Does anyone know of a free utility to export file names from a Windows folder?

Question

I'm in Windows XP and I'm trying to copy the filenames from documents in my folder so that I can paste the filenames (not the files themselves) into Word. I know about using alt +printscreen to take a snapshot, but I need it as editable text. I also know about copying the filenames one by one but this is too slow. I have also used TreesizePro in the past to do this but the free version doesn't allow you to do it.

Answer 1

You don't need a special program you just need to use a little DOS magic. Go to start>Program>Accessories>Command Prompt

In the command prompt windows switch to folder you want to print your list from... for example if you want to print a list from your My Documents folder type in:

cd my documents

Your command prompt will now be in your my documents folder then type the following command

dir> myfiles.txt

This will create a file listing of the same name in your my documents folder (it is now editable)

If the folder is a sub folder of my documents you just keep repeating the cd "foldername" until your reach the folder you want

Good luck

Answer 2

I think what you want to do is print the contents of a folder -- you don't mention what version of Office you have and it makes a difference.

I was able to do this with Outlook 2000 but so far have not found how to do it with Outlook 2003.

How can I print a list of the contents of any folder?

Article contributed by Terry Farrell and Beth Melton

Sometimes you may want to print a list of the files you see in the File, Open dialog or a map of the files in Windows Explorer. Frustratingly, Microsoft didn't add this simple facility.

If you have Outlook
However, if you have Microsoft Outlook, MS have given you a back door for printing any file list.

1.
Open Outlook and make sure that the Outlook Bar is active (View, Outlook Bar)

2.
Click on Other Shortcuts at the bottom of the Outlook Bar. By default, it will have icons for My Computer, My Documents and Favourites

3.
Select My Documents. This will present you with a Details list of your My Documents folder. Using the View, Current View menu you can completely customise this view to show exactly what you want, adjust the default column widths until the printable display is perfect for your requirement. You can even sort the display into File Types.

4.
Use File, Print to print it.

5.
You can add shortcuts directly to any folder (on Local or Network drives) by dragging the item from the Folder List to the Outlook Bar.

6.
You can also customize the view using the Field Chooser:

a)
Right-click a column heading and select “Field Chooser” Change the display to “All File Fields” and then drag/drop the fields you want to see. To remove a field just drag it off or right-click and select “Remove this field”.

b)
You can add/remove various fields from the View such as Application, (this will display specific Word version), File Properties; Printed, Author, Words, Lines, Pages, User Defined Fields, Hyperlink Base, Template, etc.

c)
Under the View menu you can use the Filter command to further customize your view.

d)
A quick way to save a view you modified is to switch to another view and when prompted select “Save current settings as a new view”.


7.
If you want to select just a particular type of file to list and print, use View, Current View and check By File Type. You can then expand the view for the file type required (and collapse all others), Highlight the expanded selections and choose File, Print, Only Selected Rows,


If you don't have Outlook
Assuming your default printer is captured to LPT1, you can use the following method that appeared as a tip in the December 2000 issue of PC World.

“Here's an easy way to print a list of the files contained in a folder from inside Windows Explorer. Launch Notepad, then type dir %1 > lpt1: and press . Now type cls on the second line, but don't press .

“There must be nothing – not even a blank line – after ‘cls’. Save the two-line file in your ‘C:\Windows\SendTo’ folder as printdir.bat. Now when you want to make a printout of the files in a folder, make sure your printer is on, right-click the folder in Windows Explorer, and select Send To | print.dir.bat.”

This will print a DOS (text-only) listing of the files in the directory rather than the graphical list Outlook offers.

If you are using a network printer and haven't already done so, you will need to capture LPT1 and assign it to the printer in order to be able to use the above method. To do so, select Start | Settings | Printer; right-click on your printer and select “Properties”; on the “Details” tab, where it says “Print to the following port”, copy the name of the print queue (Ctrl+C). Then click on the “Capture printer port” button, select LTPT1 under “Device”, paste the queue name in under “Path” (by pressing Ctrl+V), and press OK.

See also: How to get the names of all the folders in the folder tree, starting from a specified folder.