# Direct renaming of files

**URL:** <https://discourse.jabref.org/t/direct-renaming-of-files/1585>\
**Category:** Features\
**Created:** [April 3, 2019, 9:28am UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/direct-renaming-of-files/1585 "2019-04-03T09:28:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 10\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![harpax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba9def/32.png) [@harpax](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/harpax)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 9:28am UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/direct-renaming-of-files/1585/1 "2019-04-03T09:28:47Z")

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Hello everybody,

Is it possible to add (or to point it out, if i missed it) the function of arbitrary renaming of attached files directly from JabRef. So that it won’t be needed to edit both file name and corresponding entry.

Thank you

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**Author:** ![Siedlerchr](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.jabref.org/siedlerchr/32/216_2.png) [@Siedlerchr](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/Siedlerchr)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 11:44am UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/direct-renaming-of-files/1585/2 "2019-04-03T11:44:46Z")

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Hi,

you can specify a filename pattern in the settings and then either right click on the file -\> Rename  
or you can specify a cleanup operation “rename files” which does this for the files from the selected entries.

[http://help.jabref.org/en/CleanupEntries](http://help.jabref.org/en/CleanupEntries)  
Regards  
Christoph

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**Author:** ![harpax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba9def/32.png) [@harpax](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/harpax)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 11:55am UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/direct-renaming-of-files/1585/3 "2019-04-03T11:55:04Z")

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Thanks, Christoph. Unfortunately both these methods are batch methods. What I’m asking about is a possibility to directly assign given filename to the attached file via JabRef interface without creating some new pattern which I won’t use for other files.

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**Author:** ![Siedlerchr](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.jabref.org/siedlerchr/32/216_2.png) [@Siedlerchr](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/Siedlerchr)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 11:58am UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/direct-renaming-of-files/1585/4 "2019-04-03T11:58:42Z")

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Hm, well simply rename the file at the file system and re attach it to the entry?  
Sorry, I am currently having problems understanding your workflow

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**Author:** ![harpax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba9def/32.png) [@harpax](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/harpax)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 12:05pm UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/direct-renaming-of-files/1585/5 "2019-04-03T12:05:28Z")

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That’s exactly what I’m doing. Either this or editing the corresponding field in .bitex file after renaming the attached file. But it would be nice just to make a right click on entry and have “rename attached file” option, which would only require to enter new name once.

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**Author:** ![Siedlerchr](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.jabref.org/siedlerchr/32/216_2.png) [@Siedlerchr](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/Siedlerchr)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 12:08pm UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/direct-renaming-of-files/1585/6 "2019-04-03T12:08:25Z")

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Wait, if you do a double click on the file in the general tab you can modify the name I think

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**Author:** ![harpax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba9def/32.png) [@harpax](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/harpax)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 12:20pm UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/direct-renaming-of-files/1585/7 "2019-04-03T12:20:04Z")

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Unfortunately, no. This action leads to pop-up window in which you can edit file link, but the file itself should be renamed separately.

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**Author:** ![Siedlerchr](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.jabref.org/siedlerchr/32/216_2.png) [@Siedlerchr](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/Siedlerchr)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 12:22pm UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/direct-renaming-of-files/1585/8 "2019-04-03T12:22:11Z")

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I then would say, please open an issue (enhanment)

> **[JabRef/jabref](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref)**
>
> Graphical Java application for managing BibTeX and biblatex (.bib) databases - JabRef/jabref

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**Author:** ![harpax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba9def/32.png) [@harpax](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/harpax)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 12:53pm UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/direct-renaming-of-files/1585/9 "2019-04-03T12:53:18Z")

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Ok, did it. Thank you.

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**Author:** ![i\_ngli](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.jabref.org/i_ngli/32/677_2.png) [@i\_ngli](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/i_ngli)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 5:11pm UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/direct-renaming-of-files/1585/10 "2020-05-03T17:11:59Z")

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The current jabref master version has solved this issue. I am just mentioning this because the feature request has not been marked here as already implemented.