename by using the “Enumerate items” option. This helps you rename the files in a sequential order.

Adding a sequential numbering to the end of the filename using PowerRename

As shown in the image above, PowerRename instantly numbers using Enumerate Items option the selected files that match the “Search for” regex.

1f: Using Regular Expression to Rename Batch Files:

This is a unique and powerful way to rename batch files that match the given regex. If you are new to regex (Regular Expressions), click the info icon as shown in the below image to display the basic regex value and its functions.

PowerRename Regex Help icon

In the example, I’m going to use the regex method in both Search for and Replace with field to bulk modify and rename the selected file names.

Bulk rename based on Regex using PowerRename

As shown in the image above, I entered “Text \S\S\S\S+” in the search field. Here, “Text” looks for the word “Text,” while “\S” searches for any non-whitespace character, and “\S+” matches one or more non-whitespace characters. In the “Replace with” field, I used “File – $YYYY.docx.” This replaces the word “Text” with “File,” and “$YYYY” adds the year, represented by four or five digits depending on the calendar used. When you click the Apply button, it renames the files based on the regex pattern.

If you don’t know any regex, don’t worry! I’ve included some basic regex patterns that might help you.

Regex Pattern	Regex Explanation
$YYYY	The full year in four or five digits.
$YY	The last two digits of the year, adding a zero if needed.
$Y	The last digit of the year.
$MMMM	The full name of the month.
$MMM	The short form of the month name.
$MM	The month as numbers with a zero at the front if it’s a single-digit.
$M	The month as numbers without a zero at the front for single digits.
$DDDD	The full name of the day of the week.
$DDD	The short form of the day of the week.
$DD	The day of the month as numbers with a zero at the front if it’s a single-digit.
$D	The day of the month as numbers without a zero for single digits.
$hh	Hours with a zero in front if it’s a single-digit.
$h	Hours without a zero in front for single digits.
$mm	Minutes with a zero in front if it’s a single-digit.
$m	Minutes without a zero in front for single digits.
$ss	Seconds with a zero in front if it’s a single-digit.
$s	Seconds without a zero in front for single digits.
$fff	Milliseconds in three digits.
$ff	The first two digits of the milliseconds.
$f	The first digit of the milliseconds.

Regex Pattern that can used in PowerRename

I have added some commonly using Search For regex expressions:

Search For	Description
^	Matches the beginning of the filename.
$	Matches the end of the filename.
.*	Matches all the text in the filename.
^foo	Matches text that starts with “foo.”
bar$	Matches text that ends with “bar.”
^foo.*bar$	Matches text that starts with “foo” and ends with “bar.”
.+?(?=bar)	Matches everything up to “bar.”
foo[\s\S]*bar	Matches everything between and including “foo” and “bar.”
(.*).png → foo_$1.png	Adds “foo_” at the beginning of all PNG file names.
(.*).png → $1_foo.png	Adds “_foo” at the end of all PNG file names.
(.*) → $1.txt	Adds “.txt” to the end of all file names.
(^\w+.$)\|(^\w+$) → $2.txt	Adds “.txt” to file names that do not already have an extension.
(\d\d)-(\d\d)-(\d\d\d\d) or (\d{2})-(\d{2})-(\d{4}) → $3-$2-$1	Changes date format: “29-03-2020” becomes “2020-03-29.”
^(.{n})(.) or (.)(.{n})$ → $1foo$2	Inserts “foo” n characters from the start or end of the filename.
^.{n} or .{n}$ → nothing	Removes n characters from the beginning or end of the filename.

Some commonly used Search For regex commands while using PowerRename

Using Boost Library:

The Boost library in PowerRename is a set of tools that help with complex text tasks, like finding patterns using regular expressions (regex). It makes it easier for PowerRename to search, find, and replace text in file names based on the patterns you set. This helps you rename multiple files quickly and easily.
You can simply enable by it from the PowerToys’ PowerRename function settings.

Using Boost Library Regex in PowerRename

You can find more boost library regular expression here: https://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_86_0/libs/regex/doc/html/boost_regex/syntax/perl_syntax.html

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the “secret weapon” for advanced users in PowerRename?

Without a doubt, it is Regular Expressions (RegEx). If you check the “Use Regular Expressions” box, you are no longer limited to basic word replacement. You can use powerful pattern matching.

