Rename

Rename renames the file or folder under the cursor by editing its name in place in the file list — no dialog. A failed rename offers Retry, so the name you typed is never thrown away just because another program had the file open.

For moving a file somewhere else, or renaming and moving in one step, use Move (F6). Rename deliberately refuses paths.

Usage

1. Put the cursor on a file or folder.
2. Press Shift+F6 — or run Rename from the command palette, or pick Rename from the file's right-click menu.
3. The name becomes an editable field in place, with part of it preselected.
4. Type the new name and press Enter. Esc cancels.

After a successful rename the cursor follows the item to its new name.

Commands

Command name	Palette label	Default key	Shown when
rename	Rename	Shift+F6	something is under the cursor

It is also in the right-click menu of any item, file or folder. It is deliberately absent from the menu you get on empty space in a pane, where there is nothing to rename.

What gets preselected

• For a file, everything up to the extension, so typing replaces the base name and keeps .txt. The double extensions .tar.gz, .tar.xz and .pkg.tar.xz count as one extension.
• For a folder, the whole name — folders have no extension to protect.

When it refuses

• A name containing a path separator, or .. or ., is refused with "Relative paths are not supported. Please use Move (F6) instead." On Windows both \ and / count.
• A name that already exists is refused with "<name> already exists!" — rename never silently overwrites. Move is the command that asks about overwriting.
• An empty or unchanged name does nothing at all, silently.

Case-only renames do work: Foo to foo is not treated as "already exists", even on a case-insensitive filesystem.

Retry on failure

If the rename fails, the alert offers Retry (the default, so Enter retries) and Cancel:

Access was denied trying to rename pdf-to-jpg to _old_pdf-to-jpg.
                    [ Retry ]  [ Cancel ]

Retry re-attempts the same rename with the same target name. The usual cause is another program holding the file or folder open — an editor, a terminal sitting in that directory, a git GUI. Close it, press Enter, done. Cancel and Esc both give up.

A permission failure produces the "Access was denied" wording above; any other failure says "Could not rename X to Y." Both offer Retry.

Notes

• Usually instant. The new name always lands in the same directory, so on a local filesystem the progress dialog never gets a chance to appear.
• Inside an archive it is real work. 7-Zip rewrites the archive, with a progress bar and a working Cancel.