Changing folder / file names... why so hard?

Well ive been using windows for a while and changing file / folder names is really easy.. u just right click and it gives u the "rename" option...

Why don't I see this for my Mac OS X... when i right click it doesnt give me the option to rename something... please tell me how I can change the files and folder names.

Also when I want to zip a file on my mac is makes me "Archive" it and it calls the zip file an archive.... that makes no sense for me... how can I change "Archive.zip" to say "FileX.zip" ?

Please help... all the users here have been really helpful so far.

You can right-click (or Apple-click) and select "Get Info." From there you can change the name of the file.

That will also work on your "archive" issue.

(For what it's worth, a "zip" file is often referred to as a "zip archive" in both the Windows and Mac worlds.)

You can also select the file/document/folder and then click it to change the name.

caribiner23 said:

You can right-click (or Apple-click) and select "Get Info." From there you can change the name of the file.

That will also work on your "archive" issue.

(For what it's worth, a "zip" file is often referred to as a "zip archive" in both the Windows and Mac worlds.)

Click to expand...

You can also just click on the file once...then it will set it to an edit mode and you can change the name that way.


Edit: rman beat me to it! :black:

[what follows is intended humorously]
:mac: "Hard?" Clicking on the file is hard, but right-clicking and choosing a menu command is simple? :mac:

Apple should definitely improve this in the future. I suggest:

:mac:
1. shift-option-right click on the file
2. select "Adjust File Name Properties" from the menu
3. Click the "Rename file" button in the resulting dialog
4. A warning dialog will ask you if you're sure you wish to rename the file. Click Yes.
5. Type the new name and press return.
6. A dialog will ask you if you want to save the new name. Click OK.
:mac:

to rename a file, click on it once, and then hit enter. it works for me, simple as that

and the irony is that its the same in winblows!

click on the actual file name to rename

technologist said:

[what follows is intended humorously]
:mac: "Hard?" Clicking on the file is hard, but right-clicking and choosing a menu command is simple? :mac:

Apple should definitely improve this in the future. I suggest:

:mac:
1. shift-option-right click on the file
2. select "Adjust File Name Properties" from the menu
3. Click the "Rename file" button in the resulting dialog
4. A warning dialog will ask you if you're sure you wish to rename the file. Click Yes.
5. Type the new name and press return.
6. A dialog will ask you if you want to save the new name. Click OK.
:mac:

Click to expand...

Is this a new feature in Tiger? 'Cause I don't seem to have this option in Panther. Panther only will maddeningly allow me to rename a folder by clicking once on the name on the file or folder (but not on the icon) and waiting about a half second. Then I have to use the keyboard to type a new name for the folder. I find this highly unintuitive. If this method is available in Tiger I think I'll be upgrading sooner than I thought I would.

Of course I can also do the bring-up-terminal-cd-to-folder method and use 'mv' to rename the file. I find that more intuitive, but why should I invoke a separate app just to rename a file? If I'm going to do that I prefer writing a bash script that will rename a bunch of files.

thanks alot for the help guys! makes my life easier

iFX said:

Well ive been using windows for a while and changing file / folder names is really easy.. u just right click and it gives u the "rename" option...

Why don't I see this for my Mac OS X... when i right click it doesnt give me the option to rename something... please tell me how I can change the files and folder names.

Also when I want to zip a file on my mac is makes me "Archive" it and it calls the zip file an archive.... that makes no sense for me... how can I change "Archive.zip" to say "FileX.zip" ?

Please help... all the users here have been really helpful so far.

Click to expand...

Nothing hard about it. Simply left click on the file and it highlights, click a second time and just type in the name you want the file to be.