Aliasr
Batch renamer for macOSSafe by design100% on device
Rename hundreds of files. Never lose one.
Four hundred photos named IMG_0001. Aliasr stacks little rename rules and shows every name as Current to New before anything happens. Collisions are refused up front, renames run in two safe phases, and Command-Z puts the whole batch back.
v1.3.3 · macOS 13+, including 27 Golden Gate · Apple Silicon & Intel · Signed & notarized by Apple · No account
01 How it works
Drop. Stack. Preview. Apply.
Drop in your files
Drag files or a whole folder onto the window, or paste straight from Finder with ⌘V. Flip on include-subfolders and a folder brings everything beneath it too.
Stack your rules
Find & Replace, Insert, Remove, Change Case, Number, Date, Clean Up and Extension, in any order. Every rule card shows its own live before → after example. Save a stack as a preset.
Read the preview
Every file shows Current → New with the changed characters highlighted. If two names would collide, both rows light up and say exactly what they clash with. Apply refuses until it's resolved.
Apply, or take it back
Nothing on disk changes until you press ⌘↵ Apply. Renames run in two safe phases, and ⌘Z puts every name back exactly as it was.
02 Why it's safe
Built to never lose a file.
A batch renamer touches hundreds of files at once, so Aliasr treats every batch like a database transaction. Four layers of protection stand between your files and a bad rename.
The order decides the numbering
Sort by name, date taken, date modified, size, kind or folder. Every column header sorts, both directions. The Number rule counts along the list, so sorting by date is how a folder of camera files becomes 001, 002, 003 in the order you actually shot them. Names sort naturally too:
Not decoration
img2 before img10.Undo any batch, not just the last
Every Apply keeps its own record. Open the history and reverse the one from three batches ago without touching the two after it. Each is independent, and each puts every name back exactly.
⇧⌘Z
Rename from a list
Paste one name per line and they pair with the rows in the order shown, handy when the names come out of a spreadsheet. They arrive as hand-edited names, so they still go through the same collision checks as everything else.
Straight from a spreadsheet
Collisions refused before anything moves
On a Mac,
APFS-safe
Report.txt and report.txt are the same file name: renaming one onto the other destroys a file. Aliasr compares every new name case-insensitively and Unicode-normalized, exactly the way APFS does (café in NFC vs NFD included), and refuses to apply while any collision exists: with two outputs that clash, or with an existing file it isn't touching.Two-phase renames
Every rename goes through a unique temporary name before landing on its final one. Swaps (
Swaps & chains
a → b while b → a) and chains (a → b → c) that would destroy files in a naive renamer simply work: no ordering tricks, no lost files.Every batch undoable
Each Apply writes an undo log to disk before it finishes. Press ⌘Z (or click Undo) and every name in the batch goes back exactly as it was, even after you quit and relaunch the app.
⌘Z
Crash-recovery journal
Before touching a single file, Aliasr writes a write-ahead journal of the whole batch. If the app is force-quit (or the power goes out) mid-rename, the journal is replayed on the next launch and any half-renamed files are restored to their original names.
Power-loss proof
03 Features
Eight little rules. Any order. One preview.
Each rule transforms the name and hands it to the next. The extension stays untouched unless a rule targets it. Stack them however you like and watch every filename update live.
A stackable rule pipeline
Rules apply top to bottom, each transforming what the last one produced. Reorder them, toggle them, and every card shows a live example (
The headline
IMG_0001.jpg → photo_0001.jpg) computed from your actual first file.Find & Replace: plain or regex
Swap plain text, or bring a full regular expression with capture groups: write them as
Regex
$1, ${1}, ${name} or Python's \1, whichever you already have in your fingers. Match-case toggle, first-match or all-matches. The preview shows exactly what your pattern grabbed before you commit. A pattern that can't work says why, on the rule card, instead of quietly matching nothing.Number with templates
Build names from tokens:
{n} {name} {date}
{n} with start, step, and zero-padding, plus {name}, {ext}, {date} and {parent}. Count in digits, Roman numerals or letters. Numbering can restart in each folder when you're renaming a whole tree.Dates from EXIF or the file
For photos,
EXIF-aware
{date} reads the EXIF capture date, the moment the shutter fired, not the day you copied the card. For everything else, the file's created or modified date, formatted with a pattern like YYYY-MM-DD.Clean Up messy names
Collapse runs of whitespace, turn spaces into underscores or dashes, strip accents and diacritics, or keep only web-safe characters: the one-click fix for names that came out of a scanner, a download, or 2009. Or pick Windows-safe, which removes only what Windows and USB drives actually reject and leaves accents and non-Latin scripts alone:
One click
café.txt stays café.txt.Case & extension rules
lowercase, UPPERCASE, Title Case or Sentence case for names; lowercase, normalize (
jpeg → jpg) or change outright for extensions. Insert and Remove rules handle prefixes, suffixes, positions and ranges.A preview that shows its work
The Current → New table bolds just the characters your rules actually changed, so a subtle edit (one digit, one accent) is impossible to miss. Nothing on disk changes until you press Apply.
