Sahaj Kashyap · tools for classrooms and offices

Folder Maker

A folder for every name on a list, made in one step, in your own Google Drive. And if you like, documents sorted into them by what they say.

Every school year starts with lists. A class list, a bus list, a list of who still owes a permission slip. Sooner or later someone needs a folder for every name on one of them, and types them in one at a time.

Folder Maker is a Google Sheet that does it in one step. Paste the list, type a name for the big folder, and click Make the folders. A box shows how many folders will be made and the first few names, so you can check before anything happens. Then a folder appears in Google Drive for every name.

Make your own copy (free) Read the code

Your names stay yours. The copy belongs to you and runs entirely inside your own Google account. Nothing is sent anywhere else, and no one else can see your list.

How to use it

Click Make your own copy above. Google asks you to sign in, then to confirm Make a copy.
In your copy, type a name for the big folder in the yellow box, for example Emergency forms 2026-27.
Paste the names into column A, starting in row 8.
In the menu bar, choose Folders, then Make the folders.
The first time, Google asks for permission to make folders in your Drive. Allow it, then choose Make the folders again.
Check the count and the first few names in the box, and click Yes. The link to the finished folder appears in the Sheet.

What the Sheet looks like

Name (or first name)	Last name (only if in its own column)	Class or group (optional)
Name for the big folder	Emergency forms 2026-27
Ada	Marsh	Room 4
Ben	Okafor	Room 4
Pippa	Fenwick	Room 5

And what it makes in Google Drive:

Emergency forms 2026-27 ├── Room 4 │ ├── Marsh, Ada │ └── Okafor, Ben └── Room 5 └── Fenwick, Pippa

The names are invented, for the example.

What it does, and what it never does

If first and last names sit in two columns, the folders come out as “Last, First” so they sort A to Z. One column of full names works too.
Add a class or group column and each group gets its own folder with its names inside.
Lists copied from Word or Google Docs with numbers or bullets in front are tidied up.
Run it again with the same list and it only adds what is missing.
Making folders never renames, moves or deletes anything.
Folders, then Clear everything, empties the list to start a new one. Folders already made are left alone.

Sorting documents into the folders (optional)

Once the folders exist, the same Sheet can file documents into them. Drop scans, photos, PDFs, Word files or Google Docs into a folder called Arrivals, and each one goes where its words say it belongs.

Choose Sorting, then Set up sorting. A Rules tab opens, and Arrivals and Unsorted appear inside the big folder.
Type a rule on each row: the words to look for, where to look (the top of the page, or anywhere), and the folder to put it in.
Tick Then by name on a rule to file it one step further, into a folder for the person it names.
Drop documents into Arrivals, then choose Sorting, then Sort Arrivals now. Or choose Turn on sorting, and Arrivals is checked every five minutes.

If the document says	Look at	Put it in this folder	Then by name
Permission slip	Top of the page	Permission slips	☐
Live Scan	Anywhere	Live Scan	☑

Google reads the words in each document, scans and phone photos included. Rows are checked from the top, and the first one that matches decides. If no row matches, a full name from the list decides. A document that matches nothing, or names two people, goes to Unsorted for a person to look at. It never guesses. Every document gets a line on a Sorting log tab saying where it went and why.

Sorting moves files. Only what is dropped into Arrivals is ever moved, and nothing is renamed or deleted. A file already in your Drive is moved, not copied, so make a copy first if you want the original to stay where it is.

One more use I keep thinking about: a folder for every child, made on the first day, ready to hold a year of their work. A portfolio of each child's work can start the same day the class list does.

How it was built

I directed Claude to write the code, then tested it with made-up names in two separate Google accounts before anyone used it with a real list. Sorting was tested the same way: a grid of 116 practice documents on the Mac, every one in the right place, then a real run in Google Drive with scans, photos, a PDF and a Word file. The code is a short Google Apps Script attached to the Sheet: Code.js makes the folders, Sorter.js sorts, and appsscript.json, in the same folder, holds its settings. Google will ask you to allow it into your Drive, because that is where the folders go, and, for sorting, to read your documents and run on a timer. What it does there is in the code for anyone to read.