Can anyone recommend a gratis Windows app that will rename file based on their timestamps (aka datestamps)?
Although not a requirement, ideally the software will allow the user to specify whether they want to use the created or the modified timestamp.
For example, if a file was modified on September 19, 2016, it would rename the file as:
[user-defined text] 2016-09-19
The application will need to work on multiple files.
I recommend Bulk Rename Utility. It is a freeware program, for Windows. It can rename files based on a variety of different criteria.
For renaming based on the date, look at the section for "Auto Date (8)". This can use any of the created, modified or accessed times and dates for the file. Or for photos, it can use the taken date from the EXIF data.
It can add the date as a prefix or suffix, and you can specify the formatting for the date.
Bulk Rename Utility has plenty of other options for adding or removing parts of the filenames, including user-defined text or numbering.
I would suggest using Microsoft PowerShell. Odds are that it is already installed on your system, so free if not just let the windows update it. Simple syntax for renaming bunch of text files with the pattern:
[Old Filename]-[dateModified in format yyyy-MM-dd].ext
just open PowerShell (or PowerShell ISE) and navigate to the directory you wish to do the renaming in then run:
Get-ChildItem *.txt |
Rename-Item -newname {$_.basename +"-"+ $_.LastWriteTime.toString("yyyy-MM-dd") + $_.extension}
If you want date created instead of date modified use CreationTime instead of LastWriteTime. If you need to do other renaming you can change the match pattern *.txt to any other pattern (such as * all files), if you want to do this more deeper use the -recurse flag for Get-ChildItem.
You can also do this with windows command line but I do not suggest you start using that.
Some very good options have already been mentioned, but I'd like to add den4b's ReNamer which is very flexible and powerful.
Utilizing tags (such as EXIF Date) will allow you to bulk rename files in a certain directory.
If unsure, there is a "preview" option available in the main GUI window:
A few of the standard rules can be summarised here:
If unsure, you can view the Wiki on using rules and renaming files.
