How to Export File Metadata from a Local Server

Bash Script (macOS / Linux)

#!/bin/bash
echo 'Name,Size,Modified' > output.csv
find ~/Documents -print0 | while IFS= read -r -d '' file; do
  size=$(stat -f%z "$file")
  mod=$(stat -f%Sm -t '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S' "$file")
  echo "\"$file\",$size,$mod"
done >> output.csv
echo "Done!"

# To include more fields (owner, permissions, file type):
# echo 'Name,Size,Modified,Owner,Permissions,Type' > output.csv
# find /your/path -print0 | while IFS= read -r -d '' file; do
#   size=$(stat -f%z "$file")
#   mod=$(stat -f%Sm -t '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S' "$file")
#   owner=$(stat -f%Su "$file")
#   perms=$(stat -f%Sp "$file")
#   type=$([[ -d "$file" ]] && echo "directory" || echo "file")
#   echo "\"$file\",$size,$mod,$owner,$perms,$type"
# done >> output.csv

PowerShell (Windows)

# Basic export: file name, path, size, dates, extension
Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\Users\You\Documents" -Recurse -File |
    Select-Object Name, FullName, Length, LastWriteTime, CreationTime, Extension |
    Export-Csv -Path "file_metadata.csv" -NoTypeInformation

# Extended export with owner and attributes
Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\Users\You\Documents" -Recurse -File | ForEach-Object {
    $owner = (Get-Acl $_.FullName).Owner
    [PSCustomObject]@{
        Name         = $_.Name
        FullPath     = $_.FullName
        SizeBytes    = $_.Length
        Extension    = $_.Extension
        Created      = $_.CreationTime
        Modified     = $_.LastWriteTime
        Accessed     = $_.LastAccessTime
        Owner        = $owner
        ReadOnly     = $_.IsReadOnly
        Attributes   = $_.Attributes.ToString()
    }
} | Export-Csv -Path "file_metadata.csv" -NoTypeInformation

Write-Host "Export complete. Open file_metadata.csv in Excel."

Python (Cross-Platform)

import os
import csv
import hashlib
from datetime import datetime

ROOT_DIR = os.path.expanduser("~/Documents")  # Change this
OUTPUT = "file_metadata.csv"

def get_file_hash(path, block_size=65536):
    """Compute MD5 hash of a file (optional, can be slow for large files)."""
    h = hashlib.md5()
    try:
        with open(path, "rb") as f:
            for block in iter(lambda: f.read(block_size), b""):
                h.update(block)
        return h.hexdigest()
    except (PermissionError, OSError):
        return ""

with open(OUTPUT, "w", newline="") as f:
    writer = csv.writer(f)
    writer.writerow([
        "Name", "Path", "Extension", "Size (bytes)",
        "Created", "Modified", "Is Directory"
    ])
    for dirpath, dirnames, filenames in os.walk(ROOT_DIR):
        for name in filenames:
            filepath = os.path.join(dirpath, name)
            try:
                stat = os.stat(filepath)
                writer.writerow([
                    name,
                    filepath,
                    os.path.splitext(name)[1],
                    stat.st_size,
                    datetime.fromtimestamp(stat.st_ctime).isoformat(),
                    datetime.fromtimestamp(stat.st_mtime).isoformat(),
                    False,
                ])
            except (PermissionError, OSError):
                continue

print(f"Exported to {OUTPUT}")