I built a free tool to convert ASCII folder trees into ZIP files

When writing documentation, tutorials, or READMEs, I often describe folder structures like this:

project/
├── src/
│   ├── app.py
│   └── utils.py
├── README.md
└── requirements.txt

At some point, I wondered:

Why can’t I just turn this into a real folder structure instantly?

Surprisingly, there wasn’t a simple tool that did exactly this — so I built one.

The problem

ASCII folder trees are great for:

• Documentation
• Tutorials
• Teaching projects
• Explaining structure in chats or blogs

But when you want to actually create those folders and files, you have to:

• Manually recreate everything
• Or write scripts
• Or install tools that are overkill

That breaks the flow.

The solution

I built a free online tool that:

• Takes an ASCII folder tree
• Converts it into a real folder structure
• Lets you download it instantly as a ZIP file

No signup.
No installs.
Just paste → generate → download.

How it works (simple)

1. Paste your ASCII tree
2. Click generate
3. Download the ZIP
4. Extract → done

It preserves:

• Folder hierarchy
• File names
• Nesting structure

Who is this useful for?

• Developers writing docs
• Students learning project structures
• Teachers creating examples
• Anyone sharing folder layouts online

Why I kept it simple

I intentionally avoided:

• Accounts
• Ads
• Complicated UI

The goal was:

One job. Done fast.

Try it out

You can use the tool here:
👉 ASCII Tree to Folder

I’d genuinely love feedback:

• Edge cases
• Missing features
• Improvements

Thanks for reading 🙌