I only want to capitalize the first letter of every file. How do I do that?

Instead of manually typing out a search and replace rule, PowerRename has a built-in text formatting engine. In the lower section of the window, look for the Text Formatting options. You can toggle checkboxes to force everything to UPPERCASE, lowercase, or Title Case (which capitalizes the first letter of every word).

How do I add a sequential counter to a massive list of files?

If you are sorting photos, assets, or logs and need them numbered. In the “Search for” bar, type the common part of the name you want to replace and in the “Replace with” bar, type your desired name followed by the variable ${padding=2} or simply use the interface button for enumeration. This will automatically append a zero-padded counter (01, 02, etc.) to the end of your files based on the order they are listed in the preview window.

Conclusion:

That’s it, folks! I’ve shared everything I know about using the PowerRename tool to rename multiple files. I’ve explained each feature in the simplest way to help you learn quickly and use it for your needs. If you’re new to regex, I recommend using the table as a reference.

Have Queries?

If you have any questions or suggestions, please comment below. For more tutorials, visit stay tuned to Winsides.com. Happy Computing! Peace out!

How to Use Color Picker in Windows 11 using PowerToys?

Narendhiran Vijaykumar — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 03:31:00 +0000

Today, I discovered a best PowerToys utility for Windows 11 users called Color Picker. As a web developer, I often need to pick colors, whether it’s for backgrounds or other design elements. I get inspiration for background colors from images and other websites. For example, I use the Color Picker from image tool developed by IMGCentury, where I can upload an image, and the tool will display the most used colors and other color codes found in the image.

This PowerToys Color Picker is a game changer for web and app developers. It allows you to pick colors from any screen and copy them in a format you can customize. In this tutorial, I will show you how to use the Color Picker effectively on your Windows 11 PC.

What is Powertoys Color Picker?

PowerToys Color Picker is a tool for Windows 11 that lets you pick colors from anywhere on your screen. You can quickly select a color and copy its code to your clipboard, making it easy to use in your projects. It’s especially helpful for designers and developers who need to match or identify colors quickly.

Why Choose PowerToys Color Picker?

Quick and Easy: You can instantly pick colors from anywhere on your screen.
Built-In: This utility by default comes with Windows 11, no need for extra paid software or web application.
Versatile: This utility tool allows you to copy color codes in different formats.
Perfect for Professionals: Best and Ideal utility tool for designers and developers.
Free and Convenient: This utility comes with PowerToys which is always free and easy to work with.

1. Enable PowerToys Color Picker Utility:

To use this tool, you need to enable it in the PowerToys application. Follow the steps below to do this.

From the Start Menu, you need to enter the term “PowerToys” and launch the application.

Launching PowerToys Application on Windows 11 PC

Once the application is open, scroll down to find the Color Picker utility in the left side menu.
Click on the Color Picker option, and its settings will appear on the right side of the window.
Turn on the switch next to “Enable Color Picker” to activate the Color Picker utility and its features on your PC.

Enable Color Picker Utility using PowerToys

2. Activating Color Picker:

Once the utility is enabled, you can activate the Color Picker using the keyboard shortcut WinKey + Shift + C. Be sure to press and hold the WinKey first, then the Shift key, and finally the C key to activate the Color Picker.

You can adjust how the Color Picker behaves after launching it with the keyboard shortcut. By default, the “Pick a color and open editor” option is selected. You can click the dropdown menu to choose other options as well.

Activation behaviour options in color picker utility

Open editor: Opens an editor where you can choose a color from your color history, fine tune a selected color, or pick a new color.
Pick a color and open editor: This option activates the Color Picker, then opens the editor and copies the selected color to the clipboard after you pick it.
Only pick a color: This option activates the Color Picker and directly copies the selected color to the clipboard.

3. Picking Colors:

After activating the Color Picker, you can select any color on your screen by hovering over it. If you need a closer look at the area under your cursor, scroll up (using mouse wheel up) to zoom in. By default, the Color Picker will copy the color code in hexadecimal format, which is useful for web developers. After choosing the color, the color editor window will automatically appear.

