instead of going to data, you could just copy everything on the path except the file name, select the column ctrl+f to replace the path with nothing & it will erase the extra stuff in the column except the file name. may be faster for you.
Great tip Matt, Just some additions Quick tip-1: Instead splitting the data into columns, copy the filepath from the Windows Explorer and use replace in Excel for the list of file paths and simply replace using Ctrl+H (replace) and you will save a little more time sorting the data. Quick tip-2: You may as well use simply Shift + right click on your mouse to access "Copy as path" option. Quick tip-3: you can create a renamer.xls excel file for yourselves with REN Dos script Or can create a DOS script batch file that can change file names as it has been run each time. Scripts are available on internet for better automation. I often rename 100+ files weekly during my research and work Thank you so much
This is THE best tutorial I ever saw. I can't thank you enough! I had thousands of files I needed to list and this way was the easiest, the fastest, and the best I've ever tried. A million Thanks!
This works with Notepad as well. Sort files (by name, type, size, etc.), select file, hit Ctrl A to select all files, hold Alt + Shift & right-click file, click copy as path, open Notepad, paste, then click Edit then Replace and tidy up the list by replacing the file location data (such as C:\Videos\) with a blank replacement.
This is better. (This mode save folders and subfolders) 1. Open CMD 2. Go to the folder you want to save. 3. write dir /a /s /b > File_Name.CSV /a Show all files /s Include all subfolders. /b Bare format
I have been trying several methods noted online to do this and I must say that this is by FAR the best way and the best-explained way I've found - EXCELLENT! Thank you so much for sharing.
Thank you Matt - tried following instructions in other videos; yours was the only one that was useful and informative, and most importantly understandable - extremely helpful. You did a great job.
"Copy as path" was the tip I needed. My only suggestion for improvement would be to use "Replace" afterwards to simple remove the extra folder location details. It's much faster if you're just wanting the file names and can be done in Excel or Word.
great tips - here is a summary to make a list of files in a folder 1. Select all files 2. Alt shift right click copy as path 3. In Excel not google drive - click data, text to columns, be sure delimited is checked and put a backslash \ in “other” box, hit enter twice 4. Use ctl H to find and replace .docx or other file extension with nothing if you don't want the file extensions
Thank you! Really needed this, as I had an Excel list of 104 positions, yet only 102 files to cut out detail layouts. So I could either go through the list checking each position to find those two missing numbers or... Worked perfectly!
I watched other videos before I found yours. Yours was short and sweet! I totally understood everything and was able to use it right away. Thanks SO much!
Omg Matt Lanham if I could jump through this computer and kiss you I would. I have over 5000 receipts to scan and enter and you just made my life livable. Thanks so much.
Thank you so much, Matt, for solving my problem of printing genealogy file names (most are photo's or scans.) I couldn't figure out how to print the list without the images. This is by far the easiest answer I have found.....and it works!! Thank you again!!
Top result in Google searches for "copy name of file to excel" is a video of how to do it using CMD, which worked. But this is a LOT quicker; Ctrl+a then alt+shift then copy. Your video was auto played after the last one. Thanks!
Thank you. Very, very useful. Since i'm not an Excel user, what I did was copy path and saved to an empty text file. From there I selected all and replaced "C:/folder name/..." and "... .txt" with an empty space. That erases the unnecessary and leaves me with the file name only.
This was helpful. At least now I can have a master list of all of my folders. I wish there was a way to do this so that you could see every sub folder and associated files. Why Microsoft has to make this so hard is beyond me. I appreciate your very clear video! Thank you!
An easy way to clean file names is to paste the list, then use the 'Find and Replace' function to replace your path with nothing. In seconds, you'll have clean file names.
Super helpful! Thanks. I agree with the other comment about using find and replace (ctrl-H) to replace the path with nothing rather than delimiting the text.
Thank you! It is now 2024 and I just learned this. I have been working with PCs since the late 80's. You need to tell Microsoft their hidden features should NOT Be hidden. But I think they are embarrassed they can't do it simply. Fire those developers and tech writers and project managers.
