Batch Renaming Clips and Renaming Clips

Pro Tools’ Batch Rename feature is strictly a “clip” operation—it updates clip names in the Clip List or Edit window but does not rename the underlying audio files on disk. By design, Batch Rename will create new subset-clip definitions when applied to trimmed or region-based clips, rather than renaming any whole-file clip or audio file. There is no preference to change this behavior. To actually rename disk files, you must follow one of the manual workarounds: reselect the clips and use the Rename command to push names to files, consolidate regions into whole-file clips before renaming, or use the Regions Bin’s rename function on whole-file entries.

Why Batch Rename Doesn’t Affect Disk Files

Batch Rename was built to operate on Clip definitions only, not on the audio files themselves. When you run Batch Rename on trimmed regions, Pro Tools treats each renamed item as a new subset clip rather than altering the original file definition  . There is no option in the Batch Rename dialog to switch it into a “file” rename mode  .

Manual Rename to Push Names to Disk

After you’ve batch-renamed your clips, you can push those names to the actual audio files:

• Re-select the clips you just renamed.

• Invoke the Rename command (Shift+⌘+R on macOS or Ctrl+Shift+R on Windows).

• For each clip, press Return/Enter to accept the new name and apply it to the file on disk  .

Consolidating to Create Whole-File Clips

If your clips are trimmed or only reference a portion of the audio file, Pro Tools will only rename the region. To rename the file on disk, you first need a whole-file clip:

• Select the region(s) you want to rename.

• Consolidate them into new audio files (Option+Shift+3 on macOS or Alt+Shift+3 on Windows).

• The new consolidated clips now represent entire files, so when you rename them (via Batch Rename or manual Rename), you can update the disk files  .

Renaming via the Regions Bin (Clip List)

Pro Tools’ Regions Bin (also called the Clip List) doubles as an audio file browser:

• Switch to Show > “Auto-Created” (or enable the Clip List).

• Select a whole-file clip entry (shown in bold) or multi-select several entries.

• Right-click and choose Rename from the context menu—the dialog will let you rename the clip and the file on disk  .

• Double-clicking a whole-file clip region (not a trimmed subset) with the Grabber tool also brings up a Rename dialog where you can opt to rename both clip and file  .

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While there’s no single “batch file rename” switch in Pro Tools, combining these methods lets you efficiently propagate new clip names to the actual audio files without leaving behind unwanted subset clips.