Folder Templates
Version 2 — rebuilt from scratch

Every new project, laid out right.

Keep a folder the way you like new projects to start. Folder Templates asks a few questions, then builds the whole thing for you: folders created, files named, and their contents filled in.

You see exactly what it will make before it makes it, and it won't touch anything that's already there unless you say so.

Download for Windows View on GitHub

Free and open source. No account, no telemetry, no admin rights to install.

Generating from a template: answers on the left, a live preview of the folders and files it will create on the right.

See it first

A live preview shows every folder and file it will create, updating as you type.

Never clobbers

If the folder already exists, it stops and asks: add what's missing, replace, or leave it be.

Right-click away

Right-click inside any folder in Explorer, pick a template, done. Send To works too.

Keeps your 1.0 templates

Same template format, same shortcuts, same command-line flags. Nothing to convert.

How it works

A template is just a folder.

No special format to learn. Lay a folder out the way every new project should start, and mark the bits that change.

1

Lay it out

Folders, starter files, the logo you always paste in. Whatever a new project needs.

2

Mark what changes

Write {client} in a name, or {{$client}} inside a file. The editor spots them and turns them into questions.

3

Generate anywhere

Answer the questions, check the preview, and it builds the folder where you want it.

The template 
{client} - {project}/
├─ 01 Brief/
│  └─ {project} brief.md.ft$
├─ 02 Design/
├─ README.md.ft$
└─ .ft/template.json
What you get 
Acme Studio - Spring Campaign/
├─ 01 Brief/
│  └─ Spring Campaign brief.md  filled in
├─ 02 Design/
└─ README.md  filled in

Files ending in .ft$ get their {{$tokens}} filled in; everything else is copied exactly. The hidden .ft folder holds the questions and is never copied.

What it does

Small tool, sharp edges filed off.

Everything the original did, plus the parts you used to do by hand in Explorer.

Live preview

The folder tree it will create, renamed and badged as you type. Click a filled-in file to see its contents before and after.

Files filled in

Tokens inside files become the client, the date, the title. Everything else is copied byte for byte, images included.

Safe with existing folders

Stops by default. Choose to add only what's missing, or to replace files — and a replace that fails keeps the original.

A proper template editor

Name, describe and arrange the questions, with problems flagged as you type. Turn any folder into a template in a minute.

Token scanner

Finds every token in names and files, offers to turn new ones into questions, and catches tokens sitting in files that won't be filled in.

Pattern tester

For the power users: rename with full .NET regular expressions and see exactly which names a pattern will change.

A library, not a scavenger hunt

Point it at the folders where you keep templates. Search them, pin favourites, and pick up recent ones.

Built into Explorer

Right-click menus and Send To shortcuts, for your account only. No administrator rights needed.

Scriptable

An ft command for scripts and build steps, which also understands the 1.0 console's flags.

The template editor

Make a template without the guesswork.

Drop any folder on the app and it offers to turn it into a template. The editor finds the tokens you've written, turns them into questions, and tells you when something won't do what you expect.

  • Scan: tokens found, and the ones that won't be filled in
  • Files: switch content filling on or off per file
  • Pattern tester: see what a rename rule will change
  • Try it: preview your unsaved changes with sample answers
  • Names Windows won't accept are caught before anything is written
The template editor with the Scan panel listing tokens and two authoring warnings.
Windows Explorer

Start where you already are.

You're usually looking at the folder where the new project should go. Right-click the empty space, choose New from template here…, pick one, and it's made right there.

  • New from template here… on any folder's background
  • Generate from this template / Edit folder template on a folder
  • Send To › Folder Template – Process and – Edit, as in 1.0
  • Per-user and switchable in Settings; the uninstaller removes them
Command line

Same engine, in your scripts.

ft generates, previews and checks templates from any terminal, and speaks the 1.0 console's syntax, so existing scripts keep working.

PS> ft generate ".\Templates\Video Episode\{show} - EP{episode} - {title}" `
      --target C:\Videos --set show="The Weekly Build" --set episode=042 `
      --set title="Why the sky is blue" --dry-run
Would create in C:\Videos\The Weekly Build - EP042 - Why the sky is blue:
  The Weekly Build - EP042 - Why the sky is blue/
    Audio/
      about this folder.txt
    EP042 publish checklist.md  [filled in]
    EP042 script.md  [filled in]
    Footage/
      about this folder.txt
    Thumbnail/
      about this folder.txt

PS> ft -sourceFolder ".\Templates\Code Project\{name}" -targetFolder C:\Code -name mytool -nowait -noprompt  # 1.0 syntax

Also: ft params, ft info, ft validate and ft scan, each with --json for tooling.

A closer look

Calm, quick, out of your way.

Dark or light, following Windows. Click any screenshot to enlarge it.

The template library with pinned and recent templates.
Your templates: pinned, recent, and everything in your library folders.
Generating into a place where the folder already exists: every clash is marked and nothing is written until you choose.
Already there? Every clash is marked, and nothing is written until you choose.
The editor's Try it panel previewing a template with sample answers.
Try it: sample answers against your unsaved changes.
The pattern tester showing which names a rename rule changes.
Pattern tester: exactly which names a rule will change.
Settings: theme, library folders and generating options.
Settings, including the Explorer shortcuts.
The editor's Files panel in the light theme, with a switch per file for filling in tokens.
Files panel, in the light theme: switch token filling on or off per file.
Coming from 1.0?

Everything you made still works.

Unchanged

  • Template folders and .ft/template.json, PascalCase or camelCase
  • {name} tokens, custom .NET patterns and .ft$ files
  • The Send To shortcut names, so an upgrade replaces them rather than doubling up
  • The console's flags and its -listParams json output

Better

  • An existing folder is never silently merged into or overwritten
  • Generating into the template itself is refused instead of looping forever
  • Names Windows can't hold are caught up front, with a clear reason
  • {{$Token}} matches regardless of case; file encodings are preserved
Harvey Author's note

Folder Templates began as a small WinForms utility I wrote to stop hand-building the same project folders over and over. Version 2 is a ground-up rewrite, made with Claude: same templates, a much nicer app.

The engine underneath is shared with BRUV, where it builds workspace folders for projects. If you make new folders more than once a week, it'll probably save you some clicks. If not, no worries.

— Harvey

Stop making folders by hand.

Windows 10 and 11. The installer isn't code-signed, so SmartScreen may ask: choose More info → Run anyway.

Download for Windows Star on GitHub