WOW ! Thanks for sharing the simplest method to get an EXCEL list of files. Far simpler than the cmd dir scenario, that I was never able to master. KUDOS on a great job here
It is interesting on how windows does not make an easy way to create a list of files and folders in a spreadsheet or word document. With using multiple devices and storing files on flash drives, external hard drives, and cloud drives, you may not always have your files and folders right in front of you. Plus your primary device, you may not need to keep documents, music, or videos of old files in front of you, so you store them on other devices, incase you need them, and depending on how important, would tell how many backups you choose to make. For me, I don't care if my high school history paper is gone, but it is nice to have it, but not worth more than one copy on an external device. I can have a document listing each file on each device, print it out and file it, so then I know what external device I need to access if looking for the history paper. or my collection of 1980's christmas music mp3 I saw how to create a txt document using a bat file, which works really good at file names and extensions, date created and size, it list it alphetically by file name, what it does not do is special characters such as foreign languages. I have some documentaries and articles that are using japenese characters. So I am hoping that this will fix the problem. Thankyou
just open cmd pointed at the directory (just type cmd into the bar that has the path at top of explorer) then type the below expression, changing list.txt to whichever name and format you want. type this---> dir /b >list.txt
Thank you for this, I didn't know about the "hidden" menu, thanks for showing us. Your method is straightforward and simple compared to what else I saw, I figured there had to be a simple way and kept looking.
Six years later and this still works. Bravo! Helped me a lot.
This is the easiest of all the solutions (many very convoluted!) on TH-cam.
Thanks, Matt!
instead of going to data, you could just copy everything on the path except the file name, select the column ctrl+f to replace the path with nothing & it will erase the extra stuff in the column except the file name. may be faster for you.
Thank you both. The ctrl+f idea was must faster for larger separate folders.
How can you copy everything on the path except the filename for multiple files? Have I missed something?
Thanks...I worked it out
Great tip Matt, Just some additions
Quick tip-1: Instead splitting the data into columns, copy the filepath from the Windows Explorer and use replace in Excel for the list of file paths and simply replace using Ctrl+H (replace) and you will save a little more time sorting the data.
Quick tip-2: You may as well use simply Shift + right click on your mouse to access "Copy as path" option.
Quick tip-3: you can create a renamer.xls excel file for yourselves with REN Dos script Or can create a DOS script batch file that can change file names as it has been run each time. Scripts are available on internet for better automation. I often rename 100+ files weekly during my research and work
Thank you so much
How to use ren dos command?
8 years later and your video just saved my day. Struggling with a solution fot this a week now! Thank you
This is THE best tutorial I ever saw. I can't thank you enough! I had thousands of files I needed to list and this way was the easiest, the fastest, and the best I've ever tried. A million Thanks!
This works with Notepad as well.
Sort files (by name, type, size, etc.), select file, hit Ctrl A to select all files, hold Alt + Shift & right-click file, click copy as path, open
Notepad, paste, then click Edit then Replace and tidy up the list by replacing the file location data (such as C:\Videos\) with a blank replacement.
Yes, exactly what I did but in Word. I imagine this technique would work in almost all word processing programs available.
thanks
Thanks dude...
This is better. (This mode save folders and subfolders)
1. Open CMD
2. Go to the folder you want to save.
3. write dir /a /s /b > File_Name.CSV
/a Show all files
/s Include all subfolders.
/b Bare format
I have been trying several methods noted online to do this and I must say that this is by FAR the best way and the best-explained way I've found - EXCELLENT! Thank you so much for sharing.
Thank you Matt - tried following instructions in other videos; yours was the only one that was useful and informative, and most importantly understandable - extremely helpful. You did a great job.
Still is literally the best tutorial ever. SO easy, so quick to figure out. And changes everything. Thanks for making this video :)
"Copy as path" was the tip I needed. My only suggestion for improvement would be to use "Replace" afterwards to simple remove the extra folder location details. It's much faster if you're just wanting the file names and can be done in Excel or Word.
same copy as path is what i needed i dont have excel or word installed.
was going to write the same. find/replace to blank is much easier then messing with text to columns.
great tips - here is a summary to make a list of files in a folder
1. Select all files
2. Alt shift right click copy as path
3. In Excel not google drive - click data, text to columns, be sure delimited is checked and put a backslash \ in “other” box, hit enter twice
4. Use ctl H to find and replace .docx or other file extension with nothing if you don't want the file extensions
This is brilliant - Straight to the point, clear with no waffle! Came across this after 30 mins or so searching this topic and getting no where
Thank you! Really needed this, as I had an Excel list of 104 positions, yet only 102 files to cut out detail layouts. So I could either go through the list checking each position to find those two missing numbers or... Worked perfectly!
