How do I use OpenFileDialog to select a folder?

Asked 24/7, 2012 at 4:43 Answered 4/12, 2023 at 16:35

Solved c#.net winforms dialog openfiledialog

451

I was going to use the following project: https://github.com/scottwis/OpenFileOrFolderDialog

However, there's a problem: it uses the GetOpenFileName function and OPENFILENAME structure. OPENFILENAME has the member named templateID, which is the identifier for dialog template. And the project contains the res1.rc file and the templated dialog init, too. But I couldn't figure out how to attach this file to my C# project.

Is there a better way to use an OpenFileDialog to select folders?

Countess answered 24/7, 2012 at 4:43 Comment(10)

If you open the project file with editor, you will notice some additional properties at the bottom: <VCIncludePath ...>, <Win32Resource ...> and <Target Name="BeforeBuild"...>. You will see that it runs rc.exe to compile the resource file res1.rc (be sure to copy the "resource.h" too into your project). Make sure you have VisualC installed and that VCIncludePath points to a proper location (github's one points to VC9.0 version, and you may need to change it). After compiling .rc file, the resulting .res file is added as the resource for your executable with Win32Resource directive. – Stallfeed 24/6, 2014 at 15:7

There is a hackish solution using OpenFileDialog where ValidateNames and CheckFileExists are both set to false and FileName is given a mock value to indicate that a directory is selected. I say hack because it is confusing to users about how to select a folder. See Select file or folder from the same dialog – Canto 7/5, 2015 at 3:28

Possible duplicate of How do you configure an OpenFileDialog to select folders? – Vasques 14/4, 2016 at 14:13

Thanx Dan for pointing towards the OpenFileDialog-Hack! That is wayy better than FolderBrowserDialog, because OFD shows bookmarked folders etc, so everyone - especially in bigger companies - finds their crap. FBD will not do much good in those places. – Fisc 16/9, 2016 at 14:19

@DanielBallinger I am really interested in getting your method to work, but when opening the dialog, selecting a folder, hitting open, then open a second time gives an error dialog saying "file not found", not sure why it is trying to find the file after CheckFileExists was set to false – Lurlenelurline 10/5, 2018 at 0:10

@Lurlenelurline I've converted my comment to an answer. I tried it several times and didn't have a "file not found" issue. Are you reusing the same OpenFileDialog instance? – Canto 10/5, 2018 at 0:21

@DanielBallinger ah, I found my issue, since I am using Powershell to create the dialog, setting ValidateNames and CheckFileExists to false was not working, I needed to set them to 0 (or learn powershell better) – Lurlenelurline 10/5, 2018 at 0:31

I think this nuget package is a good choice BetterFolderBrowser – Mendelson 31/5, 2019 at 7:54

I would strongly suggest changing the selected answer Simon Mourier's answer as the accepted answer. I have implemented his solution (from finding it elsewhere, only to find out he posted here just a few days ago), and it works amazingly well. – Sessler 15/7, 2021 at 21:0

I shared another working answer here: https://mcmap.net/q/81542/-how-add-multiselect-to-this-custom-file-dialog – Footrope 14/5, 2023 at 15:3

471

As a note for future users who would like to avoid using FolderBrowserDialog, Microsoft once released an API called the WindowsAPICodePack that had a helpful dialog called CommonOpenFileDialog, that could be set into a IsFolderPicker mode. The API is available from Microsoft as a NuGet package.

This is all I needed to install and use the CommonOpenFileDialog. (NuGet handled the dependencies)

Install-Package Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack-Shell

For the include line:

using Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack.Dialogs;

Usage:

CommonOpenFileDialog dialog = new CommonOpenFileDialog();
dialog.InitialDirectory = "C:\\Users";
dialog.IsFolderPicker = true;
if (dialog.ShowDialog() == CommonFileDialogResult.Ok)
{
    MessageBox.Show("You selected: " + dialog.FileName);
}

Workable answered 6/1, 2017 at 18:3 Comment(14)

I think this is the nearest answer to "How to use OpenFileDialog to select a folder?" FolderBrowseDialog is very unusable. Thank you for this answer. – Odisodium 30/3, 2017 at 8:52

This should be the answer. And note that you need to install the Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack.Shell package through NuGet before you can use this CommonOpenFileDialog. – Whoso 21/8, 2017 at 3:12

after selecting a folder, the dialog closes and disposes of 'form' if the 'form' is opened from another parent form using showDialog() method instead of show() method, i managed to solve the issue by using show() instead of show() and set Focus() on the calling form of the commonOpenFileDialog object. – Scholarship 30/11, 2017 at 9:34

