Get list of sub-directories in VBA

Updated July 2014: Added PowerShell option and cut back the second code to list folders only

The methods below that run a full recursive process in place of FileSearch which was deprecated in Office 2007. (The later two codes use Excel for output only – this output can be removed for running in Word)

  1. Shell PowerShell
  2. Using FSO with Dir for filtering file type. Sourced from this EE answer which sits behind the EE paywall. This is longer than what you asked for (a list of folders) but i think it is useful as it gives you an array of results to work further with
  3. Using Dir. This example comes from my answer I supplied on another site

1. Using PowerShell to dump all folders below C:\temp into a csv file

Sub Comesfast()
X2 = Shell("powershell.exe Get-ChildItem c:\temp -Recurse | ?{ $_.PSIsContainer } | export-csv C:\temp\filename.csv", 1)
End Sub

2. Using FileScriptingObject to dump all folders below C:\temp into Excel

Public Arr() As String
Public Counter As Long

Sub LoopThroughFilePaths()
Dim myArr
Dim strPath As String
strPath = "c:\temp\"
myArr = GetSubFolders(strPath)
[A1].Resize(UBound(myArr, 1), 1) = Application.Transpose(myArr)
End Sub


Function GetSubFolders(RootPath As String)
Dim fso As Object
Dim fld As Object
Dim sf As Object
Dim myArr

Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set fld = fso.GetFolder(RootPath)
For Each sf In fld.SUBFOLDERS
    ReDim Preserve Arr(Counter)
    Arr(Counter) = sf.Path
    Counter = Counter + 1
    myArr = GetSubFolders(sf.Path)
Next
GetSubFolders = Arr
Set sf = Nothing
Set fld = Nothing
Set fso = Nothing
End Function

3 Using Dir

    Option Explicit

    Public StrArray()
    Public lngCnt As Long
    Public b_OS_XP As Boolean

    Public Enum MP3Tags
    '  See http://www.kixtart.org/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=160880&page=1 for OS specific attribute lists
    XP_Artist = 16
    XP_AlbumTitle = 17
    XP_SongTitle = 10
    XP_TrackNumber = 19
    XP_RecordingYear = 18
    XP_Genre = 20
    XP_Duration = 21
    XP_BitRate = 22
    Vista_W7_Artist = 13
    Vista_W7_AlbumTitle = 14
    Vista_W7_SongTitle = 21
    Vista_W7_TrackNumber = 26
    Vista_W7_RecordingYear = 15
    Vista_W7_Genre = 16
    Vista_W7_Duration = 17
    Vista_W7_BitRate = 28
    End Enum

    Public Sub Main()
    Dim objws
    Dim objWMIService
    Dim colOperatingSystems
    Dim objOperatingSystem
    Dim objFSO
    Dim objFolder
    Dim Wb As Workbook
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    Dim strobjFolderPath As String
    Dim strOS As String
    Dim strMyDoc As String
    Dim strComputer As String

   'Setup Application for the user
    With Application
        .ScreenUpdating = False
        .DisplayAlerts = False
    End With    

    'reset public variables
    lngCnt = 0
    ReDim StrArray(1 To 10, 1 To 1000)

    ' Use wscript to automatically locate the My Documents directory
    Set objws = CreateObject("wscript.shell")
    strMyDoc = objws.SpecialFolders("MyDocuments")


    strComputer = "."
    Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" & "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
    Set colOperatingSystems = objWMIService.ExecQuery("Select * from Win32_OperatingSystem")
    For Each objOperatingSystem In colOperatingSystems
        strOS = objOperatingSystem.Caption
    Next

    Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    If InStr(strOS, "XP") Then
        b_OS_XP = True
    Else
        b_OS_XP = False
    End If


    ' Format output sheet
    Set Wb = Workbooks.Add(1)
    Set ws = Wb.Worksheets(1)
    ws.[a1] = Now()
    ws.[a2] = strOS
    ws.[a3] = strMyDoc
    ws.[a1:a3].HorizontalAlignment = xlLeft

    ws.[A4:J4].Value = Array("Folder", "File", "Artist", "Album Title", "Song Title", "Track Number", "Recording Year", "Genre", "Duration", "Bit Rate")
    ws.Range([a1], [j4]).Font.Bold = True
    ws.Rows(5).Select
    ActiveWindow.FreezePanes = True


    Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    Set objFolder = objFSO.GetFolder(strMyDoc)

    ' Start the code to gather the files
    ShowSubFolders objFolder, True
    ShowSubFolders objFolder, False

