In windows explorer you can easily rename, inline, a group of files using TAB key. This is very helpful when renaming a bunch of files where you can't use any pattern to batch rename. Here's a couple of videos demonstrating this behavior: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BntM6Zyznvk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEX7wOJkueA
You can use the bulk-renamer to rename many files. You dont need a patter to do so. I think it is much more intuitive than having to press a special key and as well provides more possibilities. Select files --> rename Pick "insert/overwrite" and than "insert" and "from the left" Add the desired string and than press "rename Files" If I have overlooked something, please feel free to reopen !
What if there's no string? For example: 1. You have a bunch of photos and you want to rename them like: "Me at the beach", "Me at x party" etc... 2. Some movies/tv series don't play on my TV if they have long names, so just to be safe i rename them like 1.mkv, 1.srt; 2.mkv, 2.srt etc... 3. Even when you have a string and just like 10-20 files is easier to use the tab key than the current method. Using the TAB key to switch to next file makes this kind of tasks easier and faster.
For 1. In the bulk renamer pick "Numbering", "only Name", and e.g. write "Me at the beach" as text. That's it. For 2. same as 1. For 3. I dont agree. Why you think it is easier ? How a user should know that the tab-key does such a thing ? It is not very obvious. Per default rename in thunar is bound to "F2". You can change that by modifying the file: ~/.config/Thunar/accels.scm You can change the key with e.g: (gtk_accel_path "<Actions>/ThunarStandardView/rename" "r") "Tab" currently is used for switching between toolbar, files-window and sidebar ... if you want to make use of "Tab" for renaming, you first somehow need to remove the default bind. ( Did not find how that can be done so far .. but that's a different issue ) What could be improved IMO: In the rename dialog a button "rename all" could be added which opens the bulk-renamer with the settings from 1.
This report is invalid as pointed out by Alex in two extensive comments.