Is there a way that I can update all files in a particular folder to the newest release of Inventor (2012) at one time? Similar to a batch process in photoshop?
First, the term for the process you're referring to is "Migrate", rather than "Update." If you start looking for information using the word "Update", you're going to be finding the wrong stuff.
Look into the Task Scheduler that installs with Inventor. File migration is one of the available built-in tasks you can set up for automation with it.
Task scheduler
+ expand>To migrate data using the migration utility
Thanks.