Folder Manifest

Folder Manifest is a free and open-source software application that lists all files and folders from a specified directory, in addition to properties such as timestamps, sizes and assembly versions.

It's practical for those who want to generate reports on relevant documents, videos, programs and other types of files before reinstalling Windows, for backup, or for solely organizing data more efficiently.

Installing it doesn't take long, but you should make sure to have .NET Framework, since it was made with the help of this software framework. The interface consists of a single control panel as well as a new entry integrated into the Windows Explorer right-click menu for quickly listing all contents of a selected directory.

The main window looks common and is easy to navigate. All customization properties are visible, giving you an overview before proceeding with operations. Once the full path of a folder is indicated using the tree view, Folder Manifest automatically shows the full path of all containing files.

It's possible to make subfolder searching recursive, display the subfolder names, or show assembly versions along with the time and size. Instead of the full path listing, the utility can reveal each path as a header line, or display only the file name. Columns can be separated by tabs while information can be refreshed with the click of a button if any modifications have been made in the meantime in the given directory.

The disappointment of this application is that it doesn't implement options for printing or exporting information to file. You can only select and copy contents to the Clipboard to paste them in a text editor and save a personal document. Another useful setting would've been filtering files by extension.

Despite these aspects, Folder Manifest proves to be a handy tool for creating reports with all file records from a given directory, helping you keep track of sensitive data. Operations were executed fast in our tests while CPU and RAM usage was minimal.