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When you download photos using google takeout, it puts them in a ton of folders (606 for me). I want to get all of the 2000-ish photos from all of those folders and just put them in a single folder so I can then sort them myself into month-albums.

So my question is, how do I get rid of all the sub folders from a folder but keep the files?

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  • In Unix, it would be mv */* . from the parent directory (assuming the files were one level deep). Does DOS/Windows have an equivalent?
    – user59328
    Dec 29, 2017 at 14:07

1 Answer 1

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Open up a File Explorer window in the folder containing the other folders. In the search box (top right), type NOT kind:folder. You will now see a list of all files in your current folder and all its subfolders. Use Control-A to select all the files. Now you can move them all to another folder. Clear the search box. There will only be folders left, which you can then remove (maybe checking first that there are only folders left...).

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  • Such a simple but powerful solution!
    – Wayneio
    Dec 30, 2017 at 9:27
  • Great answer! fast and simple
    – DIRTY DAVE
    Aug 16, 2021 at 12:26
  • Amazing solution. It works for other types of files too. I tried various combinations like kind:pdf, kind:excel, etc. with or without NOT. So far, I was using 'Sort by'/'Group by' options for my files and then select. But this is something new I've learned. Sep 25, 2023 at 4:12

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