Alphabetizing my docs

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Is there a way to alphabetize my docs by folder and the remaining docs that are not in a folder, rather than doing it manually? If so, can someone please let me know how….many thanks, John

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Be careful of making long folder and/or file names, there are only so characters allowed in a file path
Now, let’s pretend you have 20 folders and you have 15 files that are not yet in their assigned folders — and you want to alphabetize them, did I understand your opening post?

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

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If you are viewing them in Windows Explorer, click on the “Name” column heading to change the sort order.

cheers, Paul

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Paul, that’s what I was also thinking, however, I’m wondering if OP wants file-name-generator, something that will generate successive folder names, and successive file names as the folders and files are coming down the assembly line.

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

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Is there a way to alphabetize my docs by folder and the remaining docs that are not in a folder, rather than doing it manually? If so, can someone please let me know how….many thanks, John

I don’t know what you want. Do you want a list of your files in alphabetical order by folder? If so, open a Command Prompt window for the top folder (what I presume you mean by the location of ‘docs that are not in a folder’) and issue
dir /s/b/O:N >List.txt
This will create a sorted file of filenames. The important thing is that all your documents must be in this top folder or one of its sub-folders. If you need to filter the list, e.g. to only include Word documents, use something like
dir /s/b/O:N >List.txt *.doc*
Put it in a batch file if you want double-click convenience.
If this does not meet your requirements (e.g. files dotted around various locations, you want to rename files in some way etc.) please let us know what you want to achieve. We can’t guess.

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I don’t know what you want. …please let us know what you want to achieve.

I second that.

If you want all the files in a main folder and sub-folders listed alphabetically in one window, then you need a “flatfile” view. I don’t know if WinExplorer has such, but some of the many WinExplorer replacement file managers should have it. My Directory Opus paid has it, maybe the free version also has it.

Lugh.
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If you open your Documents (or any other) folder, and click the top of the Name column (on the right pane), it will sort all the folders in alphabetical order, with any files in alphabetical order under the folders. Click a second time to reverse the order or sort.

You can sort (order) by any column showing, by Date, Type, Size or any other other parameter you’ve chosen to display. Just click the top of that column, and then click it again to reverse it. A small triangle will either point up or down at the top of whatever column the page is sorted by, depending if it’s sorted ascending or descending.

Anywhere you see columns, click the top of the column you want to sort what you’re looking at by that column. This holds true for Windows Explorer (My Computer), Mac Finder, and Linux File Manager (Endeavour, Krusader and others). It even works in most web sites that have something in a table that’s of any substantial size, try this Wikipedia page.

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Mike, please explain what you mean by a “flatfile” view.

My understanding of a flatfile is of a file containing records that don’t have any related structure, or having no internal hierarchy. Like a database that stores data in a plain text file, each line holding one record, with fields separated by delimiters, such as commas or tabs.

I’m also aware that a ‘flattened view’ in a graphic editing program is to combine all layers into the original image.

The OP asked how he could alphabetize his docs by folder and the remaining docs that are not in a folder, rather than doing it manually. That sounds like he wants the folders themselves alphabetized, followed by any other files in it, alphabetized.

All he has to do is click on the top of the Name column and it will sort (or order) the directory alphabetically by the name of the sub directories in it and then by the names of the files in that directory. He can them click any directory there to view it alphabetically.

As I mentioned, this works in what I think is called File Explorer in Windows 8, Windows Explorer (in other versions of Windows), Mac Finder, and in any of the Linux File Managers. It even works in all (most?) email clients to sort messages and most anywhere else one finds data in a chart on line.

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I think he means a view of all files, including sub-folders, at once.

cheers, Paul

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If he means a view of all files, including sub-folders at once then he can click them all open – except then you could only see maybe 50 files at once. He77, even one of those 12:9 ultra wide ones turned sideways wouldn’t handle much more than 3 or 4 times that.

If you’d like a list of all the directories and files in any folder, go to the command prompt and enter: dir /s>nameoffile.txt.

“dir” is a directory list, and the /s makes it include files. The “>” sends the out put to whatever file you name. If you just do dir /s, it will list it to your monitor. If you do it like this, dir /s>con, it will list it to the console (your monitor). Do it like this, dir /s>nameoffile.txt and it will make a new file called nameoffile.txt and write the listing to it.

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