Microsoft Excel Tips & Tricks for CJA Cases: Filename Lists

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By Alex Roberts

This post is part of an ongoing series of videos on how Microsoft Excel can help CJA practitioners (including attorneys, paralegals, investigators, and mitigation specialists) in their CJA cases.

Today’s Post: Filename Lists

When working with discovery, investigative documents, or other case-related materials, it is often helpful to have a list of filenames in an Excel table.

There are times when the government produces to defense counsel digital files where the name of the file indicates something about the file content without a user having to open each file individually.

For example, the government may produce a list of investigative reports in PDF format which, as part of the file name, has the date of the report, the type of report (e.g. FBI 302) and the author. In those instances, it can be beneficial to create a spreadsheet of the filenames and information about the files for later review and organization. Even in instances where the filename is only the Bates number of the file, it can be useful to have a spreadsheet of those numbers.

Microsoft Excel is a useful tool for generating such a filename list. When properly setup, Excel allows users to sort, filter and search for specific files based on different criteria. Fields can be created and associated such as comments, document type, review status, dates and related issues. Additionally, hyperlinks to a specific file or folder can be created for quick and easy access to an item. We will examine these functions in greater detail in future videos.

This video will demonstrate how lists can quickly be created and recommendations to follow when setting up a file list. The video looks at three methods for creating filename lists:

  • Method 1: Creating a query table by running the “Get Folder Data” process that is currently available in the newer “Office 365” version of Excel.
  • Method 2: Using the “Copy Path” process available in Windows File Explorer.
  • Method 3: Using a “File List Program” specifically designed for creating a list of files in Excel format (ex: Directory List and Print).