Guest still Posted July 14, 2008 Posted July 14, 2008 Hi all, I've got a folder with about 3000 pictures. My sister has gone through and made a list of pictures she wants to remove in excel (instead of actually deleting them). She now wants to get rid of the files on the list. I was hoping there is a way of using the excel list to delete the files automatically. One thing to note is that the file names have spaces so I'm not sure how that will affect this. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Guest db.·.. > Posted July 14, 2008 Posted July 14, 2008 Re: Removing files based on a list actually there is, however it would be simply easier to use a program designed to index files/folders and manage them by with the right click method or menu bar options. you see what you are trying to do is to re invent the wheel. the list you made in excel is simply an index or table of pic files and because i would guess you don't have a year or so to learn computer programming, just use a freeware from microsoft called windows desktop search. another tool that does the same as above is the windows explorer search assistant feature that comes with windows already the search assistant will build an index and then you can save that listing as a file and to the desktop, then you can maintain that index by adding or deleting files. -- db·´¯`·...¸><)))º> "still" <still@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:62BB7150-72F8-42BB-8954-95C051EB9576@microsoft.com... > Hi all, > > I've got a folder with about 3000 pictures. My sister has gone through and > made a list of pictures she wants to remove in excel (instead of actually > deleting them). She now wants to get rid of the files on the list. I was > hoping there is a way of using the excel list to delete the files > automatically. One thing to note is that the file names have spaces so I'm > not sure how that will affect this. > > Any help is greatly appreciated.
Guest still Posted July 14, 2008 Posted July 14, 2008 Re: Removing files based on a list Thanks for the reply. I'm just having a bit of a problem understanding what I need to do with windows desktop search to delete the files i have listed in my excel file. My excel file, as you said, is a list of filenames like Washington 001, Washington 004, Washington 009, ... . Now that I have this list, I want to load it into a program/script and let it delete them from the folder, instead of me going and deleting them one by one and potentially make a mistake reading from the list and deleting the wrong file. I'm not sure if what I want makes complete sense. I'm not very familiar with desktop search (although I have it installed) so I don't know how I could tell it to use my list and delete the files on that list. Once again thanks for your help. "db.·.. ><))) ·>` .. ." wrote: > actually there is, > > however it would be simply > easier to use a program designed > to index files/folders and > manage them by with the > right click method or menu > bar options. > > you see what you are trying to > do is to re invent the wheel. > > the list you made in excel is > simply an index or table of > pic files and because i would > guess you don't have a year or > so to learn computer programming, > just use a freeware from > microsoft called windows > desktop search. > > another tool that does the same > as above is the windows explorer > search assistant feature that comes > with windows already > > the search assistant will build > an index and then you can save > that listing as a file and to the > desktop, then you can maintain that > index by adding or deleting files. > > -- > > db·´¯`·...¸><)))º> > > "still" <still@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message > news:62BB7150-72F8-42BB-8954-95C051EB9576@microsoft.com... > > Hi all, > > > > I've got a folder with about 3000 pictures. My sister has gone through and > > made a list of pictures she wants to remove in excel (instead of actually > > deleting them). She now wants to get rid of the files on the list. I was > > hoping there is a way of using the excel list to delete the files > > automatically. One thing to note is that the file names have spaces so I'm > > not sure how that will affect this. > > > > Any help is greatly appreciated. > >
Guest Tim Slattery Posted July 14, 2008 Posted July 14, 2008 Re: Removing files based on a list still <still@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote: >Hi all, > >I've got a folder with about 3000 pictures. My sister has gone through and >made a list of pictures she wants to remove in excel (instead of actually >deleting them). She now wants to get rid of the files on the list. I was >hoping there is a way of using the excel list to delete the files >automatically. One thing to note is that the file names have spaces so I'm >not sure how that will affect this. Hmm..I'd save the spreadsheet as a text file. Then open it in a text editor and add delete " at the beginning of each line, and " at the end. Then save it as something.bat or something.cmd, preferably in the directory where the images are (will make it easier to invoke). Now open a command window, navigate to the directory in question and invoke it: something.cmd -- Tim Slattery MS MVP(Shell/User) Slattery_T@bls.gov http://members.cox.net/slatteryt
Guest still Posted July 14, 2008 Posted July 14, 2008 Re: Removing files based on a list Thanks Tim, great solution. I can do this easily in excel just write a formula with 'delete "' in front. Thanks again. "Tim Slattery" wrote: > still <still@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote: > > >Hi all, > > > >I've got a folder with about 3000 pictures. My sister has gone through and > >made a list of pictures she wants to remove in excel (instead of actually > >deleting them). She now wants to get rid of the files on the list. I was > >hoping there is a way of using the excel list to delete the files > >automatically. One thing to note is that the file names have spaces so I'm > >not sure how that will affect this. > > Hmm..I'd save the spreadsheet as a text file. Then open it in a text > editor and add > > delete " > > at the beginning of each line, and > > " > > at the end. Then save it as something.bat or something.cmd, preferably > in the directory where the images are (will make it easier to invoke). > Now open a command window, navigate to the directory in question and > invoke it: > > something.cmd > > -- > Tim Slattery > MS MVP(Shell/User) > Slattery_T@bls.gov > http://members.cox.net/slatteryt >
Guest John John (MVP) Posted July 14, 2008 Posted July 14, 2008 Re: Removing files based on a list Export the Excel filelist to a text file then run a batch command against the fileset: for /f "usebackq delims=" %%A in ("c:\dirlist.txt") do echo "%%A" The above will echo the filelist, to delete the files replace echo in the above command with del . Note that files deleted at the command prompt or with batch files do not go to the Recycle Bin, they are permanently deleted! It may be safer to MOVE the files then examine the results and delete the file from their new location: md c:\test for /f "usebackq delims=" %%A in ("c:\dirlist.txt") do move "%%A" C:\Test or make sure you have a backup before you run the batch file! If the filelist only contains names (filename.jpg) as opposed to fully qualified filenames and path, (C:\Folder Name\filename.jpg) put the filename.txt file and the batch file in the same folder as the pictures and from a command prompt navigate to the folder and launch the batch file from within the containing folder. The batcg commmand will look for the files in the folder where it was launched. John still wrote: > Hi all, > > I've got a folder with about 3000 pictures. My sister has gone through and > made a list of pictures she wants to remove in excel (instead of actually > deleting them). She now wants to get rid of the files on the list. I was > hoping there is a way of using the excel list to delete the files > automatically. One thing to note is that the file names have spaces so I'm > not sure how that will affect this. > > Any help is greatly appreciated.
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