# File directory pattern - help

**URL:** <https://discourse.jabref.org/t/file-directory-pattern-help/663>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [June 12, 2017, 8:09pm UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/file-directory-pattern-help/663 "2017-06-12T20:09:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![xz7s4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/f6c823/32.png) [@xz7s4](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/xz7s4)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 8:09pm UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/file-directory-pattern-help/663/1 "2017-06-12T20:09:54Z")

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How does the “File directory pattern” setting under Import options work? I did not find anything in the documentation.

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**Author:** ![Siedlerchr](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.jabref.org/siedlerchr/32/216_2.png) [@Siedlerchr](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/Siedlerchr)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 12:47pm UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/file-directory-pattern-help/663/2 "2017-06-13T12:47:23Z")

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Hi,

the file directory pattern allows you to define a pattern for the creation of subfolders. e.g. you can now group files per group  
e.g you have your File Directory X:\MyfileDirectory\FileA… FileZ.pdf  
Now you can automatically sort the files into a specific sub directory e.g. by entry type  
X:\MyfileDirectory\article\FileB.pdf  
X:\MyfileDirectory\book\FileA.pdf

Regards  
Christoph

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![xz7s4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/f6c823/32.png) [@xz7s4](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/xz7s4)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 1:04pm UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/file-directory-pattern-help/663/3 "2017-06-13T13:04:07Z")

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How do I specify the pattern? What is the syntax?

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**Author:** ![Siedlerchr](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.jabref.org/siedlerchr/32/216_2.png) [@Siedlerchr](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/Siedlerchr)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 1:32pm UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/file-directory-pattern-help/663/4 "2017-06-13T13:32:28Z")

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Hi,

the pattern takes the same format as the Filename format pattern and the custom export pattern, it is s documented here:;  
[http://help.jabref.org/en/CustomExports#field-commands](http://help.jabref.org/en/CustomExports#field-commands)

To achieve the effect of grouping by entry type, you can simply specify \EntryType