Find your files in Windows!
Find Those Blessed Files in Windows!
Folder indexing system – Works with Terabyte drives, even!
Create XLSX from TEXT file of files & folders WITH DATE, TIME & SIZE using app namedKaren's Directory Printer EXE which works for Windows.
https://www.karenware.com/powertools/karens-directory-printer
If doing a whole drive, FIRST - EMPTY the RECYCLE BIN !! Menu ==> View ==> Options ==> Change ==> (Tab) View ==> Uncheck Hide Protected operating system files ==> Squawk! - Do it anyway ==> Now see RECYCLE at top of file list in window ==> Go in it, and DELETE ALL
THEN, Go back and check "Hide Protected"
(If using LINUX, create the CSV/TXT file with this command at the prompt
>> find -ls > ~/Downloads/IndexTree.txt
The rest is much the same)
o- Use tab ==> SAVE TO DISK
o- Check & order desired format "File Info" (Date last mod; Size; Folder name; File name)
o- Ensure you have COMMENT, FILE, FOLDER & TOTAL line IDs included (It's the FILE lines you need)
o- Send (Save) to C:\temp
o- Delete all rows that do not start with "FILE" (above & below)
That will be COMMENT at top and FOLDER et al below file
- use Search "FOLDER" (match case) to find first one
- then select-all to the end for easy deleting of unwanted rows
o- Use Ctrl-H - Change "FILE" to star
o- Use Ctrl-H - Change C:\ or E:\Books (initial drive name) to star
o- Use Ctrl-H - - change all "\" for star
o- Find & Replace "\t" with star (In EXCEL do this with “^t”)
(See story here ==> https://ask.libreoffice.org/en/question/32444/i-need-to-display-find-remove-tab-characters-in-fields-in-calc/)
Un-check regular expressions
o- Find & Replace two stars for one star (do this twice at least)
o- Save as CSV/TXT again (try not to add " to everything)
Replace two spaces with one space – repeatedly
Save
Check for rows not deleted above (e.g. "FOLDER")
Sort alphabetically ascending by cols D, E, F, G, H,
Add numbers to first col A
Insert col before D (for legibility)
o- Select the whole new column and format as Date ==> YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
o- Mark & copy Col B all date-time entries - select entries only
o- Right click on first square of C (C4 maybe)
o- Paste special ==> unformatted text (should be good date/time)
NB You cannot do this if you select the whole column
o- Check & delete Col B
Add 3 rows at the top and put in whatever guide headers you like
Save-As - XLSX
Open in MS-Office-Excel - Check & Save again
Done!
https://www.karenware.com/powertools/karens-directory-printer
If doing a whole drive, FIRST - EMPTY the RECYCLE BIN !! Menu ==> View ==> Options ==> Change ==> (Tab) View ==> Uncheck Hide Protected operating system files ==> Squawk! - Do it anyway ==> Now see RECYCLE at top of file list in window ==> Go in it, and DELETE ALL
THEN, Go back and check "Hide Protected"
(If using LINUX, create the CSV/TXT file with this command at the prompt
>> find -ls > ~/Downloads/IndexTree.txt
The rest is much the same)
Now - Karen's Directory Printer EXE
o- Open Karen's Directory Printer EXEo- Use tab ==> SAVE TO DISK
o- Check & order desired format "File Info" (Date last mod; Size; Folder name; File name)
o- Ensure you have COMMENT, FILE, FOLDER & TOTAL line IDs included (It's the FILE lines you need)
o- Send (Save) to C:\temp
o- Open with CALC - it's quick (you can do it all here - then save as TXT; open again with CALC using columns separators as inserted e.g star; Yes, you can use EXCEL – it will be slower)
o- Sort by column A - there should be only be one column (check col separators if not)o- Delete all rows that do not start with "FILE" (above & below)
That will be COMMENT at top and FOLDER et al below file
- use Search "FOLDER" (match case) to find first one
- then select-all to the end for easy deleting of unwanted rows
o- Use Ctrl-H - Change "FILE" to star
o- Use Ctrl-H - Change C:\ or E:\Books (initial drive name) to star
o- Use Ctrl-H - - change all "\" for star
TABs - Find & Replace
o- Use Ctrl-H with "Regular Expressions" checkedo- Find & Replace "\t" with star (In EXCEL do this with “^t”)
(See story here ==> https://ask.libreoffice.org/en/question/32444/i-need-to-display-find-remove-tab-characters-in-fields-in-calc/)
Un-check regular expressions
o- Find & Replace two stars for one star (do this twice at least)
o- Save as CSV/TXT again (try not to add " to everything)
OPEN WITH NOTEPAD
Check for inverted commas “ - replace-all with NULLReplace two spaces with one space – repeatedly
Save
OPEN WITH CALC AGAIN
Columns separated by star (chosen because you NEVER use it anywhere else)Check for rows not deleted above (e.g. "FOLDER")
Sort alphabetically ascending by cols D, E, F, G, H,
Add numbers to first col A
Insert col before D (for legibility)
FIX DATE & TIME
o- Insert a column before Co- Select the whole new column and format as Date ==> YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
o- Mark & copy Col B all date-time entries - select entries only
o- Right click on first square of C (C4 maybe)
o- Paste special ==> unformatted text (should be good date/time)
NB You cannot do this if you select the whole column
o- Check & delete Col B
Now (if you wish) sort by Col B, descending - All the most recently added items are at top !
You may think this screws your searches up, but no! - When you “Find all”, a box appears with all items as found, and you can hop to one after the other irrespective of XLS location. And yes, Col A has the alphabetical order numerically.Add 3 rows at the top and put in whatever guide headers you like
Save-As - XLSX
Open in MS-Office-Excel - Check & Save again
Done!
Use Ctrl-F - Find-All for simplest searching
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