How to Create a List with All the Files in a Folder

In today’s computers we work with hundreds or thousands of elements of this type, we refer to the files that we deal with on a daily basis. Whatever their nature of origin, we try to sort them into folders and subfolders for future localization. As a general rule, for all this we make use of something as important as Windows File Explorer. This is a function built into the system that greatly helps us to deal with these elements that we are talking about.

Over the years and the versions of Windows, Explorer has not stopped growing and improving. But that does not mean that it is a perfect functionality in Windows, since it has several shortcomings. It is precisely one of them that we want to talk about along these lines. Specifically, we are going to talk about a utility that it lacks but that can be very helpful on many occasions. We refer to the possibility of generating a list with all the files in the same folder.

Why create a file listing in Windows

As we mentioned, whether we work at home with the PC or if we use it in a more corporate environment, sometimes we need a list of files in a folder. This is something that we will not be able to obtain from the aforementioned Windows File Explorer , so we will have to figure out on our own to obtain it.

This is a list that, for example, can be used to keep track of all the files that are part of a certain folder. So we can create a text file with all these contents and save it in a safe place. Another use we can make of this list is to share it with other users. This is because it can be a listing of video files with movies or e-books.

It is for all this that we are going to show you how to achieve it below. The truth is that there are several ways to do it, as we will see below.

How to create a list of the files in a folder

And it is that whether you are a home user or if you are part of a company, at some point you may need a list with all the contents of a directory. Well, as we tell you this is something that we can do in different ways in the Redmond operating system. Below we will show you the simplest methods to achieve this so that you can choose the one that interests you the most in each case.

Create file listing from CMD

To begin with, we will tell you that what we are talking about can be achieved through a command prompt window or CMD. For this we will use one of the many important commands in this section, which is very easy to remember and execute, as we will see. In order to access the command prompt window we just have to type cmd in the Windows search box. Once the corresponding entry appears on the screen, we click the right mouse button and select Run as administrator.

Next we have to use the CD command to navigate to the directory from which we want to create the aforementioned list of files. Once we are in the desired disk location we write the following:

dir > archivos.txt

We press the Enter key and exit the command prompt window. We open the File Explorer for example with the combination of keys Win + E , and we are in the same folder. Here we are going to find a file called files.txt which is the one we created with the previous command. It is actually a plain text file that can be opened in Notepad with all the listed contents of that folder.

Use third-party programs to generate the list

As we have just seen, the Redmond operating system itself, from the command prompt window, allows us to create this list in a simple way. Just use a single command in the desired folder to create a plain text file with all location files.

But on the other hand, it may be the case that we do not want to do this manually. We tell you this because we can also use external third-party Windows solutions to achieve this. Precisely for this reason, below we are going to show you some examples of it. To give you an idea of what we are talking about, you can use the application called Karen’s Power Tool . This is a program that you can download from this link and that presents us with a simple user interface.

Thanks to this solution we will be able to create a list with the names of the files in a folder along with other data. And it is that in it the size of the files, their extension, their date or the attributes are also added. We can also sort the list by name, size, or date. At the same time we have the possibility of including this program in the contextual menu of Windows, all this completely free of charge.

On the other hand we find another free program called JR Directory Printer that you can download from here . It presents us with a simple user interface that will help us to obtain the list of files we are looking for in this case.

Specifically, we find a portable software solution that does not even need to be installed on the computer. Therefore, once we execute it, we do not have to select the folder from which we want to list the contained files. The program itself allows us to include all the subfolders at the same time if we wish. Then a new file is created that we can edit or copy to another disk location.

So, as you can see, creating the list of files in a folder is much easier than it might seem at first, let’s choose the method we choose.