How to Change Default New Folder Name in Windows 10

Windows 10 is undoubtedly one of the most popular operating systems by Microsoft. The seamless interface and the ease of discovery of every feature have added to its popularity.

However, even though most of the features are pretty much up-front, it must be mentioned here that people sometimes find it a bit difficult to get going. So, we would try to make sure that we can do away with one particular problem, which we have seen quite a few issues.

We would be addressing how exactly you can change the name of a default new folder name in Windows 10. We would try to make sure that we are as elaborate as you can to help you understand the functionality. So, let us get started!

How to Change the Default New Folder Name in the Registry

In Windows 10, if you are willing to change the folder name, you would have to change the same in the Windows Registry. However, before we get into that, we would request you to please make sure that whenever you tweak your Windows Registry, be careful with every edit you make. This is because any wrong modification can potentially harm your computer. 

We would, however, like to assure you here that our guide would make sure that you face no issue. Please make sure that you follow our instructions with the utmost care so that you do not mess up! So, let’s get started!

Step 1: Press the Windows+R keys. The Run box would instantly open up towards the left corner of the screen; in the text box that you would see in the Run box, type “regedit” and click on Enter. On the contrary, if you want to get going from the start menu, Click on the Start-Up menu. In the options that open up, type “regedit” in the search part, and then press Enter.

Step 2: Once the Registry Editor opens, then click on “HKEY_CURRENT_USER” then on “SOFTWARE” then “Microsoft” and then “Windows” here choose “CurrentVersion” and finally “Explorer“. Well, if you can’t find the options, then you might just well put in the below path into the address box:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

Step 3: Now that you are inside the explorer, select the “NamingTemplates” directory under explorer on the left panel. In case you do not see the directory, then right-click on the Explorer directory and then select New, and from the options, select Key. While creating the new Key, make sure that the name you give to this key is “NamingTemplates.”

Step 4: Now select the “NamingTemplates” from the left panel. A blank screen would appear—Right-click on any part of the white screen. From the drop-down options, select New, and again from the options, select String Value. Name the string value as “RenameNameTemplate” and then press Enter.

Step 5: Double click on the “RenameNameTemplate” that you just created and open it. An “Edit String” window would appear on the screen. In the text field under Value Data, enter the text that you want to have as your default new folder name. For example, you might wish to have every folder as “New Folder Created” instead of “My New Folder” which is the default setting. Once you are done with this, click on the OK button. 

Note: One important thing that you would have to note here is that you would not be able to use the following characters in the default folder name: \ / ? : *”> < | ‘.

Step 6: Close the Registry Editor Window.

Once you are done with the above process, every time you open a new folder, the name of the folder would be what you have just set. This means that you can now change your default folder name whenever needed. Now that you have the perfect idea about changing the default name of a new folder, you definitely can change it anytime you wish to.

It must be mentioned here that the above changes that were supposed to apply only to the folders would also reflect on other files. If you create a text file, then in all probability, the name of the file would be the same with a different extension.

To help ensure that you do not end up with these issues, make sure that you put “%s” after the new folder text in the string value. 

This “%s” that you put in would help ensure that the files would have the name that they originally had and would just prefix the text you had chosen as the default.  

Use the Current Date as the Default Name for New Folders

Now that you know how exactly you can change the name of the default folder. You might wish to name every new folder with the current date mostly if you are someone who loves to arrange folders by dates. 

In this section, we would try to make sure that you would not face any issues when you try the same. Once again, we would try to help you with the steps you would need and request you to please follow them strictly to not to face any issue with your system.

Even before we get started with the settings, we need to make sure that the date format is required. This is because you can use the date only with hyphens as separators. So, let’s get started on this.

Click on the Start menu. In the search button, type “Settings” and click on enter. Open the Settings. In case you love shortcuts, the shortcut for Settings is Windows+i.

In the settings menu, click on the “Time & Language” option. Once this option opens, select the “Region” section, which is present on the left-hand side. Once you click on “Region” you would get a window with the “Change data formats” option. Here now select the date format that comes with hyphens.

Now you are set to start changing your folder default names.

Step 1: Press the Windows+r key on your keyboard. The run box would appear on the bottom-left. Much like the first process, you would need to type in “regedit” and click on enter. You might instead open the same through the search box, which is present in the Start button.

Step 2: Now that you are in the Registry Editor, click on “HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT” from here, select “Directory”, and then finally “shell”. You might also copy-paste the following address on the address bar:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell

Step 3: Right-click on the directory, “shell“, and then select New; from the options, select “Key” and Enter the Key name as “Folder” and save the same.

Step 4: Now, you would have to right-click on the “Folder” key and then again select New. From the options, once again select Key.  The Key name should be “command” and save the key.

Step 5: Select the “command” key you just created and present on the left bar. Then double-click on “Default” on the right-pane. The Edit String box would open up.

Step 6: In the Edit String box that opens, change the text box of the “Value data” field with the following and then click on “OK”:

cmd.exe /c md “%1/%%DATE%%” 

Now you are done! So, you might well close the Registry Editor window.

To check out this change, you would need to restart your Windows Explorer. So, let us help you with the same. 

Right-click on the bottom bar of your screen (Taskbar). From the list of options that comes up, select “Task Manager“.  The shortcut for the “Task Manager” is Ctrl+Shift+Esc.

On the process tab, click on the “Windows Explorer” then, click on Restart on the bottom right. Now that the explorer is restarted, you should check if the changes you looked to implement are affected.

To check it, you would have to try different from the first method discussed. To check if the folders have the current date as the folder name, you would have to right-click on the folder inside which you want to create the folder with the present date. From the drop-down, select folder. This folder would have the current date as the name of the folder.

How to Bring Back the Original Default Folder Name

In case you want to restore the original folder names, you can do that too. It would be simple. Simply follow the steps as above and delete the changes that you made. Once you are in an entry, right-click on the same and select Delete to delete the Windows Registry entry.

With that, we hope you would be able to change the default name of the folders. You can set them in exactly every possible way so that you can have the best out of it. We have also helped you with the possible way you can get the folder name back to the default option so that you have no problem getting back to the default option. 

Signing Off

So, with that, we would hope that you would not have any more confusion on the process that you would need to change the default name. However, if you still have any queries or suggestions, please feel free to comment below.