Perhaps, I overlooked a similar topic… But I couldn’t find one.
Also, I haven’t found such an option in Scrivener.
I need advice on how to rename multiple documents at once in Scrivener.
Hi.
There is no such function.
I’ll assume you want them all of the same name, which is not something common.
I’d say the best way would be to work it out in the binder.
Rename your first document, but before committing, copy the title – Ctrl-C.
Then double-click your documents going down the binder and paste in the title.
Thank you for responding. But it would be nice if such a function appeared.
For example, like it’s implemented in Windows Explorer.
Especially when dealing with photos and so on in the Research folder.
I have recategorized this thread in the wishlist.
3 Likes
Perhaps if this important to you now, you can use the External file sync capability that Scrivener Provides? Then you can use Windows Explorer to do as you want. I don’t have Windows version of Scrivener to check this even exists as it does for the macOS version and test for you, but perhaps you can create a test project and test for yourself?
1 Like
If they are adjacent (or even if they are not) what about merging them together which will give them the one name from the first document then split them up again which will give them similar names but with numbered suffixes.
3 Likes
Yes there is a way of renaming multiple files, as long as, as Vincent says, you want to give them all the same name.
But be warned, if you make a mistake, there’s no way of rolling it back, so do it on a test file first, then try it on a back up copy of the real file second…
Basically, you’re going to select all the files that you want to change (either manually or through a collection), then use Edit > Find > Project Replace to replace any title in that selection with the new title using the regular expressions feature.
Here’s two screenshots of the Project Replace settings:
And the result:
NB: these points are obvious, but I’m putting them down anyway…
- the dropdown is set to ‘Regular Expression (RegEx)’ otherwise it won’t work
- you must have Selected Documents Only ticked otherwise every document in your entire project will be called ‘New Name’, which may not be ideal…
- you must ONLY have ‘Titles’ ticked and nothing else, otherwise you’ll replace your text, notes, synopses and so on.
- this won’t do multiple new names (E.g. Filenames with incrementing numbers. If I wanted to do that, I’d used the External Folder Sync feature and rename the files in Finder or File Explorer.
The entry in Replace is a full stop and a plus sign: .+, which basically means “everything” in RegEx speak.
Again, please don’t try it unless you’ve got good backups and are prepared to test thoroughly beforehand so you understand what’s going on. Personally, I’d only do this if I had to rename many files…
4 Likes
Oh, thank you! Interesting approach.
It will replace it throughout the entire project. But how can it be done for a specific folder, for example?
As @brookter described, you need to create a binder selection of only the items you want to change. So to select the subdocuments of a folder, for instance, you could select the folder in the binder and then use Edit ▸ Select ▸ Select with Subdocuments and then Cmd-click the folder itself to deselect that (unless you also want its name changed); alternatively, expand the folder in the binder (Opt-click it when closed to fully expand all subitems as well), then select the first subdocument in the group and Shift-click the last one to select them and everything in between.
Then when you run the project replacement, ensure that Selected Documents Only is ticked.
1 Like
That is some seriously dangerous cleverness, brookter. 
And that, friends, is how ice nine was invented!
2 Likes