Overview

The Automatically Copy Files to Multiple Folder Locations Software is a flexible way to copy a user defined list of files to any number of user specified locations on a scheduled basis. The user picks sources of files that are to be copied and the destination folder(s) and then selects from a list of predetermined copy intervals. The user then starts the automated copy process that is repeated at the end of each interval. For the user’s convenience a progress bar counts down the remaining time until the next scheduled copy. This program can either be run as a stand-alone application, or from the system tray.

Main Screen

The Automatically Copy Files to Multiple Folder Locations Software can be started by double clicking the icon on the user’s desktop or choosing it from the Start Menu. If it is set to automatically startup when Windows is booted, the Main Screen can be displayed by choosing the application from the system tray. The Main Screen is divided into multiple sections, allowing the user to set options to tailor the copy operations. The Main Screen is shown below:

In addition to the Main Screen, if you are using the free version of the software an additional window is displayed. This window offer you links to “Watch Help/Demo Video”, “Buy Now”, “Enter License”, “Support” and “sobolsoft.com” as shown below:

Choosing the “Watch Help/Demo Video” will use your currently select Window’s video player for .avi files to play a video entitled “How To Use Automatically Copy Files to Multiple Folder Locations Software”. This file is called How To Use Automatically Copy Files to Multiple Folder Locations Software.avi and is stored in the “Video” subdirectory of the installation directory. This video last just over a minute and contains a very useful demonstration of the features of the software.

The “Buy Now” link will use your default internet browser to display a page that will allow you to purchase the software and receive a License that you will enter into the dialog that is displayed when you choose the “Enter License” link. The “Support” link uses your default browser to display a list of frequently asked questions at https://sobolsoft.com/question/ and the “sobolsoft.com” link will bring you directly to the Sobolsoft website at www.sobolsoft.com.

Once a license has been entered in the “Enter License” window this window is no longer available but all of the information is still available at the sources listed above.

Selecting Sources

The list of sources to be copied can be specified in a number of ways but basically come down to two categories: file(s) and folder(s). Specifying files can be done one at a time, all of the files from a user specified folder or from a text file as detailed below. In all of these cases the individual file name is displayed in the “Source File(s) or Folder(s)” list at the top of the main screen, just under the “Progress Bar”. These options are good when you know the files that need to be copied ahead of time.

In some cases however you don’t know what files need to be copied. You just know that all of the files in a certain folder or directory structure need to be backed up. In this case you can use the option to add a folder or add a folder and all of its subfolders. In this way you don’t need to specifically add the individual files to make sure that all the files you need will be copied. When a folder is chosen, the full path is displayed in the “Source File(s) or Folder(s)” list.

Adding Files

Single or multiple files to be copied can be added to the “Source File(s) or Folder(s)” list by selecting the “Add File(s)” button on the Main Window just below the “Source File(s) or Folder(s)” list. Pressing this button will display the following dialog:

To select one file simply navigate to the folder containing the file and click on it. Complete your selection by pressing the “Open” button. To select multiple files in a folder, hold down the CTRL key while clicking the mouse pointer on the desired files. When all files from the folder are selected, press the “Open” button. Finally to select a range of files in a directory, select the first file in the range by clicking on it. Then, while holding down the SHIFT key, click on the last file in the range. When the correct range has been selected, press the “Open” button.

If you would like to leave the dialog without choosing any files, you may press the “Cancel” button. Pressing the “Open” button will accept your selections, close the dialog and display the selected files in the “Source File(s) or Folder(s)” list on the Main Screen.

Adding All Files in a Folder

The “Add File(s) In Folder” button allows the user to easily select all of the current files in a given folder and add them as individual entries to the “Source File(s) or Folder(s)” list. Pressing the “Add File(s) In Folder” button displays the “Browse For Folder” dialog displayed below:

Simply navigate to the desired folder and press the “OK” button. Pressing the “OK” button will exit the dialog and display the full path to all of the individual files in the selected folder in the “Source File(s) or Folder(s)” list. To leave the dialog without accepting any selections press the “Cancel” button.

Load a List from a File

Multiple files can be added to the Word(s) list box by using the “Load List of Files” button on the Main Screen. Pressing this button on the Main Screen will display the following dialog:

Simply navigate to the file containing the filenames you wish to add, or type the full path in the File name editbox and press the “Open” button to close this dialog and add all of the filenames in the specified file to the “Source File(s) or Folder(s)” list on the Main Screen. Pressing the “Cancel” button on this dialog will close this dialog with no effect on the “Source File(s) or Folder(s)” list.

