How to Remove Text from Filenames in Bulk (Without Renaming One by One)

How to Remove Text from Filenames in Bulk (Without Renaming One by One)

You've got a folder full of files that all share the same unwanted text in their names:

• 200 scanned PDFs with Scanned_by_Epson_ at the start
• Video files downloaded with [1080P] or [BluRay] tags baked in
• Design files cluttered with _final, _v2, _copy suffixes across hundreds of files
• Reports exported with a date stamp like _20260930 that you want stripped out

Pressing F2 and editing each one is not an option. This guide covers three methods — PowerShell, PowerRename, and Renomee AI — so you can pick whatever fits your situation.

Different problem? If you need to remove types of characters (brackets, illegal characters, emoji, underscores) rather than a specific word or phrase, see: Batch Remove Special Characters from Filenames

---

Which Method Should You Use?

Your situation	Best method
Comfortable copying a one-liner into PowerShell	PowerShell (30 seconds)
Want a visual interface with a live preview	PowerRename (free, from Microsoft)
Complex rules, large batch, or no command-line experience	Renomee (describe in plain English)

---

Method 1: PowerShell — One Line, Done

The fastest option if you're comfortable opening a terminal.

Basic: Remove a fixed word or phrase

cd "C:\Your\Folder"
dir | rename-item -NewName {$_.name -replace "text to remove",""}

Real examples:

# Remove "Scanned_by_Epson_" prefix
dir | rename-item -NewName {$_.name -replace "Scanned_by_Epson_",""}

# Remove "_final" suffix
dir | rename-item -NewName {$_.name -replace "_final",""}

# Remove "[BluRay]" tag
dir | rename-item -NewName {$_.name -replace "\[BluRay\]",""}

⚠️ Always preview first. Add -WhatIf to see changes without applying them:

dir | rename-item -NewName {$_.name -replace "_final",""} -WhatIf

Case-sensitive removal

By default, -replace ignores case. To match exact case only, use -creplace:

# Removes "Final" but leaves "final" alone
dir | rename-item -NewName {$_.name -creplace "Final",""}

Remove multiple phrases in one pass

dir | rename-item -NewName {
    $n = $_.name
    $n = $n -replace "_final",""
    $n = $n -replace "_copy",""
    $n = $n -replace "_v\d+",""   # removes _v1, _v2, _v23, etc.
    $n
}

Remove everything after a specific character

For example, filenames like Report_2026_draft.docx — keep only Report:

Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\Your\Folder" -File | ForEach-Object {
    $base = [System.IO.Path]::GetFileNameWithoutExtension($_.Name)
    $ext  = $_.Extension
    $new  = $base -replace '_.*$', ''
    if ($new -and $new -ne $base) {
        Rename-Item -Path $_.FullName -NewName ($new + $ext)
        Write-Host "✅ $($_.Name) → $($new + $ext)"
    }
}

_.*$ is a regex pattern meaning "underscore followed by everything to the end." Swap _ for any character you want to cut at.

---

Method 2: PowerRename — Visual Preview, No Terminal

PowerRename is free and built into Microsoft PowerToys. Install PowerToys from the Microsoft Store, then right-click your files → PowerRename.

Remove a fixed word (no regex needed)

1. Select your files → right-click → PowerRename
2. Search: type the text you want to remove (e.g., Scanned_by_Epson_)
3. Replace with: leave empty
4. Use regular expressions: leave unchecked
5. Review the preview, then click Rename

Field	Value
Search	Scanned_by_Epson_
Replace with	(leave empty)
Use regular expressions	❌ not needed

Remove a versioned suffix like _v1, _v2 (regex needed)

Field	Value
Search	_v\d+
Replace with	(leave empty)
☑ Use regular expressions	checked

\d+ matches one or more digits.

Remove everything after a specific character

Field	Value
Search	_.*
Replace with	(leave empty)
☑ Use regular expressions	checked
☑ Match filename only (not extension)	checked

PowerRename limitations:

• Each rule runs separately — you'll need multiple passes for multiple phrases
• No undo history; relies on Ctrl+Z
• Regex has a learning curve for non-technical users

---

Method 3: Renomee — Plain English, No Syntax

Renomee reads your instruction as natural language and handles the rest. No regex, no scripting.

Example:

Files: Scanned_by_Epson_Invoice_Jan.pdf, Scanned_by_Epson_Contract_Feb.pdf

Type:

Remove "Scanned_by_Epson_" from the start of every filename

Result: Invoice_Jan.pdf, Contract_Feb.pdf

---

Complex rules work too:

Remove _final, _copy, and any _v followed by a number from the end of filenames.
Keep the main name and trim any extra spaces.

