<p>you can open sound files in multiple folders into Raven Pro by using &quot;list files&quot;, as described on pages 195 - 196 of the Raven Pro User's Manual, which you can open from the Help menu.</p>
<p>A list file is just a text file listing the full path of every sound file you want to open.</p>
<pre><code>C:\SOUNDS\demo\20220606\2022-06-06 15_26.wav
C:\SOUNDS\demo\20220610\2022-06-10 09_04.wav
C:\SOUNDS\demo\20220721\2022-07-21 08_16.wav
</code></pre>
<p>You can create this manually using a text editor or automatically using a wide variety of applications. For example, from Windows Command Prompt you could navigate to the root directory of the sound files you want to open and type the following. This should result in a text file named &quot;listfile.txt&quot; being written that has in it the full path of all the .wav files in the current directory and all its subdirectories.</p>
<pre><code>dir *.wav /s/b/ a-d &gt; listfile.txt
</code></pre>
<p>If you prefer an application with a graphical user interface, <a href="https://freecommander.com/en/downloads/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">FreeCommander XE</a> would be one option. Navigate to the root directory of the sounds you want to open. Select &quot;<strong>View &gt; Plain View - Files</strong>&quot;. Select all the files you want to appear in your list file and then select &quot;<strong>Edit &gt; Copy to Clipboard &gt; Copy Item Path To ClipBoard</strong>&quot;. Then paste into an empty file in your favorite text editor.</p>
<p>When opening many sound files in Raven it is generally a good idea to use paged sound windows, as described in Chapter 7 of the Raven Pro User's Manual, to avoid memory management issues.</p>
<p>I think that the routine use of list files, even if all your sound files are in the same folder, is advisable. List files are a good way of documenting which sound files were used in your analysis, and help ensure that you open exactly the same sound files time after time.</p>
<p>By the way, contacting <strong><a href="https://ravensoundsoftware.com/request-support/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Raven Support</a></strong> is a great way to get timely Raven support.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-06T13:47:24.153Z
2023-03-06T13:47:24.153Z
Michael Pitzrick
<p>I want to open multiple wav files in sequence in Raven Pro, but they are stored in multiple sub-folders (one per day). Do you know if this is possible, or if I have to save all my files in the same folders ?
Thank you
Maëlle</p>

<raven><wav>
Open files stored in multiple folders in Raven Pro
# Open files stored in multiple folders in Raven Pro

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-01-17)

I want to open multiple wav files in sequence in Raven Pro, but they are stored in multiple sub-folders (one per day). Do you know if this is possible, or if I have to save all my files in the same folders ?
Thank you
Maëlle

**Tags:** raven, wav


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2023-03-06. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

you can open sound files in multiple folders into Raven Pro by using "list files", as described on pages 195 - 196 of the Raven Pro User's Manual, which you can open from the Help menu.

A list file is just a text file listing the full path of every sound file you want to open.

```
C:\SOUNDS\demo\20220606\2022-06-06 15_26.wav
C:\SOUNDS\demo\20220610\2022-06-10 09_04.wav
C:\SOUNDS\demo\20220721\2022-07-21 08_16.wav

```

You can create this manually using a text editor or automatically using a wide variety of applications. For example, from Windows Command Prompt you could navigate to the root directory of the sound files you want to open and type the following. This should result in a text file named "listfile.txt" being written that has in it the full path of all the .wav files in the current directory and all its subdirectories.

```
dir *.wav /s/b/ a-d > listfile.txt

```

If you prefer an application with a graphical user interface, [FreeCommander XE](https://freecommander.com/en/downloads/) would be one option. Navigate to the root directory of the sounds you want to open. Select "**View > Plain View - Files**". Select all the files you want to appear in your list file and then select "**Edit > Copy to Clipboard > Copy Item Path To ClipBoard**". Then paste into an empty file in your favorite text editor.

When opening many sound files in Raven it is generally a good idea to use paged sound windows, as described in Chapter 7 of the Raven Pro User's Manual, to avoid memory management issues.

I think that the routine use of list files, even if all your sound files are in the same folder, is advisable. List files are a good way of documenting which sound files were used in your analysis, and help ensure that you open exactly the same sound files time after time.

By the way, contacting **[Raven Support](https://ravensoundsoftware.com/request-support/)** is a great way to get timely Raven support.


---

