General Rename File in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you different ways to rename a file to what you want in Window 11.

A file name can't contain any of the following characters: \ / : * ? " < > |

If you rename more than one file at the same time, the name of each file will be the same and numbered in order like: new file name (1), new file name (2), new file name (3), etc...

If you have file name extensions showing, be careful not to rename the file extension while renaming the file since it will change the file type.

1 Select the file(s) you want to rename.

2 Press the F2 key.

3 Type a new name, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)







1 Open File Explorer (Win+E).

2 Navigate to and select the file(s) you want to rename. (see screenshot below step 3)

3 Click/tap on the Rename button on the command bar. (see screenshot below)


4 Type a new name, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)






1 Select the file(s) you want to rename.

2 Right click on the selected file(s), and click/tap on the Rename button on the toolbar at the top of the context menu. (see screenshot below)


3 Type a new name, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)






1 Select the file(s) you want to rename.

2 Right click on the selected file(s), and click/tap on the Show more options. (see screenshot below)


3 Click/tap on Rename. (see screenshot below)


4 Type a new name, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)






1 Right click on the file you want to rename, and click/tap on the Properties. (see screenshot below)


2 In the General tab, type a new name in the top box, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

This option requires to use Double-click to open an item (single-click to select) instead of Single-click to open an item (point to select).

1 Click/tap once on the file you want to rename to select it. (see screenshot below step 2)

2 Click/tap on the text of the file name. (see screenshot below)


3 Type a new name, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)







1 Open Windows Terminal, and select Windows PowerShell.

2 Type the command below into PowerShell, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

Substitute Full path of file in the command above with the actual full path of the file with file extension you want to rename.

Substitute New Name in the command above with the actual new name with file extension you want to rename the file.

For example: Rename-Item -Path "C:\Users\Brink\Desktop\Example File.txt" -NewName "File new name.txt" -Force

3 When finished, you can close the Windows Terminal window if you like.








1 Open Windows Terminal, and select Command Prompt.

2 Type the command below into the command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

Substitute Full path of file in the command above with the actual full path of the file with file extension you want to rename.

Substitute New Name in the command above with the actual new name with file extension you want to rename the file.

For example: ren "C:\Users\Brink\Desktop\Example File.txt" "File new name.txt"

3 When finished, you can close the Windows Terminal window if you like.




That's it,
Shawn Brink