---

Why Renomee for this:

• ✅ Live before/after preview for every file before anything changes
• ✅ One-click undo — full rename history
• ✅ Handles edge cases automatically (empty names, duplicates)
• ✅ One instruction can cover multiple removal rules at once

Download Renomee →

---

Common Scenarios

Scenario 1: Strip download-site tags from video filenames

Files: [1080P][BluRay] Inception.mkv, [HDR][IMAX] Dune.mkv

PowerShell:

# Remove square-bracket tags and their contents
dir | rename-item -NewName {$_.name -replace "\[.*?\]",""}

Renomee:

Remove everything inside square brackets (including the brackets) from every filename

Result: Inception.mkv → Inception.mkv, Dune.mkv → Dune.mkv

---

Scenario 2: Remove a date stamp from filenames

Files: Contract_20260101_ClientA.pdf, Contract_20261231_ClientB.pdf

PowerShell:

Get-ChildItem -File | ForEach-Object {
    $base = [System.IO.Path]::GetFileNameWithoutExtension($_.Name)
    $ext  = $_.Extension
    $new  = $base -replace '_\d{8}', ''
    if ($new -ne $base) {
        Rename-Item -Path $_.FullName -NewName ($new + $ext)
    }
}

Renomee:

Remove the 8-digit date (like 20260101) and the underscore before it from every filename

Result: Contract_ClientA.pdf, Contract_ClientB.pdf

---

Scenario 3: Clean up multiple version suffixes at once

Files have a mix of _final, _Final, _v2, _copy — you want all of them gone.

PowerShell:

Get-ChildItem -File | ForEach-Object {
    $base = [System.IO.Path]::GetFileNameWithoutExtension($_.Name)
    $ext  = $_.Extension
    $new  = $base
    $new  = $new -replace "_final|_copy",""
    $new  = $new -replace "_v\d+",""
    $new  = $new.Trim()
    if ($new -and $new -ne $base) {
        Rename-Item -Path $_.FullName -NewName ($new + $ext)
    }
}

Renomee:

Remove _final, _copy, and any _v followed by a number from filenames.
Trim any leftover spaces.

Result: Proposal.docx, Design.psd, Agreement.pdf

---

Scenario 4: Remove text only from the start or end of filenames

Files: DRAFT_ProjectPlan.docx, DRAFT_Q3Report.pptx

PowerShell:

# Remove only from the start
dir | rename-item -NewName {$_.name -replace "^DRAFT_",""}

# Remove only from the end (before extension)
Get-ChildItem -File | ForEach-Object {
    $base = [System.IO.Path]::GetFileNameWithoutExtension($_.Name)
    $ext  = $_.Extension
    $new  = $base -replace "_DRAFT$",""
    if ($new -ne $base) { Rename-Item $_.FullName ($new + $ext) }
}

^ anchors to the start; $ anchors to the end of the base name.

Renomee:

Remove "DRAFT_" from the beginning of every filename, leave the rest unchanged

Result: ProjectPlan.docx, Q3Report.pptx

---

Before You Run Any Batch Rename

1. Back up first — copy the folder to a safe location before starting
2. Preview every time — PowerShell: add -WhatIf; PowerRename: check the preview column; Renomee: review the before/after list
3. Check for duplicate results — removing shared text can produce identical names; catch this in the preview stage

---

FAQ

Q: What if the filename becomes empty after removing text?

• PowerShell: Add a guard clause so empty results are skipped:

if ($new -and $new -ne $base) { Rename-Item ... }

• Renomee: Automatically detects empty results and marks them as skipped in the preview — no empty filenames are ever written to disk.

Q: Will files that don't contain the text be affected?

No.

• PowerShell: -replace returns the original string unchanged when there is no match — no error, no modification.
• Renomee: Files with no match appear as "no change" in the preview list and are left untouched.

Q: The text I want to remove contains parentheses — PowerShell crashes. What do I do?

PowerShell's -replace treats ( and ) as regex syntax. Escape them with [regex]::Escape():

$pattern = [regex]::Escape("(copy)")
dir | rename-item -NewName {$_.name -replace $pattern,""}

With Renomee you don't need to worry about this. Just describe what you want in plain English — Remove "(copy)" from every filename — and the AI handles the escaping automatically.

Q: Can I remove text from filenames inside subfolders too?

• PowerShell: Add -Recurse to Get-ChildItem:

Get-ChildItem -Recurse -File | rename-item -NewName {$_.name -replace "text to remove",""}

• Renomee: Select all files including subfolders before running the rule — the same instruction applies to every selected file.

---

Summary

Method	Best for	Learning curve
PowerShell	Quick one-liners, scripting, automation	Low (copy-paste works)
PowerRename	Visual preview, simple rules	Medium (regex for advanced)
Renomee	Complex rules, large batches, no coding	None

---

Related

• Batch Remove Special Characters from Filenames (brackets, illegal chars, emoji)
• Rename Multiple Files by Date on Windows
• 4 Best Windows Batch Rename Tools Compared