Overview
If you work with a lot of files and folders, you probably know how time-consuming it can be to manage them. Building them, rolling them forward between periods, even searching them can take a lot of time (it may not seem like much but it adds up quickly!). If you work in retail, restaurants, or other multi-unit industries, that time just multiplies because there are so many locations to manage.
It pains me when I see people doing things over and over again manually. One location at a time. One date at a time. One person at a time. There’s a better way! In this article, we’ll walk 10 tools I’ve used to save a ton of time working with a lot of folders and files. Make sure to try them out for yourself – all available in the XLEV8 Excel Add-in. Make sure to grab your copy of the template used with the examples in this article and the accompanying video that use formulas creatively to help with the automation!
Why use Excel?
When you have a lot of files to manage, Excel can be an invaluable tool for several reasons:
- List building – Excel lets you build (and reuse) lists really quickly by using formulas, find/replace, copy/paste, etc.
- Compatibility – Excel plays nicely with other apps, letting you create hundreds of folders and files in seconds
- Familiarity – most people know how to use Excel, at least in a basic way, and when they don’t, documentation is available all over
- Consistency – being systematic about how you name folders and files lets you further automate around them
The 10 Automation Tools
The tools below offer you a mix of bulk automation – doing several things at once – and serve as shortcuts for navigating through folders and files.
1. Create folders in bulk
Creating a lot of folders is a common task. Don’t make them one at a time – use Excel to automate two things: 1) building the list of folders you need – formulas are great for this – and 2) creating the folders themselves.
See the image below where we are defining the parent folder and all the subfolders that should be created in it (driven by formulas so that it’s reusable):
Learn more about this tool here.
2. Create shortcuts in bulk
With all those new folders, you may want a quicker way to navigate through them. Folder/file shortcuts are awesome for hopping around quickly. You can create hundreds of them in seconds by just supplying the parent folder path!
In the image below, notice the previous/next shortcuts that were created along with hundreds of others:
Learn more about this tool here.
3. Export a list of folders and files
It’s often helpful to be able to export a list of folders and files to Excel. You can review them, use them to rename existing files, or maybe use for creating assignments.
In the image below, notice the list that is exported to Excel – it uses a recursive approach to export a list from the parent folder and optionally, any folders below it:
Learn more about this tool here.
4. Copy files in bulk
Ever needed to create lots of files copies – perhaps one for each location, person, department, client, etc.? If you’re doing that manually, it wastes a lot of time and it’s so easy to make errors.
See the image below where we are defining the copy file path and the paste file path are listed for all the files to be created (again, driven by formulas so that it’s reusable):
Learn more about this tool here.
5. Rename files in bulk
Like copying files, renaming a lot of them can also be a big waste of time. If you have a list of the files you want to rename (see the third tool above!), you can quickly and easily rename them all with Excel!
See the image below where we are defining the folder path, the old file name, and the new file name (driven by formulas, of course):
Learn more about this tool here.
6. Find/open files super quickly
On average, we waste a lot of time looking for files. Many people often give up and recreate them! While Excel has some ways to help with this with pinning files and searching recent ones, it’s often the others you really need help with. Use an autocomplete-powered search box to make it much easier!
See the image below where we are searching for a file with the text “push” in it, and results are displayed as you type (use the arrows to select one or see file details):
Learn more about this tool here.
7. Navigate between files quickly
If you work with a lot of similar files, you might need to move between them quickly. While using File Explorer isn’t bad, it’s easy to lose track of where you are. Wouldn’t it be nice to automatically open the next file in order? You can with this next tool!
See the image below where we are prompted to open the next file in alphabetical order within the folder (and optionally close the active file):
Learn more about this tool here.
8. Open the active file’s folder
You may want to quickly open the folder your active file is saved in to see other files, understand where it’s stored, etc. I used to click Save As to see where the file is saved, copy the folder path at the top, and then cancel. If you want an easier way, check out this next tool!
See the image below where we open the folder where the active file is saved:
Learn more about this tool here.
Many systems require you to provide zipped folders or files to keep file sizes down and for security reasons. The more of those you have to deal with, the more it makes sense to consider automating it. If you want an easier way without all the mouse clicks, check out this next tool!
See the image below where the folders/files to zip and the destination path are defined (the tool can do the rest!):
Learn more about this tool here.
You probably run in to situations where you want to send a copy of the active file through email, Slack, Teams, or upload it to a website. When it’s open, File Explorer often blocks you from pasting it. Why not copy it to your clipboard – directly from Excel?
See the image below where the active file was copied to the clipboard with a shortcut, and then we can paste it into something like an email:
Learn more about this tool here.
Video
Summary
Working with a lot of folders and files doesn’t have to be torture. While Excel isn’t the only option to automate managing folders and files, as you can see, it works pretty well and it’s a tool you probably already have. Whatever approach you take, stop reinventing the wheel with so much manual effort!
What approaches do you use to keep up with all the folders and files you’re responsible for? Anything like the tips above? Let us know in the comments below!
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