The Explorer does not provide the capability to create a list of files that then can be used in other applications. Examples are a list of all the files in a directory or folder, or the results of a file search with the Find command. When you drag a file or collection of files from Explorer and drop it into another application, you get the file contents, not its name.
One way to get a list of files is to open a DOS window and to run the DIR command with the output redirected to a file. For example to get list of all the help files in the current directory and to save this list in a file, you can execute the following command:
DIR *.HLP >HELPFILELIST.TXT
FileGrab is a utility published in the March 1997 issue of PCMagazine that lets you use the Explorer to create file lists for use in other applications. Running FileGrab creates an empty window ready to accept filenames from Explorer. Just drop one or more files from Explorer onto the FileGrab window and you get a list of files instead of the contents of the files. You can then save the list to disk, print it, or copy it to the Clipboard for pasting into another application. The View options let you choose which file characteristics, such as date, size, or attributes, are to be included with the filenames.
It can be downloaded from the World Wide Web site www.pcmag.com or download the file ftp.zdnet.com/pcmag/1997/0304/v16n05.zip directly through anonymous FTP.