CopyFilenames -copy paths and file names

CopyFilenames - Copy filenames to the Windows clipboard

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Copy Filenames

Copy filenames to the Windows clipboard Free Download
Download CopyFilenames v3.1

System requirements
Windows 7, or
Windows Vista, or
Windows XP, or
Windows 2000, or
Windows Server 2003
CopyFilenames v3.1
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== Product information ==

The CopyFilenames utility adds a number of commands to the context
menu in Windows Explorer that appears when you right click on a file
or folder. These commands provide a simple way to get the names of
one or more files or folders into the Windows clipboard.

This can save a lot of time (and possible errors) when writing
documents that need to refer to files. This can be particularly
useful for developers, technical authors and systems administrators,
for example.


== Using CopyFilenames ==

CopyFilenames can only be used from within Windows Explorer. It
cannot be run as a standalone application.

Right click on one or more files or folders in Windows Explorer, and
choose one of the CopyFilenames commands:
* Copy Filenames - Copies the filenames to the Windows clipboard
* Copy Filename and Delete - Copies the filename, then deletes the file
* Paste Filename - Renames the file to the text in the clipboard

Hold down the CTRL key while selecting the Copy Filenames menu
command to see the Options Panel which lets you copy various file
attributes, and select how these are formatted.

Hold down the SHIFT key while selecting the Copy Filenames menu
command to copy the full path to the selected files instead of just
the filename.

For more information, see the online help.  A shortcut to this has
been installed in the CopyFilenames folder under the Windows Start
menu.


CopyFilenames v3.1, released 16th July 2010.
Copyright 2010 ExtraBit Software.
All Rights Reserved.

CopyFilenames Overview

Screengrab of Windows Explorer right-click context menu showing CopyFilenames commands

What is CopyFilenames?

CopyFilenames is an extension for Windows Explorer. It cannot be run as a standalone application. After installing CopyFilenames, right click on one or more files or folders in Windows Explorer and you will see the extra commands added by CopyFilenames.

What's it for?

Windows has no built in way to copy a filename or folder listing to the clipboard. For a single file, you can use File > Rename, CTRL+C, then ESC to copy a filename to the clipboard, but this is quite tedious if you have to do this frequently or for lots of files.
CopyFilenames comes to the rescue! This adds an extra menu command to the context menu in Windows Explorer (this is the menu that pops up when you right click on a file). This command lets you copy the filename in one operation.
CopyFilenames can also be used to copy lots of filenames all in one go. By default, the filenames will be copied one per line.

Copying full paths

CopyFilenames also makes it very easy to copy the full path to a file. If you hold down SHIFT while selecting the Copy Filenames command, the full path to the file will be copied instead of just the filename. This path can then be pasted into any application that has a field for a path to a file, or into a file open panel.
This can be a real timesaver when you already have the right folder open in Windows Explorer, since you do no longer need to nagivate to that same folder in another application to use a file in that folder!

Including file attributes

It doesn't just stop there - you can also include the size of the file or the last-modified date instead of just the filename. To select these options, hold down the CTRL key while selecting the Copy Filenames to bring up the options panel. If you have selected the option to copy the full path, you can also select to have the backslashes doubled up (programmers will appreciate the value of this), or use forward slashes instead. There is also an option to include either single or double quotes around the names.
These additional attributes are tab separated from the filename, so they can, for example, be easily pasted into a spreadsheet pogram such as Excel so that the filenames will be in one column and the sizes in the next.

Replacing one file with another

In addition to being able to copy filenames, this utility also adds two other commands which appear when appropriate. These commands can be used to replace one file with another. This is invaluable in the situation where you have two files in a folder, and you want to delete one, and rename the other to the name of the file that was deleted.
Using Windows commands
  • Select the file to delete
  • File > Rename
  • CTRL+C
  • ESC
  • File > Delete
  • Select the other file
  • File > Rename
  • CTRL+V
  • Return.
Using CopyFilenames
  • Right click the file to delete
  • Copy Filename and Delete
  • Right click the other file
  • Paste Filename
All CopyFilenames commands work equally well with folders as well as files.

CopyFilenames features

  • Copies one or many file or folder names as text to the Windows clipboard
  • Option to add file size
  • Option to add file date/time
  • Option to add full path to file
  • Option to double up back-slashes, or use forward slashes, if full path added
  • Option to quote filenames with single or double quotes
  • Option to separate multiple filenames with newline, space, tab or comma
  • Command to rename a file with text from clipboard (Paste Filename)
  • Command to copy filename and delete file in a single operation