Rename Shapes

Location on ribbon: Tab DVD Addin → Group Graphics → Menu Shape Menu

Command ID: btnRenameShapes

What it does

This command renames many shapes on the active sheet at once from a two-column mapping table: old names on the left, new names on the right. The add-in walks each row and renames the matching shape.

Shapes named by Excel (Rectangle 27, Oval 143…) are useless to any command that works by name. Giving them a systematic naming scheme — by grid line, by zone, by work code — is what makes progress colouring, coordinate extraction and formula-driven shape control possible afterwards.

How to use

1. Open the sheet holding the shapes (the command affects the active sheet only).
2. Build a two-column table on the worksheet: left = old name, right = new name.
3. Go to tab DVD Addin → group Graphics → menu Shape Menu → click Rename Shapes.
4. Excel's range picker appears with the prompt "Select 2-col range: old shape name (left), new shape name (right)". Drag over the table and click OK.
5. When it finishes, a toast reports "Renamed N shapes".

Example

A foundation layout pasted into Excel arrives with Excel's default shape names. After running List Shapes to get the old-name column, you fill in the new names using pile-cap codes:

P (Old name)	Q (New name)
Rectangle 12	PC_A1
Rectangle 13	PC_A2
Rectangle 14	PC_B1

Select P5:Q40 in the picker and click OK — every shape now carries its pile-cap code and is ready for Color Shapes.

Notes

• Old names must match the shape names on the active sheet exactly; rows with no matching shape are skipped silently, with no individual error.
• Rows where either the old or the new name cell is empty are skipped.
• Shape names should be unique within a sheet; duplicates mean name-based commands only ever find the first one.
• Hold ESC to stop midway; shapes already renamed keep their new names.
• The rename cannot be undone with Ctrl + Z — keep the old-name column so you can reverse the mapping if needed.

Related

• List Shapes — dump the current shape names onto the sheet to build the "old name" column.
• Color Shapes — the next step: map the new names to colour codes driven by progress.
• Get Position — read shape coordinates by name once the naming is standardised.