If you use this with VS2017 it restyles your main window. – Soble 10/8, 2018 at 17:46

nice find. Not sure why Microsoft doesn't include this in their main VS libraires. – Idelson 19/8, 2018 at 1:14

Note for FolderBrowserDialog users: multiple simultaneous instance usage of it can create problems. This CommonOpenFileDialog is better. – Upturn 21/1, 2019 at 13:25

Microsoft seems to have republished it as WindowsAPICodePack-Shell – Bernard 16/12, 2019 at 21:59

Just wrap in using statement, as it has inherited IDisposable – Charmainecharmane 9/4, 2020 at 3:51

@Soble this fixes the resizing problem #42975785 – Yonina 21/5, 2020 at 7:34

Sadly when i use this it fails to load the assembly, despite it being included with my build. – Poncho 29/6, 2020 at 19:43

As others have said, this should be the accepted answer, as it works perfectly and avoids using the horrible/unusable FolderBrowserDialog. – Dehiscence 1/10, 2020 at 2:57

The NuGet package linked wasn't working for me in .NET 5 as it failed to load the assembly. Using Microsoft-WindowsAPICodePack-Shell did work though. – Kentkenta 10/1, 2021 at 23:41

If every answer worked as easy as this stack would be even better! thanks – Game 25/9, 2022 at 12:54

I add Install-Package Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack-Shell in PowerShell and it doesn't work. I have to click manually in VS. Do you know why is that? – Austreng 5/12, 2022 at 13:14

523

Basically you need the FolderBrowserDialog class:

Prompts the user to select a folder. This class cannot be inherited.

Example:

using(var fbd = new FolderBrowserDialog())
{
    DialogResult result = fbd.ShowDialog();

    if (result == DialogResult.OK && !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(fbd.SelectedPath))
    {
        string[] files = Directory.GetFiles(fbd.SelectedPath);

        System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("Files found: " + files.Length.ToString(), "Message");
    }
}

If you work in WPF you have to add the reference to System.Windows.Forms.

you also have to add using System.IO for Directory class

Monetary answered 24/7, 2012 at 4:46 Comment(9)

FolderBrowserDialog's lacks usability. The main disadvantage is that it doesn't allow you to copy a folder path from Windows Explorer for quick navigation, making it useless when you need to drill down more than three levels. Drilling into each folder is not desired especially when the storage is slow or when you have a lot of folders at one of the levels. – Stallfeed 24/6, 2014 at 15:25

The question is specifically about using the OpenFileDialog (OFD) to select a folder, not the FolderBrowserDialog (FBD). I concur that the FBD is awful from a user standpoint. – Dundalk 28/4, 2015 at 15:9

Alternatively to this dialog with broken UI, use a CommonOpenFileDialog: new CommonOpenFileDialog { IsFolderPicker = true }. – Payee 12/6, 2015 at 18:6

Please, don't ever use it! I remember as a user I was blaming these poor programmers that made yet another app with this awful tree view dialog (which is just the FolderBrowserDialog). It is completely unusable: a bunch of root dirs, a missing favorites panel, and the most horrible — you can't even paste a path there! And now as a programmer I see an advice to use it… Please, don't do it. – Corie 19/8, 2015 at 13:12

FolderBrowserDialog has one big flaw besides everything else that the other users said. It does not remember the last selected path! – Indoxyl 18/11, 2016 at 22:46

Note that FolderBrowserDialog uses SHBrowseForFolder behind the scenes. The docs for this function specifically state, "For Windows Vista or later, it is recommended that you use IFileDialog with the FOS_PICKFOLDERS option rather than the SHBrowseForFolder function. This uses the Open Files dialog in pick folders mode and is the preferred implementation." So in addition to all the usability issues, it hasn't been the recommended solution since Vista, which came out in 2006! – Consubstantiate 22/11, 2019 at 20:23

With .NET Core 3 FolderBrowserDialog will have the same UI as the one in WindowsAPICodePack. learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/porting/… – Sculpt 12/1, 2020 at 12:53

Is there any way to get the save file dialog which is already opened ? like we do with forms Application.OpenForms – Starstarboard 13/8, 2020 at 10:51

@Consubstantiate I am in the process of testing it, but if this works this should honestly be the selected answer even above some of the other very useful posted answers. – Sessler 15/7, 2021 at 17:42

471

This is all I needed to install and use the CommonOpenFileDialog. (NuGet handled the dependencies)

Install-Package Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack-Shell

For the include line:

using Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack.Dialogs;

Usage:

CommonOpenFileDialog dialog = new CommonOpenFileDialog();
dialog.InitialDirectory = "C:\\Users";
dialog.IsFolderPicker = true;
if (dialog.ShowDialog() == CommonFileDialogResult.Ok)
{
    MessageBox.Show("You selected: " + dialog.FileName);
}