Thank you very much! I have already created lists for two 250 item folders. This has saved me so much time!
I watched other videos before I found yours. Yours was short and sweet! I totally understood everything and was able to use it right away. Thanks SO much!
Thanks, mate, for a solution, for not selling us some software, for being a good person
Finally, someone who can explain stuff clearly and quickly. Thank you so very much!!!!! Great job!
Thank you so much. All the other instructions were complicated and I couldn't get the paths right. This one worked like a charm.
You have no idea for how long I have been looking for something like that! :D Thanks!
I had almost 500 file names to copy......Dude, I owe you a solid !!!!
Omg Matt Lanham if I could jump through this computer and kiss you I would. I have over 5000 receipts to scan and enter and you just made my life livable. Thanks so much.
Thank you so much, Matt, for solving my problem of printing genealogy file names (most are photo's or scans.) I couldn't figure out how to print the list without the images. This is by far the easiest answer I have found.....and it works!! Thank you again!!
I am absolutely thrilled that you made this tut ... appreciate it to the end and back!
God bless you! I was trying for so long to find a way to do that. You made two people me and my friend happy today.Thank you!!
OH MY GOD!! THANK YOU!!! Life saver. I was worried I would spend half of my day either copying or deleting text.
Matt, that is awesome. I have tried several instructions, some quite complex without the results I was shooting for. THANKS
I appreciate this! I tried for a while using command prompts but could never figure it out. This way worked perfectly for me.
This is the best solution to this problem I've ever seen. Thank you.
Thanks for this. So many videos going into the command prompt, this is so much simpler.
Top result in Google searches for "copy name of file to excel" is a video of how to do it using CMD, which worked. But this is a LOT quicker; Ctrl+a then alt+shift then copy. Your video was auto played after the last one. Thanks!
Love the Alt-Shift-Rt Click tip. Thank you.
Awesome Matt. You made it quick and simple. Don't get that too often!!!! Thanks....
Seriously. Bless you. just saved me about 5 hours of work.
You just made my job easy! Tutorial after tutorial, command prompt after command prompt! This was so simple! Thanks!
Great been looking for this for years. Crazy it took so long to find.
How have I gone this long and not know this. Thanks.
This was EXTREMELY helpful! I didn't know about the secret menu... TYSM
Nicely done and you don't waste any time getting to the information. Thanks!
Great tip. Easier than other tutorials that show how to use cmd. Holding shift on its own works too.
Thank you Matt!
I’ve been struggling to do this for a long time. Your explanation was perfect 👌🏾
Nice one man. You saved me a day of typing up a list of Wav and MP3 files.
Thank you. Very, very useful.
Since i'm not an Excel user, what I did was copy path and saved to an empty text file. From there I selected all and replaced "C:/folder name/..." and "... .txt" with an empty space. That erases the unnecessary and leaves me with the file name only.
Thank you for the easy to follow tutorial😊 I can now make my recipe book a nice table of contents. Keep up the great work!
Thanks Matt, for taking the time to make this video. It was very helpful.
Bruh... no registry or cmd rubbish, this was so easy. Thank you!
Great, many thanks! I have a lot of folder names to organise, this makes my day a lot easier!
Thank you, thank you, thank you. That was so easy to follow and you've saved me hours of work.
thank you very much for clean explanation how to do these, I have being looking for these tutorial for hours in the web! Thank you
Absolutely brilliant. I don't even know what to say. Thank you.
You rock man! sometimes the best solution is so simple!
This was helpful. At least now I can have a master list of all of my folders. I wish there was a way to do this so that you could see every sub folder and associated files. Why Microsoft has to make this so hard is beyond me. I appreciate your very clear video! Thank you!
Someone has made a video on how to do just that. I know it's 5 months later, but reply if you would like me to go out and get you the link
@@Anti-socialSocialClub it'd be cool to see how to do that
YOU HAVE SAVED ME MORE THAN ONCE WITH THIS VIDEO MAN, MASSIVE THANK YOU!!!
My dude secret command is right I didn't know about the shift control right click command
Super Amazing! Thanks for explaining the process.
I had a requirement like this just today and Voila!
An easy way to clean file names is to paste the list, then use the 'Find and Replace' function to replace your path with nothing. In seconds, you'll have clean file names.
Matt i hope you received a promotion. Great work
Super helpful! Thanks. I agree with the other comment about using find and replace (ctrl-H) to replace the path with nothing rather than delimiting the text.