    If lngCnt > 0 Then
        ' Finalise output
        With ws.Range(ws.[a5], ws.Cells(5 + lngCnt - 1, 10))
            .Value2 = Application.Transpose(StrArray)
            .Offset(-1, 0).Resize(Rows.Count - 3, 10).AutoFilter
            .Offset(-4, 0).Resize(Rows.Count, 10).Columns.AutoFit
        End With
        ws.[a1].Activate
    Else
        MsgBox "No files found!", vbCritical
        Wb.Close False
    End If

    ' tidy up

    Set objFSO = Nothing
    Set objws = Nothing

    With Application
        .ScreenUpdating = True
        .DisplayAlerts = True
        .StatusBar = vbNullString
    End With
    End Sub

    Sub ShowSubFolders(ByVal objFolder, bRootFolder As Boolean)
    Dim objShell
    Dim objShellFolder
    Dim objShellFolderItem
    Dim colFolders
    Dim objSubfolder


    'strName must be a variant, as ParseName does not work with a string argument
    Dim strFname
    Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
    Set colFolders = objFolder.SubFolders
    Application.StatusBar = "Processing " & objFolder.Path

    If bRootFolder Then
        Set objSubfolder = objFolder
        GoTo OneTimeRoot
    End If

    For Each objSubfolder In colFolders
        'check to see if root directory files are to be processed
    OneTimeRoot:
        strFname = Dir(objSubfolder.Path & "\*.mp3")
        Set objShellFolder = objShell.Namespace(objSubfolder.Path)
        Do While Len(strFname) > 0
            lngCnt = lngCnt + 1
            If lngCnt Mod 1000 = 0 Then ReDim Preserve StrArray(1 To 10, 1 To (lngCnt + 1000))
            Set objShellFolderItem = objShellFolder.ParseName(strFname)
            StrArray(1, lngCnt) = objSubfolder
            StrArray(2, lngCnt) = strFname
            If b_OS_XP Then
                StrArray(3, lngCnt) = objShellFolder.GetDetailsOf(objShellFolderItem, MP3Tags.XP_Artist)
                StrArray(4, lngCnt) = objShellFolder.GetDetailsOf(objShellFolderItem, MP3Tags.XP_AlbumTitle)
                StrArray(5, lngCnt) = objShellFolder.GetDetailsOf(objShellFolderItem, MP3Tags.XP_SongTitle)
                StrArray(6, lngCnt) = objShellFolder.GetDetailsOf(objShellFolderItem, MP3Tags.XP_TrackNumber)
                StrArray(7, lngCnt) = objShellFolder.GetDetailsOf(objShellFolderItem, MP3Tags.XP_RecordingYear)
                StrArray(8, lngCnt) = objShellFolder.GetDetailsOf(objShellFolderItem, MP3Tags.XP_Genre)
                StrArray(9, lngCnt) = objShellFolder.GetDetailsOf(objShellFolderItem, MP3Tags.XP_Duration)
                StrArray(10, lngCnt) = objShellFolder.GetDetailsOf(objShellFolderItem, MP3Tags.XP_BitRate)
            Else
                StrArray(3, lngCnt) = objShellFolder.GetDetailsOf(objShellFolderItem, MP3Tags.Vista_W7_Artist)
                StrArray(4, lngCnt) = objShellFolder.GetDetailsOf(objShellFolderItem, MP3Tags.Vista_W7_AlbumTitle)
                StrArray(5, lngCnt) = objShellFolder.GetDetailsOf(objShellFolderItem, MP3Tags.Vista_W7_SongTitle)
                StrArray(6, lngCnt) = objShellFolder.GetDetailsOf(objShellFolderItem, MP3Tags.Vista_W7_TrackNumber)
                StrArray(7, lngCnt) = objShellFolder.GetDetailsOf(objShellFolderItem, MP3Tags.Vista_W7_RecordingYear)
                StrArray(8, lngCnt) = objShellFolder.GetDetailsOf(objShellFolderItem, MP3Tags.Vista_W7_Genre)
                StrArray(9, lngCnt) = objShellFolder.GetDetailsOf(objShellFolderItem, MP3Tags.Vista_W7_Duration)
                StrArray(10, lngCnt) = objShellFolder.GetDetailsOf(objShellFolderItem, MP3Tags.Vista_W7_BitRate)
            End If
            strFname = Dir
        Loop
        If bRootFolder Then
            bRootFolder = False
            Exit Sub
        End If
        ShowSubFolders objSubfolder, False
    Next
    End Sub

Leave a Comment