May, 2008

Hey, Scripting Guy! We have quite a large collection of speeches and audio training sessions that are sorted by … well, by nothing. However, all the ID3 tags [the file’s extended data] are up-to-date. Is there a way to extract the ID3 information from...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a folder with scores of Word documents in it. What I need to do is open each document, copy anything that uses the Heading 1 style, and then write that information (the file name and anything that uses the Heading 1 style) to...

Hey, Scripting Guy! In Microsoft Outlook if you sort and group your email by date, you don’t just get groupings that show the date; instead, you get groupings like Today, Yesterday, Last Week, etc. I’d like to do something similar; I’d like to look at...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a Windows PowerShell script that starts Excel and loads three comma-separated values files into separate workbooks. What I was wondering is whether there’s a way to have PowerShell tile these workbooks, either vertically or...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a text file containing thousands of events. I need to read each line in that file and look for the name of the computer where an operation failed. The computer names can – and will – vary in length; however, the name will always...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I use Windows PowerShell to determine if a specified local user account exists on a computer? -- MM Hey, MM. Have you ever heard the expression “good things come to those who wait”? Well, to tell you the truth, the Scripting...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a comma-separated values file (CSV) that uses double quote marks as the field delimiter; unfortunately, this file also uses a double quote mark any time it should use an apostrophe (like in the name O’Malleys). Somehow I need...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I need to write a command-line script that, given two arguments, can compare the two values and then – using standard errorlevel – report back whether string 1 is greater than or less than string 2, or if the two strings are identical...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I read your article on renaming image files so that the pictures could then be sorted in chronological order. When I ran your script, however, it didn’t quite work for me: the files were renamed, but the pictures weren’t sorted the...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a folder on a server that contains employee photos, photos that will be used on our organization chart. New photos are taken daily for new staff members, and all the .JPG files are put into this folder. Because the photos are...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a folder that has about 50 files in it. How can I delete all those files except the one most-recently created? -- GA Hey, GA. You know, today would be a good day to review some of the items that have recently been in the...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I’m trying to write a script that can go through a log file and determine the number of users who logged off on a particular day. Can you help me? -- TM Hey, TM. You know, when you work at Microsoft people think you probably come...

Hey, Scripting Guy! You’ve had several articles that show how it’s possible to find specific email messages in Outlook; for example, you’ve shown us how to find all the emails sent by a particular person. What I was wondering is this: after you find these...

Hey, Scripting Guy! As part of a logon script, I need to determine the distinguished name of the OU for the user logging on. How can I do that? -- LK Hey, LK. Today is May 12 th , which might not mean much to you. But, then again, maybe it does;...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I’m having a strange problem with Windows PowerShell, and I was wondering if you could help me solve it. I’m trying to get a list of the unique file extensions used by the files in a folder. I have a whole bunch of different file types...

Hey, Scripting Guy! Using Windows PowerShell, how can I search for a string value in all the files in a folder full of text files, then report back the file name and creation date for each file where that string value was found? Oh, and I’d like to have...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I find some text in a Microsoft Word document, copy the rest of the document from that point on, then paste the copied text into a brand-new Word file? -- CB Hey, CB. You know, it’s kind of a melancholic day here at Scripting...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a comma-separated values file that I need to import into Excel. However, before I do that I need to do some arithmetic and then add an additional field to the CSV file. On top of that, when I import this file I need to format...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a scenario in which I need to read a list of names from a text file. I then need to search for each of those names in a second text file; if a name is found I need to extract the entire line in which that name appears. I’ve...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I Using VBScript, how can I identify the 20 most-recently modified files in a folder? -- TW Hey, TW. You know, the Scripting Guy who writes this column was just reading – thanks to the magic of Spam email – about a new voice mail...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I’m new to Excel, and I was wondering how to change the color of a cell if specific requirements are met. I have a spreadsheet that has three columns of numbers; I’d like to add the numbers in each row and, if they total 100, set the...