Using Color Picker in Windows 11 PC

To Select the Color from a Non Selective or Tiny Area:

You need to move your mouse cursor near to the area

Use the Mouse Wheel Up to enable Zoom window of the tiny area

Now you need to select the color from the zoomed tiny area to extract the color code.

4. Color Picker Editor:

After selecting a color from your screen, the Color Picker editor window will appear. This window shows the selected color in 3 different formats. Besides the color code details, it also provides a history of the colors you’ve picked. The editor window displays up to 8 colors at the top, allowing you to choose from your previously selected colors. For more detailed information, please refer to the GIF image.

Color Picker Editor Settings

You can remove or delete colors from the Color Picker editor’s history by right-clicking on the color and selecting the “Remove” option.

Removing colors from the History in Color Picker Editor.

You can export colors from the Color Picker editor’s history by right-clicking on the color and selecting the “Export” option. Then, choose either “Grouped by color” or “Grouped by format” to export the color to your desired location as a text file.

Exporting Colors from the Color Picker Editor’s history

After saving the color as a text file:

If you choose the option “Grouped by color” the text file will contain the data in the following format:

color1;HEX#1f890f;RGB(31, 137, 15);HSL(112, 80%, 30%)

In this format, all the details (HEX, RGB, HSL) for a single color are provided on one line. This makes it easy for you to see all the information for each color at a glance.

If you choose the option “Grouped by format” the text file will contain the data in the following format:

HEX;color1#1f890f
RGB;color1(31, 137, 15)
HSL;color1(112, 80%, 30%)

In this format, The information is organized by color code type, with each format (HEX, RGB, HSL) listed separately.

5a. Color Picker Formats:

By default, the Color Picker displays only 3 formats, but you can add or remove formats from the Color Picker editor in the settings.

Color Pickers’ Color Formats

Enabling the HSV format in the settings will add the HSV color code format to the Color Picker editor, as shown in the image below.

Adding Color Formats in Color Picker Settings

You can add your own custom color code format in the Color Picker settings. To do this, click the “Add new format” button.
This will open the “Add custom color format” window. Here, you can provide a name and enter the format by using the available parameters. Once you’ve set everything up, click the “Save” button to enable the custom color code format in the Color Picker editor.

Adding New Color Code Format in Color Picker Editor

You can remove a custom format by clicking the (•••) button next to the enable/disable switch. Then, select the “Delete” option to remove the custom color code format.
You can also move your color code format up or down using the same menu (Move Up or Move Down). Please refer to the image for more details.

Deleting Custom Color Code Format from Color Picker Editor

5b. Define Color Formats with Parameters:

You can use the following table as a reference for creating color formats with the available parameters.

Parameter	Meaning	Example
`%Re`	Red	`%Re = 255`
`%Gr`	Green	`%Gr = 128`
`%Bl`	Blue	`%Bl = 64`
`%Al`	Alpha	`%Al = 1.0`
`%Cy`	Cyan	`%Cy = 0.5`
`%Ma`	Magenta	`%Ma = 0.75`
`%Ye`	Yellow	`%Ye = 0.25`
`%Bk`	Black key	`%Bk = 0.0`
`%Hu`	Hue	`%Hu = 180°`
`%Si`	Saturation (HSI)	`%Si = 0.7`
`%Sl`	Saturation (HSL)	`%Sl = 0.6`
`%Sb`	Saturation (HSB)	`%Sb = 0.8`
`%Br`	Brightness	`%Br = 0.9`
`%In`	Intensity	`%In = 0.85`
`%Hn`	Hue (natural)	`%Hn = 200°`
`%Ll`	Lightness (natural)	`%Ll = 0.5`
`%Lc`	Lightness (CIE)	`%Lc = 0.7`
`%Va`	Value	`%Va = 0.8`
`%Wh`	Whiteness	`%Wh = 0.3`
`%Bn`	Blackness	`%Bn = 0.2`
`%Ca`	Chromaticity A	`%Ca = 0.56`
`%Cb`	Chromaticity B	`%Cb = 0.42`
`%Xv`	X value	`%Xv = 0.4124`
`%Yv`	Y value	`%Yv = 0.2126`
`%Zv`	Z value	`%Zv = 0.0193`
`%Dv`	Decimal value	`%Dv = 16711680`
`%Na`	Color name	`%Na = Red`

