Summary. Sometimes it is helpful to have a printed listing of files and documents in a directory/folder. The instructions below will assist with this process for users of Windows XP or Vista.
- For Windows XP, from the Start menu, click on the Run… option. For Windows Vista, from the Start menu (colorful marble) choose All Programs, then Accessories, then click Run.
- Type “cmd” (without quotes) next to Open: then click the OK button.
- A command line window will open up and display text concluding with something like C:\Documents and Settings\YourName>_
or C:\users\yourname (for Windows Vista). - The blinking cursor is where you can type commands followed by pressing the enter/return key. To list the contents of the current directory location, type dir then press the enter/return key.
- To change to another folder, such as My Documents, type cd my documents and then press the enter/return key.
- To go up one level, type cd .. and then press the enter/return key.
- You can always type dir and press the enter/return key to see a listing of the current files which will indicate what folder you are currently in.
- Return to step #3 above if you want to list and view the contents of the current directory folder, or continue to step #8 to create a printable file listing the directory folder contents.
- Once you have navigated to the desired directory folder, type dir > filelist.txt and press the enter/return key. This will create a text file in the current directory that contains a listing of the files in the current directory. This text file can be opened for viewing, copied and pasted to an email, and/or printed. You can use a different file name other than filelist.txt, but this one should work fine.