Print Folder List

Here’s a nifty little trick for creating a text file listing of the contents of a folder, without using any extra software. Step one is to note down the path and name of the folder concerned; if it’s a long one, click on the folder icon in Windows Explorer so that it’s displayed in the address box, then right-click on it and select Copy. Now open a command window by going to Run (XP) or Search (Vista) on the Start menu and type ‘cmd’

A DOS like window opens and at the flashing prompt type cd then a space and type in the path and name of the folder – in my example the folder is called ‘Pix’, so the first line looks like this:

cd C:\Pix

If you used the Copy trick simply right-click on the flashing prompt and select Paste.

Now press Enter and the cd (change directory) command changes the display to show the path and name of your folder, thus:

C:\Pix>

Now at the flashing command prompt type the following:

dir /b > c:\listfolder.txt

Press Enter and a file called listfolder.text appears in the root directory of your C: drive; open it in Word or double click on it and Notepad displays a text file listing the contents of your chosen folder.

For those who may be interested, ‘dir’ is the Directory list command, ‘/b’ tells it to omit the file’s time, date and size information and the forward arrow or greater than symbol (>) tells it to send the information into the file called listfolder.text