David Baxter PhD
Late Founder
How to Make a Folder File List from the Windows Right-Click Context Menu
by V. Laurie
9 December 2011
Have you ever wanted to make a list of all the files in a folder? If you have, you discovered that this is a feature that is missing in Windows Explorer. Of course, you can use the command line to do this or download and install some extra software but there is an easier way.
The simple way is to add the capacity to print a folder file list from the right-click context menu of a given folder. Microsoft describes the procedure at this link and provides a "Fix-it" file that will add the desired command to all folder context menus. I have tried running the Fix-it file in Windows XP Professional and Windows 7 64-bit and it worked with no problems. A command “Print Directory Listing” is added to the right-click context menu of folders (directories). An example of a modified context menu is shown in the figure on the left.
Whatever printer is designated as the default for your system will be used. Note that this need not be a hardware printer. Printer drivers exist for creating files in certain formats such as Adobe PDF or Microsoft XPS. Instead of a paper list you could create a list as a PDF file or other type of file format if you have a driver that you can designate as the default printer. Changing default printers is very easy so this method also provides a way to create files that list the contents of a folder.
There you have it- paper or file, a list of the contents of a folder in just two clicks.
by V. Laurie
9 December 2011
Have you ever wanted to make a list of all the files in a folder? If you have, you discovered that this is a feature that is missing in Windows Explorer. Of course, you can use the command line to do this or download and install some extra software but there is an easier way.
The simple way is to add the capacity to print a folder file list from the right-click context menu of a given folder. Microsoft describes the procedure at this link and provides a "Fix-it" file that will add the desired command to all folder context menus. I have tried running the Fix-it file in Windows XP Professional and Windows 7 64-bit and it worked with no problems. A command “Print Directory Listing” is added to the right-click context menu of folders (directories). An example of a modified context menu is shown in the figure on the left.
Whatever printer is designated as the default for your system will be used. Note that this need not be a hardware printer. Printer drivers exist for creating files in certain formats such as Adobe PDF or Microsoft XPS. Instead of a paper list you could create a list as a PDF file or other type of file format if you have a driver that you can designate as the default printer. Changing default printers is very easy so this method also provides a way to create files that list the contents of a folder.
There you have it- paper or file, a list of the contents of a folder in just two clicks.
