Working with image files in large number often requires that we have a list of all those image files. One use of having a file list is that we can keep crossing out the files that we have edited or modified. It becomes a to-do list or have-done list.
We can easily create such a file list for all the image files inside a folder manually by typing their names inside a text file using Windows Notepad. But a much faster method is through the use of a powerful image viewer called XnView.
Here is how we can easily create a list of all the images in a folder using XnView:
- Launch XnView and browse to the folder for which you want to create the file list.
- Select the folder in the XnView explorer and then select Create → File Listing from the menubar. Alternatively, you can simply press the hotkey Shift+L after selecting a folder in XnView.
- A small window will popup from which you can choose a number of options for the file list. You can choose the list to have a header, filenames (with or without full paths), file sizes in selected units, file types, file modification dates, date extracted from EXIF metadata of images, file properties, file description, file comments, and more. The list can be set to include sub-folders too. Clicking on the OK button will create the list and display it in Windows Notepad.
You can also choose to save the list in CSV file format which can be opened using Microsoft Office or LibreOffice. There is also an option to just copy the plain-text version of the file list into the clipboard directly.
If you select an empty folder that has no files, then it will not show any list. If you try to create a file list of an empty folder then it will not display any list at all.
You can download and install XnView from https://www.xnview.com/. They also have portable versions available if you want to run it without installing.