Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 11, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365
Users of WordPerfect may be familiar with the feature that allows you to print the contents of a directory. Indeed, it can be very handy to have a printout of all the documents in a directory. Unfortunately, Word does not have an intrinsic command that allows you to accomplish the same task. There are a couple of ways you can approach this problem, however.
The first is the old tried-and-true DIR method, which has been used by "techies" since the days of DOS. Simply open a command prompt window, locate the directory for which you want a list, and then type the following command:
dir /b > mydir.txt
This creates a text file (mydir.txt) that contains only the names of the files in the directory. You can then locate the file in Word and load it as a document. While this approach is not a single step, it is not particularly difficult, either.
If you would like a macro solution to the problem, you can use the following. It displays the standard Open dialog box, in which you can browse for the directory for which you want a list. When you select a file in that directory and click on Open, the macro creates a new Word document that lists all the files that the directory contains. Note that you must select a file from the directory.
Sub ListFiles() Dim PathWanted As String Dim FName As String Dim Temp As String With Dialogs(wdDialogFileOpen) .Name = "*.*" If .Display = -1 Then Documents.Add PathWanted = Options.DefaultFilePath(wdDocumentsPath) Selection.TypeText "Files in " & PathWanted & ":" & vbCrLf ChDir PathWanted FName = Dir("*.*") While FName <> "" Temp = FName While InStr(Temp, "\") > 0 Temp = Mid(Temp, InStr(Temp, "\") + 1) Wend Selection.TypeText Temp & vbCrLf FName = Dir Wend End If End With End Sub
If you want to limit the files returned by the macro (for instance, to only those ending in .DOCX), then you can change the file specifications ("*.*") in two of the program lines.
Note:
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1466) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Printing a File List.
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2022-06-13 10:07:39
Andre
First, I would suggest using the FolderPicker dialog instead of the FileOpen dialog, i.e., Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogFolderPicker).
Second, why do the work that the operating system can do for you more flexibly? In my version I "shell out" to the "dir" command and pipe it to a temporary file using ">" so I can use dir's various command line options, then I insert the contents of the temporary file into a new document and delete the temporary. (A nice offshoot of this is you can do the same to a "mirror" directory, then compare the two using track changes and see if they really are mirrors of one another.)
Andy.
2022-06-12 20:54:20
Walt Jones
For Windows users, another option is to select the files in Windows File Explorer, hold down the Shift key and right-click, and then from the menu select. Copy as Path.
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