Do you have a need to create a folder with the current date as the folder name?  I create a “Received” folder in each job folder structure.  When I get new files I put them in a subfolder with the current date formatted as 2010-05-27 so they sort chronologically. 

I do this so often that I wanted to put a command in Windows Explorer that would create the folder for me automatically.  Now, I can browse to any folder, right click on a folder, and pick the command New (DATE) Folder.  No typing, one click and it is done.  To add this command to the Context Menu in Windows Explorer I did a quick and easy edit to the registry.  I have used this registry hack for years in WinXP but found no blog posts on how to do the same in Win 7….until now.

Thanks goes to Ralph Arvesen for his post which pointed me in the right direction.

Before you begin you must change the Windows System date format under Regional Settings in Control Panel.  You cannot use / in the date format since this is an invalid character for folder names.  Change the / to – in the date format.  You cannot skip this step.  Your date format must contain valid characters for folder names.  That’s all the ID-10-T error trapping I can offer.

Below are the steps to add the New (DATE) Folder to Windows Explorer’s Context Menu in Windows 7. 

Use WindowsKey+R to get the Run dialog open and type Regedit

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\cmd]

Add a new Key

New (DATE) Folder

               (Add another New Key under this key called “command” and you get the following

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\cmd\New (DATE) Folder\command]

Rclick Modify the Default value for command key and type the following

CMD.EXE /C MD “%1\%%DATE%%”

Try it.  Open Windows Explorer.  Browse to a folder. Right Click and pick New (DATE) Folder.