Thank you! It is now 2024 and I just learned this. I have been working with PCs since the late 80's.
You need to tell Microsoft their hidden features should NOT Be hidden. But I think they are embarrassed they can't do it simply. Fire those developers and tech writers and project managers.
WOW ! Thanks for sharing the simplest method to get an EXCEL list of files. Far simpler than the cmd dir scenario, that I was never able to master. KUDOS on a great job here
however, cmd dir can show us the file date and size.
I wish if there is the easier way than cmd dir for getting date&size too, like this video.
This was an awesome video of a lesson. Well done.
Dear Matt, a very useful method and thank you...
You made it so easy. Excellent voiceover, instructions, video. Thank you SOOOOO much!
Brilliant. Thank you. I have wanted to do this on a book list of six thousand. So pleased it works and your clear instructions made it easy.
i have been trying to do this for years, trying to find a program to do it... thank you so much!!
Use power query. It's built into excel. Worth learning. See excelisfun
on youtube. Mike girvin is a guru
Absolutely fantastic! Thank you so much! I've been trying to figure out a way to do this for a loooooooong time. Excellent!!!
I want to thank you so much for your help and direction on this project. I really appreciate it.
Amazing! I was desperate trying to do that. Matt Lanham, you saved my week. 👏 👏 👏
YOU THE MAAAAAAAAN!!!! SAVED ME A BUNCH OF WORK!!!!
Thank you. This was much faster and easier than other options and even some software that I downloaded.
Thanks! Very helpful. Wished I had searched for it sooner!
Great tip. Thank you for posting it. You totally saved me some frustration!
I've been looking for something like this for ages, thanks for the assistance
This was absolutely the BEST! Thanks for all the help.
Thanks for the tip Matt, you saved me hours of typing.
You are a Gem, best tip i have come across on this subject. Thank you
It is interesting on how windows does not make an easy way to create a list of files and folders in a spreadsheet or word document. With using multiple devices and storing files on flash drives, external hard drives, and cloud drives, you may not always have your files and folders right in front of you. Plus your primary device, you may not need to keep documents, music, or videos of old files in front of you, so you store them on other devices, incase you need them, and depending on how important, would tell how many backups you choose to make. For me, I don't care if my high school history paper is gone, but it is nice to have it, but not worth more than one copy on an external device. I can have a document listing each file on each device, print it out and file it, so then I know what external device I need to access if looking for the history paper. or my collection of 1980's christmas music mp3
I saw how to create a txt document using a bat file, which works really good at file names and extensions, date created and size, it list it alphetically by file name, what it does not do is special characters such as foreign languages. I have some documentaries and articles that are using japenese characters. So I am hoping that this will fix the problem. Thankyou
Excellent tip! Saved me hours! Thanks!
Thank you so much for this video! You have saved me HOURS of work!
THANKS MAN ,THAT'S MORE EASY WAY THAN USING COMMAND PROMPT, YOU SAVED MY TIME .
Straight to the point, thanks Matt!
Exactly what I needed and quickly. Super easy! Thank you!
Great tip Matt! Exactly what I wanted too do.
Super helpful! This lists filenames only however, not other file properties (in case you were looking for that feature.)
Brilliant tip, been trying to do that for ages, Matt taaught me how in 3 minutes
just open cmd pointed at the directory (just type cmd into the bar that has the path at top of explorer) then type the below expression, changing list.txt to whichever name and format you want.
type this---> dir /b >list.txt
I think the only thing better would be if you could include everything in the sub-folders too!
Actually, there's a way. But it involves a command line entry.
This is so much easier than other ways that I found on the internet
very useful, thank you, I didn't even know I wanted the exel part
Wow....just wow. This is so great, thanks a million for showing this tip!!!
This was so easy to understand, and really helpful! Thank you!
Thank you for this, I didn't know about the "hidden" menu, thanks for showing us. Your method is straightforward and simple compared to what else I saw, I figured there had to be a simple way and kept looking.
never know that key combo existed. thx
Thanks a lot.......to make user experience better.
yeyyyy😁Thanks for making my work easy. Processing 1000s of files can be a pain
that was next level bad ass !!!! Subb'd and Thank you in April 2023
Hope this works for folders and subfolders too. Thanks so much!
Thank you very much Matt Much Appreciated Love from Kashmir
Genius - Why isn't save file path a standard right-click option?
Just what I needed! Thank you so much!