Member Avatar for Reginald0

Hi, folks!

I'm trying hard to find at Internet a program or some way to output the informations from column details in Windows Explorer to a file (or to clipboard), cause I use different columns beside the normal information like filename, size, date, depending of the content of my folders. I.E. For a picture folder, I display dimensions of pics; for a mp3 folder, display bitrate and duration; for a video folder, display bitrate, duration and resolution (when available). I already tried a lot of programs, but none extract the informations the way I want (almost all of them just list the default columns, like filename, size and date) and I need a program that extract the columns exactly the way they are displayed in Windows Explorer. By the way, I'm using Windows XP Pro.

Thanks in advance.

Reginaldo

PS: Sorry about my english errors, I'm Brazilian :-)

  • 5 Contributors
  • 5 Replies
  • 517 Views
  • 3 Years Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by viennaly

Dani AI

Generated

asked for an exact, Explorer-style dump of the Details columns (dimensions, bitrate, duration, etc.). The most reliable way to reproduce exactly what Explorer shows is to query the shell itself: the Folder.GetDetailsOf API returns the same column values Explorer displays. This is the same mechanism used by Explorer and works on Windows 2000 / XP and later. (learn.microsoft.com)

A practical, cross-file solution is to use a short PowerShell script that asks the Shell for the column names (indices) and then pulls each file's value for those indices and exports to CSV. The snippet below first prints the index->column name mapping (so you can see which index is "Dimensions" or "Bitrate"), then builds a CSV of the shown columns.

$shell = New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application
$folder = $shell.Namespace('C:\Path\To\Folder')

# show index -> column name
0..266 | ForEach-Object { $name = $folder.GetDetailsOf($null, $_); if ($name) { "$_ : $name" } }

# export all non-empty columns for each item
$indices = 0..266 | Where-Object { $folder.GetDetailsOf($null, $_) -ne '' }
$results = @()
foreach ($item in $folder.Items()) {
  $obj = New-Object PSObject
  foreach ($i in $indices) {
    $n = $folder.GetDetailsOf($null, $i)
    $v = $folder.GetDetailsOf($item, $i)
    $obj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name $n -Value $v
  }
  $results += $obj
}
$results | Export-Csv -Path 'C:\temp\explorer-columns.csv' -NoTypeInformation

Example scripts and variations (precomputing indices, selecting a fixed subset of columns, or avoiding repeated GetDetailsOf calls) are documented in community and Microsoft examples. (stackoverflow.com)

For specialized needs, use dedicated metadata tools: ExifTool is best for photo metadata and can export CSV directly, and MediaInfo is ideal for audio/video technical fields with flexible template output. These tools produce consistent, scriptable CSV exports (ExifTool: -csv / -r; MediaInfo has --Output/--Inform templates). (exiftool.sourceforge.net)

Notes and cautions: column availability and names depend on the folder template and installed property handlers, and names are localized; some properties are provided by shell extensions and may be slow to compute for many files. On older XP installs PowerShell may not be present — the same Shell.Application approach can be used from a small VBScript if needed (GetDetailsOf exists in the shell API). (learn.microsoft.com)

This approach captures exactly what Explorer displays (unlike many generic file-listers) and complements and : TotalSize-style tools or saving a view can help in narrow cases, but for exact Explorer-column parity the Shell / GetDetailsOf route is the most faithful. (learn.microsoft.com)

Recommended Answers

All 5 Replies

Member Avatar for Caleb

In order to display folder sizes as the Windows Explorer column try TotalSize.
You can get it at Moveax homepage.

Member Avatar for bramsankar

I am also in need of this kind .i.e. export explorer columns into an excel sheet. Anybody has any idea?

Thanks for any coming reply!

Rams

Member Avatar for viennaly

Did you find a solution to this? I'm trying to do the same thing.
Thanks.

V

Hi, folks!

I'm trying hard to find at Internet a program or some way to output the informations from column details in Windows Explorer to a file (or to clipboard), cause I use different columns beside the normal information like filename, size, date, depending of the content of my folders. I.E. For a picture folder, I display dimensions of pics; for a mp3 folder, display bitrate and duration; for a video folder, display bitrate, duration and resolution (when available). I already tried a lot of programs, but none extract the informations the way I want (almost all of them just list the default columns, like filename, size and date) and I need a program that extract the columns exactly the way they are displayed in Windows Explorer. By the way, I'm using Windows XP Pro.

Thanks in advance.

Reginaldo

PS: Sorry about my english errors, I'm Brazilian :-)

Member Avatar for MidiMagic

First save the page as a file.

Then you can open the page in your browser, or in Notepad, and also open a blank Excel spreadsheet.

Now you can pick out the individual pieces you want and put them in the spreadsheet with cut and paste techniques.

Member Avatar for viennaly

Thanks for your help!
How do I save the folder as a file? I'm unable to (the option for save/save as) is disabled when viewing the folder.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.