Diff highlighting
Find one file in four hundred
A filter box above the list narrows it as you type, and it folds accents, so
Accent-insensitive
cafe finds Café and lodz finds Łódź. It matches the folder as well as the name. It only hides rows: every file in the list is still renamed, exactly as the preview says.Show in Finder
The thing you want most right after a rename is to look at the result. One button in the file-list header (or ⌘R) opens the folder and selects the whole batch.
⌘R
It tells you when a file would disappear
A name starting with a dot is perfectly legal and occasionally exactly what you want, but Finder hides the result, so the file appears to vanish. Aliasr still allows it, and says so on the row before you apply.
Hidden-name warning
Conflicts you can actually fix
A collision doesn't just turn a row red: hover or focus it and Aliasr highlights every row in the cluster and names exactly what it collides with, sibling file or existing on-disk file. The red blocker becomes a to-do list.
Which rows clash
Hand-override any single name
Double-click a New name and type exactly what you want. That row is pinned and skips the rule stack until you revert it. Overrides go through the same validity and conflict checks as everything else.
Pinned rows
Whole folders, subfolders too
Drop a folder and get its files; flip on include-subfolders and get the whole tree, each file renamed in place inside its own folder. Folders themselves are never renamed, only files, only the ones you can see in the preview. When a batch spans more than one folder, every row says which folder it is in, so a dozen files all called
In place
IMG_1234.jpg are a dozen distinguishable rows, and conflicts are worked out per folder, so two identical-looking rows can both be perfectly safe.Presets for rule stacks
Built the perfect photo-import pipeline (date, parent folder, counter, clean-up)? Save the whole stack as a preset and replay it next month in one click.
100% on your Mac
Aliasr only ever sees the files you add, and everything happens locally: no account, no cloud, no usage analytics, nothing uploaded. The only network call is the update check.
Privacy
Light and dark, properly
The whole window follows your Mac's appearance (preview table, rule cards, badges and all) with contrast that stays readable in both.
Speaks your language
Aliasr's interface comes in 13 languages (German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Turkish and Simplified Chinese), with an in-app picker that auto-detects your Mac's language and switches anytime. Names sort in whichever one you pick, so an accented file lands where you would look for it.
13 languages
Signed & notarized
Opens with a normal double-click: no "unidentified developer" warning, no Open Anyway, no Terminal. Signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple. One universal build for Apple Silicon and Intel.
No warnings
Built for everyone
Keyboard-driven end to end (add with ⌘O, apply with ⌘↵, undo with ⌘Z, remove rows with ⌫), with VoiceOver labels that announce each row's status and WCAG 2.1 AA contrast in both light and dark.
WCAG 2.1 AA
A macOS menu bar with what you look for first
Settings, Check for Updates and License under the Aliasr menu; Add files, Choose Folder, Copy new names, Show in Finder and Remove all under File; and Aliasr Help, Keyboard shortcuts and Report a Problem under Help.
New in 1.3.0
Quick Look and a right-click menu on the list
Space previews the focused file the way Finder does. Right-click, or ⇧F10 on a focused row, opens that row's actions: edit the name, Quick Look, show it in Finder, revert a hand-edit, remove it from the list.
New in 1.3.0
04 The rules
Find & Replace · regex
Insert
Remove
Change Case
Number / {n} templates
Date: EXIF or filesystem
Clean Up
Extension
Every rule shows its work. Type a replacement and watch the changed characters highlight in every New name. Nothing on disk moves until you press Apply.
06 Pricing
Free. For everyone.
Aliasr is free for everyone, at home and at work. No license, no account, no nag screens, no watermarks, ever.
Personal
Free forever
For individuals and personal projects
- The full app, every feature
- No account, no nag screens
- Free updates forever
At work
Free commercial too
No license, no subscription
- Everything in Personal
- Use it commercially at work, free
- No license to buy, ever
- Free updates forever
Aliasr is free for everyone, including commercial use at work. There is no license to buy and no subscription. The same app runs on the Mac and Windows builds.
07 Download & install
Get set up in seconds.
Download the app and drag it into Applications. That's it. No Terminal, no Homebrew, no sign-up.
Version 1.3.3 · Released October 16, 2026 · Free updates forever
macOS 13 Ventura or later, including macOS 27 Golden Gate · Apple Silicon or Intel
Everything Aliasr needs is built right into the app: no Python to install, no Homebrew, nothing else to set up. One universal build runs natively on Apple Silicon and Intel.
Opens with a double-click
Aliasr is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple, so it opens cleanly the first time: no
Open Anyway trip through System Settings, no Terminal. Open the DMG, drag Aliasr into Applications, and launch it.Your originals are safe
Nothing is renamed until you press
Apply, every batch is undoable with ⌘Z, and a crash-recovery journal protects the batch even if the power goes out mid-rename.Check the file you downloaded
Aliasr is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple, and macOS checks that every time you open it. That is the check that catches a file altered on its way to you. To confirm it yourself, compare the SHA-256 of your copy with the one published for the
Aliasr.dmg this page serves.SHA-256 checksum
Published checksum
Run this on your download and compare
shasum -a 256 ~/Downloads/Aliasr.dmg
Or have your Mac compare them for you: save Aliasr.dmg.sha256 beside the download and run shasum -a 256 -c Aliasr.dmg.sha256.
08 FAQ
Common questions.
Is Aliasr really free?
Personal use is free forever: every rule, unlimited files, no account, no trial timer, no nag screens. It is free for commercial use at work too, with no license to buy and no account.
Can Aliasr overwrite or lose a file?
That's the one thing it's built never to do. Before anything moves, Aliasr checks every new name against every other one (case-insensitively and Unicode-normalized, the way APFS actually compares names) and refuses to apply while any collision exists. The renames themselves run in two phases through unique temporary names, so even swaps (
a → b while b → a) and chains can't collide mid-flight.What if I don't like the result?
Press ⌘Z. Every Apply writes an undo log to disk first, and one undo puts every name in the batch back exactly as it was, even after you quit and relaunch.
What happens if my Mac crashes mid-batch?
Each batch is protected by a write-ahead journal that's saved before any file is touched. If Aliasr (or your whole Mac) dies partway through, the journal is replayed on the next launch and any half-renamed files are restored to their original names.
Does Aliasr upload my files anywhere?
No. Renaming happens entirely on your Mac. Your files and their names are never uploaded, and there is no account and no usage analytics. The only time Aliasr contacts our server is to check for updates, which sends the app version.
Can I use regular expressions?
Yes. Find & Replace and Remove both take plain text or a full regular expression, with a match-case toggle and first-match/all-matches control. The live preview shows exactly what your pattern matched before you commit to anything.
How does numbering work?
Add a Number/Template rule and build the name from tokens:
{n} with start, step, and zero-padding, plus {name}, {ext}, {date} and {parent}. A template like {date} {parent} {n} turns IMG_4021.jpg into 2026-07-04 Yosemite 001.jpg. With subfolders included, numbering can restart in each folder.Where does {date} come from?
For photos, from the EXIF DateTimeOriginal, the moment the shutter actually fired. For everything else, or when EXIF is missing, the file's created or modified date. You choose the format with a pattern like
YYYY-MM-DD.Can I rename files inside subfolders?
Yes. Turn on include-subfolders and dropping a folder pulls in the files beneath it too. Each file is renamed in place inside its own folder, and folders themselves are never renamed.
Can I hand-edit just one name?
Double-click any New name (or press Enter) and type exactly what you want. That row is pinned and skips the rule stack until you revert it, and overrides still go through the same conflict checks, so a hand-typed collision is refused like any other.
Will macOS warn me about an unidentified developer?
No. Aliasr is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple, so it opens with a normal double-click the first time: no Open Anyway trip through System Settings, no Terminal.
How do I update Aliasr?
Aliasr updates itself. It checks about once a week and, when a new version is out, shows you what changed and offers to install it in place. The download is signature-checked, and one that doesn't verify is refused. You can also check on demand, turn the automatic check off in the update panel, or download the DMG from this page and drag it into Applications yourself. Your presets and settings carry over.