pywinselect

Get selected files and folders in Windows.

Installation

pip install pywinselect

What it does

pywinselect detects which files or folders you have selected in Windows, regardless of where they are.

It works in:

• File Explorer - Any open Explorer window
• Desktop - Files and folders selected on your desktop

Returns absolute paths to everything selected. If nothing is selected, returns an empty list.

Why use it

When building automation tools, you often need to know what the user has selected. Without this library, you'd have to:

• Write 100+ lines of win32 API code
• Handle File Explorer and Desktop separately
• Deal with clipboard backup/restore
• Debug why it doesn't work on Desktop

pywinselect solves this in one line.

Use cases

• Stream Deck scripts - Create buttons that act on selected files
• Keyboard macros - Automate repetitive file operations
• Custom context menus - Build tools that work with selections
• Productivity apps - Quick actions on currently selected items
• Batch processing - Process whatever the user has selected

Usage

from pywinselect import get_selected

# Get all selected items (Desktop + Explorer)
files = get_selected()

# Filter by type
only_files = get_selected(filter_type="files")
only_folders = get_selected(filter_type="folders")

# Get selection from specific location
desktop_only = get_selected(only_desktop=True)
explorer_only = get_selected(only_explorer=True)

API

get_selected(filter_type=None, only_desktop=False, only_explorer=False) -> list[str]

Returns list of absolute paths to selected items.

Parameters:

• filter_type (optional): Filter results by type
  • None - Return both files and folders (default)
  • "files" - Return only files
  • "folders" - Return only folders
• only_desktop (optional): If True, only get selection from Desktop
• only_explorer (optional): If True, only get selection from File Explorer

Returns:

• list[str] - Paths to selected files/folders
• [] - Empty list if nothing is selected

Raises:

• ValueError - If both only_desktop and only_explorer are True

Examples:

>>> get_selected()
['C:\\Users\\John\\file.txt', 'C:\\Users\\John\\Documents']

>>> get_selected(filter_type="files")
['C:\\Users\\John\\file.txt']

>>> get_selected(filter_type="folders")
['C:\\Users\\John\\Documents']

>>> get_selected(only_desktop=True)
['C:\\Users\\John\\Desktop\\file.txt']

>>> get_selected(only_explorer=True)
['C:\\Users\\John\\Downloads\\file.txt']

>>> get_selected(only_desktop=True, only_explorer=True)
ValueError: Cannot set both only_desktop and only_explorer to True

How it works

Uses official Windows Shell COM APIs (IShellView, IDataObject) - the same interfaces Windows Explorer uses internally.

Safe by design:

• Read-only operations
• No keyboard simulation
• No clipboard modifications
• No system state changes

Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• Windows
• pywin32

License

MIT