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Forum Discussion
Creating an index with dropbox links to all files in the directory.
Hi Everyone,
I work as a paralegal and routinely have a need to create hyperlinked indices to shared directories on dropbox. I work on a PC, and I've been manually copying dropbox links to files and inserting them into excel to create my indexes, but there are sometimes thousands of files in the directory, which takes forever. Does anyone know a way to automate the task of copying the hyperlinks from a dropbox directory and pasting them into excel?
I downloaded Directory List & Print Pro to help with this task, and it's great at creating hyperlinked indices, but it does not work with dropbox through my File Explorer--my dropbox folders won't even show as an option in the program. I
n my current project I have about 5000 files I need indexed with dropbox links. Does anyone have a solution?
- Megan
Dropbox Staff
Hi there Meerkatps, I hope you're doing well!
At the moment, there's no official way for you to automate the task of copying hyperlinks from a Dropbox directory or mass creating shared links and pasting them into Excel.
Of course, you can do it with a third-party involved.
You could always put all the files into a shared folder, and share them. However, I am assuming you need individual shared links for each file, right?
I hope this helps.Hi Megan,
I have this same question. What is the method with a third party involved?
This is late but I have a solution.
I do this exact thing using Karen's Director Printer. Here's my process:
1. Download, install "Karen's Directory Printer". Launch it and navigate to the DropBox folder.
1a. Make your index:
Choose the top-level folder. Select the fields you'd like to be in your index spreadsheet (file sizes, names, dates etc)
1b. Capture text for hyperlinks:
Use following settings: check "Full Name (Path+File)" and "File Name without Extension". Check "Omit Comment..." and "Omit File...". save the output
2. Open the resulting text file in a text editor (I like TextPad)
3. Select the file location to highlight everything up to the parent folder you're after. e.g. take 'C:\users\user\DropBox\etc\" and replace it with =HYPERLINK("
This is what it should look like after step 3:
=HYPERLINK("CASENAME\SUBFOLDER\PREFIX-000001.pdf"[invisible tab character]PREFIX-00001
Note: This next step is necessary only if you prefer to display a name that is shorter than the whole path. You can use any text you prefer for the displayed link. If your file names are organized by Bates, Exhibit, etc, you'll likely want to use the file name like I am in this sample. If the files have descriptive titles, you can use "file name without extension" in step 1, or uncheck it if the full path is what you'd like to display in the cell.
4. Highlight the invisible tab character between the path and the file name (sans-extension). Search/Replace it with ","
5. on a new line, paste ") at the end of the first line to close your hyperlink. (I set a text macro to 'end-of-file')
6. select all text, and paste it into an Excel spreadsheet.
7. Save the .xlsx file to a location that is ONE LEVEL above the top-level folder (in this example it would be inside the 'ect' folder, which would just have this spreadsheet and the CASENAME folder)
You now have relative hyperlinks.. I know this sounds complicated and I might have gotten overly granular.. the basic process is "capture your text from Karen's, search and replace it with relative hyperlinks, and paste it into the right folder". Once you get the process down, you'll spend more time formatting and prettying up the index than you do.
Anyone managed to do this on a mac? We can't use solution above because Karen's Directory Printer is only for Windows.
- Yes, the same principle applies. I’m sure there are equivalent programs, but if your discovery Is in one place, do this:
1. open terminal and type “ls “ then drag the top level folder into the terminal. Then just add > and provide a filename, like so: “ls /Foldername/Subfoldername > OutputFileNameYouChoose.txt”
2. Using whichever text editor you prefer, search and replace so the file list looks like =HYPERLINK (/Foldername/Subfoldername/[filename].[extension]”,”Displsyname”).
3. Open the list in Excel. The links will not work. Then define the hyperlink base by using Properties>Summary and selecting the source folder.
4. Click on your beautiful, functional relative hyperlinks