The format of the file containing the filenames to be added must be a plain ASCII text file (.txt) with the full path with filenames listed within, one filename per line. So for example if you wish to add the files; Things to do.xls, Accomplished.xls and Discarded.xls all from the c:\xls\ folder added to the list, the file must have each of the filenames full path listed, one per line as shown:

C:\xls\Things to do.xls

C:\xls\ Accomplished.xls

C:\xls\Discarded.xls

For example this is exactly the format of the .txt file called “Filenames from a file.txt”. If that file was chosen as shown below:

And the “Open” button pressed, the result would be all of those filenames added to the “Source File(s) or Folder(s)” list as shown:

Note: The same file can be added multiple times using this method. This can result in duplication of files in the Word(s) list box.

Deleting an Entry from Source File(s) or Folder(s) List

To delete a single entry from the Source File(s) or Folder(s) list on the Main Screen, either double click the filename in the list, or single click the filename in the list and press the “Delete” key on your keyboard

Clearing All Entries from Source File(s) or Folder(s) List

To clear all of the entries from the Source File(s) or Folder(s) list on the Main simply press the “Clear” button.

Selecting Destination(s)

Once a user has chosen the sources that need to be copied on a regular interval, they must specify the location or locations that those files should be copied to. The destination folders can be chosen one at a time, or a folder that contains subfolders may be chosen. In either case, all of the selected source files are copied to each of the destinations indicated in the Destination Folder(s) list, displayed in the middle of the Main Screen. Every time folder(s) are added to the Destination Folder(s) list, the Summary list is updated. The Summary list shows all of the individual copies that will be made from a single source to a single destination.

Adding a Destination Folder

A user may add a single folder to which the source files will be copied by pressing the “Add Folder(s)” button located under the Destination Folder(s) list. Pressing this button will present the user with the Browse for Folder dialog displayed below:

Choose the desired destination folder and press the “OK” button to close the dialog and have the selected folder added to the Destination Folder(s) list. Click on the “Cancel” button to discard any selection and exit the dialog.

Adding All Subfolders in a Folder to Destination Folder(s) List

To add all of the subfolders of a folder to the Destination Folder(s) List, press the “Add All Subfolders in Folder” button. This will again display the Browse for Folder dialog displayed above. The user then selects the folder contain the subfolders to which files should be copied.

For example if you have a folder called Data which contains folders called Backup1, Backup2 and Backup3 as shown below:

Choosing the “Data” folder and pressing the “OK” button will add the root folder Data and all three of its subfolders to the Destination Folder(s) list as shown below:

Additionally a summary of all of the copies to be made are listed in the Summary list as shown above.

Startup Options

The Automatically Copy Files to Multiple Locations Software can be started automatically when the Windows is booted up, by checking the “Load this software on Windows startup” checkbox. Additionally, the software can run in the Windows System Tray by checking the “Start in system tray” checkbox.

Setting the Interval

The Automatically Copy Files To Multiple Locations Software copies files from the sources selected to the destinations selected after a predefined interval has elapsed. This interval can be selected from a list of intervals. The choices are listed below:

Backup every 30 seconds

Backup ever 1 minute

Backup every 2 minutes

Backup every 5 minutes

Backup every 10 minutes

Backup every 15 minutes

Backup every 20 minutes

Backup every 30 minutes

Backup ever 1 hour

Backup every 2 hours

Backup every 4 hours

Backup every 8 hours

Backup every 16 hours

Backup every 24 hours

The default is to backup every 1 minute. Once this option is set to the desired Interval and Automatic Copying is turned on by using the “Turn On Auto Copy” button, the time between copies is counted down using the timer and Progress bar at the top of the Main Screen. Once the interval is exhausted all of the source files are copied to all of the destinations as detailed in the Summary list and the process is repeated.

Testing Configuration

A User may test that they have configured all of their sources and destinations correctly by using the “Copy Files Now” button. This does a single copy of all of the entries in the Source File(s) or Folder(s) list to the Destination folders without setting a timer and repeating it. This give the user an opportunity to check the results and fine tune the configuration.

Starting the Automatic Copy

Once everything is configured and tested as above, the automated process of counting down through the selected interval and copying all of the files and folders to the destination can be started by pressing the “Turn On Auto Copy” button. Once the button is pressed and the process started, the buttons label becomes “Turn Off Auto Copy”. Pressing the button in this state suspends the timer and keeps the next copy from occurring until the process is resumed.

Getting a History of the Copies

To see a history of the copies that have been made by the program, press the “View History” button. This will display the history of copies in the default system text editor. Each copy is written on a single line.

Copying History to the Clipboard

In addition to viewing the history of copies made by the program, the history can be copied to the clipboard. This makes pasting the history into another application very convenient. To accomplish this simply press the “Copy History To Clipboard” button.