Summary

Filename values need to be included in the Excel load file (ensuring they match the names of the files exactly to allow for a smooth upload), alongside the Folder Path column depending on the content of the bundles. 

We've set out below how to extract the Filenames and Folder Paths via two methods. 

File Directory Listing

The most efficient approach to extracting filenames and folder paths will be to ask your IT team to produce a directory listing of all files within a folder structure (including subfolders), which will generate a list of the full folder paths. The folder paths can be included in Excel and your IT team should be able to extract the filenames into a separate column. 

These filenames can then be copied + pasted into the load file, along with the folder paths in a separate column if needed.

Copy as Path (Windows OS)

The folder path can be copied from File Explorer and the filenames can be subsequently extracted using Excel however this is only on a folder-by-folder basis so may be cumbersome for large folder structures.  

  1. Select the Documents - Open File Explorer, navigate to the relevant folder and highlight all files in the folder (Ctrl + A). 
  2. Copy as Path - On the keyboard, hold Shift + Right-Click on the highlighted entries, select Copy As Path to copy the file path of the highlighted documents. 
  3. Add Paths to Excel - Paste the paths into an Excel spreadsheet.  
  4. Extract Filename - Remove the folder path from the file path to leave just the filename, i.e. C:\Documents\Claimant's Expert Reports\First Expert Report of X.pdf becomes First Expert Report of X.pdf. To do so within Excel: 
    1. Highlight the cells containing the file paths. 
    2. Open the Find & Replace tool, by pressing Ctrl + H on the keyboard or within the Data tab, selecting Find & Replace. 
    3. Copy the prefix section of the folder path that you wish to remove, i.e. C:\Documents\Claimant’s Expert Reports\ and paste this into the Find what: box. Leave the Replace with: box empty. Press Replace All to find all instances of the prefix and replace it with nothing, effectively leaving just the end filename, i.e. First Expert Report of X.pdf. 
  5. Copy into Load File - Re-order the filenames as required and copy the data into the Excel load file.