How to rename files with F2 in Finder on Mac

Why F2 doesn’t rename anything on a Mac

On Windows, F2 is the rename key: select a file, press F2, type the new name. Finder was built around a different key. On a Mac you select a file and press Return, and the name turns into a text field. That surprises nearly everyone who switches, because on Windows Return opens the file — on a Mac, opening is ⌘O or ⌘↓.

There’s a second reason F2 seems dead. On Apple keyboards the top row starts out as media keys, so F1 and F2 change the screen brightness rather than sending F1 and F2 to the app in front. Even an app that did listen for F2 would never see it unless you hold fn (the Globe key on newer keyboards) or change a setting. On many keyboards made for Windows, F2 arrives as F2 — and Finder still ignores it.

Every way to rename a file in Finder

Return. Select the file and press Return. The name is selected apart from the extension, so you can type straight over it. Press Return again to save, or Esc to leave the name as it was.

Click the name. Click a file to select it, wait a moment, then click its name once more. The name becomes editable. Clicking too quickly counts as a double-click and opens the file instead.

Use the menu. Control-click the file and choose Rename, or choose File → Rename in the menu bar.

Use Get Info. Select the file and press ⌘I. The Name & Extension field in the window that opens changes the name, and it’s the place to see a file’s full extension even when Finder hides it.

Rename a batch at once. Select several files, Control-click one of them and choose Rename. Finder offers to replace text in every name, add text before or after, or give them all one name followed by a number or the date. It’s built into Finder and handles most bulk renames people reach for a separate app to do.

Made a mistake? ⌘Z straight after a rename puts the old name back.

When the rename doesn’t do what you expect

You changed the extension and Finder asks about it. Renaming “report.txt” to “report.md” makes Finder ask whether to keep .txt or use .md, because the extension decides which app opens the file. Changing it doesn’t convert anything inside the file. To see every file’s extension, open Finder → Settings → Advanced and turn on Show all filename extensions.

The name won’t become editable. Usually the file is locked, or sits somewhere you can only read — a disk image, a shared folder, a file someone else owns. Press ⌘I: the Locked checkbox and Sharing & Permissions show which it is.

F2 changes the brightness instead. Hold fn (or Globe) with F2. To make the top row act as F1, F2 and so on without fn, open System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Function Keys and turn on “Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys”. Brightness and volume then need fn instead.

Letters come out twice as you type the new name. That’s the keyboard rather than Finder: a worn or dirty key can register one press as two. Filter out the double letters explains how to tell, and what fixes it.

Saving a copied picture as a file

The other half of this fix answers a question that sounds like it should be simple: you copied a picture — from a web page, a chat, a screenshot taken with Control held down — and you want it as a file in a folder. Press ⌘V in Finder and nothing happens, because Finder pastes files, and a copied picture is not a file yet.

macOS’s way is Preview. Open Preview and choose File → New from Clipboard (⌘N). The picture opens as a new, untitled document; choose File → Save, pick the folder and a format such as PNG or JPEG, and you have your file. It works every time; it just takes a trip through another app and a save dialog.

For screenshots, skip the clipboard. ⇧⌘4 and ⇧⌘3 save the screenshot straight to a file (on the Desktop, unless you chose another place under Options in the ⇧⌘5 screenshot toolbar). Only when you hold Control as well does it go to the clipboard instead. And if you just want a picture from a web page, you can usually drag it from the browser into a Finder window, and it’s saved there.

With MacFixes, ⌘V in a Finder window saves the copied picture into the folder you’re looking at, as a PNG called “Pasted image …”, and selects it, so you can press F2 (or Return) and give it a real name straight away. When what you copied is a file rather than a picture, ⌘V pastes the file as usual, and while you’re typing a name or a search, ⌘V pastes text as usual.

What the fix changes, and why it asks for two permissions

In Finder, F2 now does what Return does: it starts renaming the selected file. Return still works too. While a name is already being edited, or you’re typing in the search field, F2 and ⌘V go to that field as normal, so nothing gets in the way of typing.

To save a picture in the right place, MacFixes asks Finder which folder its front window is showing. Asking another app a question like that is what macOS’s Automation permission covers, and seeing the key presses is what Accessibility covers; the section below says what each allows and where to take it back.

Moving files has the same Windows-shaped gap: ⌘X does nothing to a file in Finder. Cut and paste files with ⌘X and ⌘V is the fix for that.

Permissions, and turning it off

More fixes macOS doesn’t give you

One of 47 fixes and 10 apps in MacFixes. Every fix · Every app · Something else your Mac won’t do? Request it.