This table gives you a clear reference for the parameters used in creating custom color formats, with examples to explains each one. Here’s the below table with formatting options for the red, green, blue, and alpha values:

Formatter	Meaning	Example
`b`	Byte value (default)	`%Reb = 255`
`h`	Hex lowercase one digit	`%Reh = f`
`H`	Hex uppercase one digit	`%ReH = F`
`x`	Hex lowercase two digits	`%Rex = ff`
`X`	Hex uppercase two digits	`%ReX = FF`
`f`	Float with leading zero	`%Ref = 0.99`
`F`	Float without leading zero	`%ReF = .99`

Example Format Usage:

If you want to format the red value as a hex uppercase two digits, you would use %ReX. An example of a custom format could be:

Color Code: #RexGexBex (Alpha: %Alf)

6. Restrictions of Using PowerToys Color Picker:

The Color Picker utility may not display in the Start Menu or Action Center, so you won’t be able to choose colors from these areas.
If you start an application using “Run as Administrator,” the Color Picker won’t work with it. In simple terms, the Color Picker can’t pick colors from apps launched with elevated permissions.
HDR and WCG color formats are not supported by Color Picker yet, but they may be added in future updates.

7. Related Posts:

Verdict:

That’s it! I’ve provided detailed information about using the Color Picker in Windows 11 with PowerToys. As a developer, this utility has been incredibly helpful for me. Although it has some minor limitations, these will likely be fixed in future updates. Use this tool effectively, and it will help you build web apps with vibrant colors. If you have any questions about this topic, feel free to comment below. For more tutorials, visit Winsides.com

Download and Install Microsoft Powertoys for Windows 11

Vigneshwaran Vijayakumar — Fri, 03 May 2024 10:06:10 +0000

Microsoft Powertoys for Windows 11: is a set of utilities and tools developed by Microsoft that are designed to enhance productivity and customize the Windows operating system’s user experience. Originally introduced for Windows 95, PowerToys was revived for Windows 10 and later versions with a new set of features. In his guide, we will check out simple steps involved in the process of downloading and installing Microsoft Powertoys in Windows 11.

Download Microsoft Powertoys for Windows 11:

Microsoft recommends downloading this tool from Powertoys’ official GitHub page. Go to Official Microsoft Powertoys GitHub.
Microsoft PowerToys is available for both per-user and machine-wide installations. This flexibility allows users and administrators to choose the deployment method that best suits their needs.
Per-user settings or configurations are applied per user and are specific to each user account on a computer. This means that each user can have their own customized settings and configurations independent of other users on the same machine. Machine-wide settings or configurations are applied machine-wide to affect the entire system or all user accounts on a particular machine. Changes made in a machine-wide context apply universally to all users and are not specific to individual user accounts. Choose your option as per your needs.
For explanation purposes, I will choose per-user configuration. Microsoft PowerToys is primarily designed for x64 (64-bit) architecture. This means that the PowerToys software is optimized to run on 64-bit versions of Windows operating systems. For ARM-based Windows PCs and tablets, Microsoft has been working on making PowerToys compatible with ARM processors. Choose your download accordingly.
Download Microsoft Powertoys
Microsoft Powertoys will now be downloaded to your Windows 11 PC.
Powertoys downloaded

Install Microsoft Powertoys in Windows 11:

Once the application is downloaded, the installation process is a straightforward option.

Run the downloaded Powertoys setup file.
Agree to the terms and click on Install.
Install Microsoft Powertoys
Installation progress will continue. Kindly be patient.
Setup progress
Once the installation is complete, click Close.
Close
That is it. You can access this tool via the start menu.
Powertoys in Windows 11

Alternate Ways to Install Windows Powertoys in Windows 11:

If you are looking to install this tool using a different method, then you can use Windows Package Manager.

Execute the following command in the command prompt. winget install Microsoft.PowerToys --source winget
Install Powertoys using Windows Package Manager
Windows Powertoys will now be installed on your Windows 11 PC.

Take away:

Microsoft PowerToys offers a suite of productivity-enhancing tools and utilities for Windows users, providing features like FancyZones for efficient window management, PowerRename for batch file renaming, Shortcut Guide for quick access to keyboard shortcuts, and more. Enjoy Tweaking! Peace out!