Create automatically folders to move files, with Files2Folder
Sometimes I download zip archives that were created without care, containing a lot of files at their root instead of categorizing them in folders. To organize such collections I need to select each time some files, create a folder and put them there, then select some more, create a folder to put them there, etc. The task may become really annoying if you need a lot of categories for a lot of files.
There is a free utility called Files 2 Folder that can help on this sorting, folder creating and files moving procedure. You will have the best results if your files are named in patterns. For example, if you have a discography named as
album-x.cue
album-x.flac
album-z.cue
album-z.flac
…etc, you can select all of these files that now lie in the exact same folder, and right click to activate Files 2 Folder. When this utility opens, mark the option “Move each file to individual sub-folders based on their names”. The program creates an album-x folder and it places there the cue and flac files of album-x; it will do the same with album-z, etc.
To install, run Files2Folder.exe. A message box pops up asking if you would like to register the shell extension. Click yes. A shortcut will be created that allows you to un-register the shell extension if you wish to do so in the future. After registering the shell extension, you see a new menu entry in your context (right click) menu.
If you select only one file and choose ‘Files 2 Folder’ from the menu, a folder will be created with the same name as the file you selected, and your file will be moved into that folder.
If you select a folder and choose ‘Files 2 Folder’ from the menu, a folder will be created with the same name as the folder you selected, having an extra tilde (~) character; then your selected folder will be moved into the new folder.
If you select multiple files and choose ‘Files 2 Folder’ from the menu, a box will pop up with options to move all selected files into a sub-folder with a name you decide, or move each file to individual sub-folders based on their names (e.g. lennon.bat -> .\lennon\lennon.bat), or move each file to a sub-folder according to file extensions.
To avoid making a mistake that would be hard to correct, just copy some of your groups to test their location and experiment with the program’s options to make sure it works as you need to do. Enjoy!
