Overview

The Copy Multiple Files In Folders or Subfolders Into One Folder Software provides a convenient method for copying many files from many different locations to a single locations. Filenames may be added to the list one by one or in multiples. If the same list is to be copied on multiple occasions the filenames can be stored in a file and read into the list all at once. Advanced features allow the user to remove filenames from the list that contain (or don’t contain) specified strings. The user may also specify how to deal with duplicate filenames. The duplicate files can be renamed based on the path, renamed by appending a counter or simply overwritten. The user then specifies the destination location and presses a button to proceed with the copy

Main Screen

The Copy Multiple Files In Folders or Subfolders Into One Folder Software can be started by double clicking the icon on the user’s desktop or choosing it from the Start Menu. The Main Screen is divided into sections. The top displays the list of filenames for the files to be copied. Below that are buttons for managing the list. Directly below that are options for dealing with duplicate file names. The bottom of the window contains a field for specifying the destination location for the copy, a button to begin the copy and a bar to show the progress of a copy. The Main Screen is displayed 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 “Buy Now”, “Enter License”, “Support” and “sobolsoft.com”.

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. The license may be entered 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.

Adding Files To Be Copied

There are several methods for adding filenames to the Files To Copy list. They include:

· Drag and drop the filename from an application such as Windows Explorer.

· Select individual files from a folder.

· Add all of the files from a folder.

· Add filenames from a file containing a list of filenames.

In each of these cases the selected filename(s) are added to the Files To Copy list at the top of the Main Screen.

Drag And Drop Filenames

The user may click and hold the left mouse button on a desired file in Windows Explorer and drag it over to the Files To Copy list on the Main Screen of the Copy Multiple Files In Folders or Subfolders Into One Folder Software. Releasing the button while hovering over the list will result in the full filename being added to the list.

Select Individual Files From a Folder

The user may select one or many files individually from a single folder to add to the Files To Copy list on the Main Screen of the Copy Multiple Files In Folders or Subfolders Into One Folder Software. To do this the user would select the Add File(s) button on the Main Screen. Doing so will display the following dialog:

A single filename may be selected by clicking on it. Multiple file names may be selected by holding the CTRL key down while clicking on filenames. A range of filenames may be selected by clicking on the first filename in the range and then holding the SHIFT key down while clicking the last filename in the range. To close the dialog and have all of the selected filenames written to the Files To Copy list on the Main Screen press the Open button. To close the dialog without writing any new filenames to the list, press the Cancel button.

Add All Files In Folder

The user may add all of the files in a folder to the Files To Copy list on the Main Screen of the Copy Multiple Files In Folders or Subfolders Into One Folder Software by pressing the Add All Files In Folder button on the Main Screen. This will display the dialog shown below:

The user simply navigates to the directory containing the files to be copied and presses the OK button to close the dialog and add the full names of all of the files within the selected folder to the list. To close the dialog without adding any filenames the user would press the Cancel button.

Load A List Of Filenames

If the same list of files is to be copied on multiple occasions, it is convenient to save those filenames to a file, such that there is one full filename on each line of a plain ASCII text file. An example is shown below:

C:\Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\ Image.bmp

C:\Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\ Text.txt

C:\Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\ Word.docx

C:\Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\ Sound.wav

The filename list from a file of this format may be loaded into the Files To Copy list on the Main Screen of the Copy Multiple Files In Folders or Subfolders Into One Folder Software, by pressing the Load List Of Files button on the Main Screen. The following dialog will be displayed:

Select the file containing the list of filenames and press Open to close the dialog and have all of the filenames loaded into the Files To Copy list. To abort the load and close the dialog, press the Cancel button.

Removing Filenames

To remove a single filename from the Files To Copy list on the Main Screen of the Copy Multiple Files In Folders or Subfolders Into One Folder Software, the user simply double clicks on the entry. Multiple files can be removed by using either the Remove Entries Containing X button or the Remove Entries Not Containing X button. To remove all filenames from the Files To Copy list press the Clear List button.

A quick method for eliminating multiple filenames that have part of their name in common is to use the Remove Entries Containing X button. Pressing the button will bring up the following dialog:

Enter any string in the edit box that is present in only the filenames in the list that you wish to remove. Pressing the OK button will close this dialog and immediately remove from the Files To Copy list any file that contains this string. Make sure that the string is unique. For example if you want to remove all .txt files from the list, you could use the string: “txt” (No quotes). But that would inadvertently include a file alltxt.rtf. To avoid this problem use the string: “.txt” (No quotes).

Conversely, you may remove all files that don’t contain a specified string in their filename. To do this, press the Remove Entries Not Containing X. This will bring up the following dialog.

Enter a string in this field that is contained only in the filenames you wish to keep. Pressing the OK button on this dialog will close the window and immediately remove all filenames from the list that do not contain the string entered. To close the dialog and remove no filenames press the “Cancel” button. This method is a good way of reducing the files copied to just one directory for example.

Duplicate Filenames

When copying multiple files from multiple locations to a single location, it is possible to have conflicts between duplicate filenames. For example if the following two files were added to the list:

c:\dir1\temp.txt

c:\dir2\temp.txt

And copied to a destination folder, there would be a conflict since both should be named temp.txt in the destination folder. The Copy Multiple Files In Folders or Subfolders Into One Folder Software provides three methods of dealing with such conflicts:

· Rename files based on path

· Rename files by putting counter at the end

· Overwrite

Renaming the files based on path will rename each conflicting file with a filename derived from the full pathname of the original.

Rename files by putting counter at the end, copies the first file using the base file name. Each successive conflict will have an integer counter appended to the name before the extension. If the base filename already exists in the destination directory, the application increments the appended counter and retries. This option is good if the same destination directory is reused and it is not desirable to delete the existing files.

Finally, the overwrite option may be used to overwrite any conflicting file that has already been copied into the destination folder. Care should be taken with this option since only the last file with a duplicate filename will actually exist in the destination folder after a copy.

Specifying An Output Folder

Before copying can begin, the user needs to specify an output folder. The user may type in the full path to the destination folder in the Copy Files To This Folder field, or press the “…” button. Pressing the “…” button will display the following dialog:

Navigate to the desired destination folder and once highlighted, press the “OK” button to close this dialog and have the selected folder copied to the Copy Files To This Folder field. To close this dialog and cancel any selection made press the “Cancel” button.

Copying the Files

Once all of the files to be copied have been added to the Files To Copy list, the desired options set and the destination folder selected the user may begin a copy by pressing the “Start Copying” button. The application will copy all files to the destination folder, resolving any duplicate conflicts in the manner the user selected. The progress bar tracks the process and completion is marked by the display of the following dialog: