Automatic flowchart from Windows directories/folders

[enor]

Hello,

I wish to create an automatically updating flowchart from my folders. There is a lot of them so I wish to avoid having to manually enter them into MS visio or something. I wish to do this so that I could better document and navigate my folders, files and what is in them. If it matters, they are on a network drive btw.

Is there any software that would allow me to do this? 

[Bombastinator]

1 hour ago, enor said:

Hello,

I wish to create an automatically updating flowchart from my folders. There is a lot of them so I wish to avoid having to manually enter them into MS visio or something. I wish to do this so that I could better document and navigate my folders, files and what is in them. If it matters, they are on a network drive btw.

Is there any software that would allow me to do this? 

Excel can.  Probably others as well.

[Avocado Diaboli]

1 hour ago, enor said:

I wish to do this so that I could better document and navigate my folders, files and what is in them.

 

I feel like this hints at a different problem you're having, i.e. that you have a confusing or unnecessarily fragmented way of organizing your files. If you have trouble navigating your folders, a flowchart isn't going to solve the problem, it's at best a crutch, a cheat sheet you always have to have on hand in order to interact with your file structure. I think you'd be better served by a search tool to find files and figure out a way to simplify your folder structure, if it's really this unwieldy. I recommend something like Everything, which can also search network drives.

 

[enor]

2 hours ago, Avocado Diaboli said:

 

I feel like this hints at a different problem you're having, i.e. that you have a confusing or unnecessarily fragmented way of organizing your files. If you have trouble navigating your folders, a flowchart isn't going to solve the problem, it's at best a crutch, a cheat sheet you always have to have on hand in order to interact with your file structure. I think you'd be better served by a search tool to find files and figure out a way to simplify your folder structure, if it's really this unwieldy. I recommend something like Everything, which can also search network drives.

 

Sometimes you just have no choice other than to have complex file structures. Especially when working with old GIS software. I need this documentation so that my coworkers aren't in trouble if I get sick or ran over by a bus.

[Avocado Diaboli]

1 hour ago, enor said:

Sometimes you just have no choice other than to have complex file structures. Especially when working with old GIS software. I need this documentation so that my coworkers aren't in trouble if I get sick or ran over by a bus.

Sure, but what exactly are you trying to represent in that flowchart? Maybe you're using the wrong term here and this is a misunderstanding: A flowchart is a document that shows you a process from start to end, where you list a couple of steps as well as potential decisions you might encounter within the process and how to resolve them (simple questions where a yes-or-no answer decide what step you need to take afterwards). Something like this:

 

 

I don't see how you'd need something like this that automatically updates, the process should, once it's defined, stay the same every time.

 

You might want to rephrase your question and give us an example of what exactly you intend to represent and how.

If you just want a naked readout of all the folders and files, that's fairly simple. Here's a guide on how to do it, probably best if you use the PowerShell method to generate a CSV file. Maybe what you require can be done with something like this.