Auto Folder Creation

A couple of brother-in-laws run a contracting business and to help them a bit with organization I wrote a script that anytime a new folder is created in a specified location, a series of subfolders are created in the new folder. Let me show you what I mean.

Once the the “New Job” folder is created the Plan, Permit, CustomerInfo and choices folder are created underneath it.

Powershell Script

We use the System.IO.FileSystemWatcher .Net class to watch for folders created in our directory. The script is fairly simple and short but we create a FilesSystemWatcher ($fsw) event (Register-ObjectEvent) that create waits for a “Created” event to happen. Once the “Created” event happens the subfolder creation action ($Action) happens.

Write-Host "Creating File System Watcher" -fore green 
$folder = 'C:\Users\ahpet\Documents\TestCreate'
$filter = '*.*'  # You can enter a wildcard filter here.
$fsw = New-Object IO.FileSystemWatcher $folder, $filter -Property  @{IncludeSubdirectories = $false; NotifyFilter = [IO.NotifyFilters]'DirectoryName'}
$fsw.EnableRaisingEvents = $true

# Subfolder Creation Action
$Action = { 
    $folder = 'C:\Users\ahpet\Documents\TestCreate'
    $name = $Event.SourceEventArgs.Name 
    $changeType = $Event.SourceEventArgs.ChangeType 
    $Event.SourceEventArgs
    $timeStamp = $Event.TimeGenerated 
    $subfolders = @("Plan", "Permit", "Info", "Choices") #Subfolders to create
    Write-Host "The folder '$name' was $changeType at $timeStamp" -fore green 
    foreach ($subfolder in $subfolders) {
	    $path = $folder + "\" + $name + "\" + $subfolder
        if (!(Test-Path $path)) # If subfolder hasn't been created
        {
            mkdir $path #create subfolder
        }
	    else
	    {
	        write-host "Folder exists " + $path 
	    }
    }

 }

Write-Host "Registering File System Watcher" -fore green 
$handlers = . {
    Register-ObjectEvent -InputObject $fsw -EventName Created -SourceIdentifier FolderCreated -Action $Action
}
try
{
    # Loop that keeps script running until script is ended
    do
    {
        Wait-Event -Timeout 5
        
    } while ($true)
}
finally #Once script is ending then stop events and dispose of $fsw
{
    Unregister-Event -SourceIdentifier FolderCreated
    $handlers | Remove-Job
    $fsw.EnableRaisingEvents = $false
    $fsw.Dispose()
}

starting script and startup and running in background

WindowsTaskScheduler

Startup Command

Signing Script

To create folders automatically use following script

1. Modify file to run from appropriate locations- In FolderWatcher.ps1 File modify $folder variable to point to correct directory (in both locations)- Modify $subfolders variables with any variables to change2. Put file in location and make note of location and modify startupFolderCreate.cmd file to point to FolderWatcher.ps1 file location.3. change log file location to log file on computer
2. hit Windows+R type shell:startup to get to startup location.4. Paste startupFolderCreate.cmd into startup location5.