Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Printing a File List.

Printing a File List

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


2

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:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

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.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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What is 6 - 3?

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.

Thanks for providing such a great resource for Word tips!


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