Creating and saving a list of files in a folder in Excel is a procedure that makes it easy for users to keep track of documents or content related to a specific objective. Sort of like creating an index in Excel using shapes.
The Office suite has become an indispensable tool for all those who work with computers in their day-to-day lives.
Unfortunately, Microsoft did not offer a quick method to import a list of files into a document, so it was necessary to do it manually.
Starting with Windows 7, a solution appeared through the creation of a text that can be imported into the program to allow its editing and order. Remember to know the versions of Microsoft’s Windows operating system to understand more about this.
How do these types of lists work?
This procedure has been created for those situations where the user has a folder with a large number of files and wants to organize their titles in list form after easily creating a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel.
Said sheet can be published on a page, sent to a contact or presented to a superior of an organization.
Creating a list of files in a folder in Excel can be a somewhat tedious process, especially if the name of each title had to be transcribed within the spreadsheet.
That is why the Microsoft team, seeing the degree of demand exerted by their community, decided to create a shortcut to facilitate this process.
But even so, you should not worry, since in this article you will find the exhibition of different methods that can help you create a list of any folder that you have in your Windows documents.
Method to create a list with files in a folder
As previously stated, the process is based on creating a text document automatically in order to import it into Microsoft Excel.
Start by pressing the ” Win + E ” or ” Menu + E ” key to open the ” Windows Explorer “, where you must find the folder from which you will create the list of files.
When you find it, you must hold down the ” Shift ” key and then right-click on the folder and select ” Open Windows symbol here ” or ” Open command window here ” from the menu that will be displayed on the screen.
It should be noted that the previous step works exclusively with folders and not libraries because libraries are responsible for organizing specific files.
A black window will open where you must write ” Dir / b> dirlist.txt ” without the quotes and press ” Enter “, where the list with the file titles will automatically be created.
Now you just need to open Microsoft Excel and press ” Ctrl + O ” to show the open documents window.
You will navigate through your documents until you find the file that contains the list you just created (which is named dirlist.txt ) and must open.
In this way, the list of file titles will automatically be imported into your Excel spreadsheet.
Manual method to add the list to Microsoft Excel
If you decide to open the .txt file you will see that each line of the document is named after the files that make up the folder you selected.
Shade all the contents of the list by clicking on ” Edit ” and then on ” Select all ” or using the shortcut ” Ctrl + E “.
When copying it, you start to create the list of files of a folder in Excel by clicking on cell A1 and we paste the content into it.
Then, it will be at your disposal to edit and modify the list in the way that seems most organized to you and then save it in the address of your preference.