Batch Rename Photos by Date & Sequence

A good photo filename should still make sense after it leaves Rename.Tools. Put the date first, then a padded sequence number, then an optional place, client, event, or camera label.

Use four-digit years and two-digit months and days. That keeps alphabetical sorting aligned with time order in Finder, Explorer, cloud drives, NAS folders, and media backup tools.

Decide whether the name should describe when the photo was taken, where it belongs, or both. For personal albums, date plus location is usually enough. For client work, add the project or shoot name so exported files remain recognizable.

To enter a template below, click Add Text, paste the complete template including braces, then press Enter or Tab to apply it. It becomes draggable text and variable blocks; check the updated preview before continuing.

Use Find & Replace or Remove to strip camera prefixes when they do not carry useful meaning. Then use Sequence with padding so every file receives a predictable number.

For the fixed-date example, keep import order. The Sequence rule can also sort by filename or modified time before numbering. EXIF date is available in a naming template, but there is currently no EXIF-date sort option.

Choose the date source deliberately: 2026-05-22 is text you enter; {exif.date} reads DateTimeOriginal, falling back to CreateDate; {date} is the current UTC date. File modified time is a separate property and may change when files are copied.

If EXIF is missing, the preview keeps {exif.date} literally. Separate those files and enter a known date or keep their existing names. Never silently replace an unknown capture date with today’s date.

Renaming a RAW filename does not imply RAW metadata support. GPS variables produce coordinates, not city names; tokyo in this guide is a label you enter yourself.

If the photos include EXIF dates, load metadata and prefer EXIF date variables over today's date. This is useful when files were copied, downloaded, exported from a phone, or edited after they were taken.

EXIF is not guaranteed. Screenshots, social media exports, edited images, and some HEIC conversions may have missing or changed metadata. A known event label is a useful alternative when the capture date cannot be verified.

When EXIF dates differ from file modified times, trust the value that matches your organizing goal. For a vacation album, capture date is usually better. For a delivery folder, export date may be more useful.

Before execution, scan the first few and last few preview rows. This catches sorting mistakes, especially when filenames include numbers with different lengths.

If the preview includes non-photo files, stop and filter the list. Mixing photos, documents, and videos in one sequence can create technically valid names that are not useful later.

Phone photos, DSLR files, screenshots, RAW exports, and edited copies often need different naming rules. If one rule chain starts getting complicated, split the files into smaller batches instead of forcing every case into one workflow.

For example, camera photos may use EXIF date plus sequence, screenshots may use the modified date, and edited exports may use a project label plus version number. Smaller batches produce cleaner names and make preview review faster.