PowerRename not keeping the correct order of files? (Always alphabetises)

[nirurin]

Microsoft PowerToys version

0.81.1

Installation method

GitHub

Running as admin

Yes

Area(s) with issue?

PowerRename

Steps to reproduce

This picture says it all really. From what I could find from old reports on this github, the expected behaviour to get the list to be in the correct (explorer folder) order, is to select-all files and then right-click just the first file in the order and select power renamer. But no matter what I do, it always shows the files all in alphabetical order.

✔️ Expected Behavior

Files should be shown in folder order.

❌ Actual Behavior

Files are always alphabetical.

Other Software

Windows 11. 23H2.

[github-actions[bot]]

Hi I'm an AI powered bot that finds similar issues based off the issue title.

Please view the issues below to see if they solve your problem, and if the issue describes your problem please consider closing this one and thumbs upping the other issue to help us prioritize it. Thank you!

Open similar issues:

• PowerRename Does Not Keep File Sorting Order (#28468), similarity score: 0.87
• [PowerRename] Adjust sorting for numeric named files (#12508), similarity score: 0.82

Closed similar issues:

• PowerRename (PowerToys) tool does not respect any File Explorer sort order (#14114), similarity score: 0.84
• Files order changed when I used PowerRename. (#11640), similarity score: 0.84
• PowerRename tries to sort items, but a few of them are misplaced (#14417), similarity score: 0.82

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[AssemblerAce]

Yes, this is a definite bug, which seems to have been around for a long time. It is especially a problem when one is doing enumeration. PowerRename should accept the file order VERBATIM as passed from File Explorer. Some prominent examples of where it currently goes wrong (and enumeration is compromised): • If the files are sorted according to metadata (e.g. Track # in music/video); • If the filenames contain (and should be ordered by) Roman Numerals; • If the files are ordered (and must be enumerated) by date and time [Several options available here, e.g. created, modified, etc.); • If the files are sorted in reverse order (and must be enumerated accordingly).

It would be virtually impossible for PowerRename to be able to accommodate all of these different sorting orders, therefore it should just accept the file order VERBATIM as it passed from File Explorer (or similar program), and not ever attempt to re-order.

[ethanfangg]

/dup https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/issues/28468

[microsoft-github-policy-service[bot]]

Hi! We've identified this issue as a duplicate of another one that already exists on this Issue Tracker. This specific instance is being closed in favor of tracking the concern over on the referenced thread. Thanks for your report!