Computer Tips From A Computer Guy

Copy File Names from Windows Explorer to a Text List

Posted: 27 Mar 2011 04:53 AM PDT

If you have a list of file names in a directory you want to copy to a spreadsheet or text document, normally you would copy and paste each name individually. However, you can easily copy all file names to a text document for free using the command prompt in Windows. No need to download other software.

Every Windows operating system lets you have access to the command prompt to run various commands. Why use other software, when you already have a useful directory printing tool installed?

Open Command Prompt

Go to Start and select All Programs. Choose Accessories and select Command Prompt. In Windows XP and earlier, you can also go to Start, select Run and type cmd.exe. Press Enter to open the command prompt.

If you have Windows Vista or higher, you may not be able to run the command prompt under your user name. If you have any problems with the remaining steps or opening the command prompt, close the command prompt (if open), right click Command Prompt within the Accessories menu and choose Run as administrator. This will let you correctly run command prompt commands.

Type cd\ at the first prompt. This lets you change the directory.

Next, type the following, but use the directory you want to print the file list for: dir c:\directory path /b >list.

Just a few things to keep in mind. Directory Path must be replaced with the full path name. For instance, to access something in your My Documents folder, you would use the following path: c:\users\username\my documents. Your list is saved under the main C:\ directory. You can open it by going to My Computer and double-clicking the C:\ drive. It should be listed near the end of the file list.

The final file should look similar to the following:

The file opens in Notepad, which is a universal program for text editing which is pre-installed on all Windows systems. The creates a compatible list that almost every system can open.

You can then copy the list to any other program. For instance, if you need the file list in Excel, press Ctrl plus A to select all file names. Press Ctrl plus C to copy the text. Open Excel and press Ctrl plus V to copy each name in a separate cell.

If you just want to print a list of all files and folders in a certain directory, you can use free software to create an HTML table or print the listing to a text file.