How do I copy all subdirectories?
When importing photos from your camera or SD card via AutoPlay dialog using the Photos app, many sub-folders (month and year-wise) are created in the destination folder, which may not be what you wanted. Here is a step-by-step guide that explains how to move all files recursively from multiple subfolders to a single folder of your choice. Show
For example, here is how it gets imported when using the Photos app. The mobile phones and cameras also may store your photos in many subfolders under the For instance, in Apple iPhone, your photos and videos are stored in the 100APPLE folder under Copying the files from each subfolder to a single folder on your hard disk manually can be a tiresome task, especially if you have a large number of folders. However, you don’t need to dig into every folder to do that, as there are several ways to quickly copy or move files from all the subfolders to a single folder — i.e., flatten a directory structure. Flattening a directory structure
You can copy or move files from sub-folders to a single folder using at least three different built-in ways in Windows. This procedure is also known as flattening a directory structure. Follow one of the three methods, whichever one you find easy. Method 1: Using Command-lineScenario: Let’s copy all files from the
If a file of the same name exists in the destination, you’ll be asked if you want to overwrite or skip the file. Note: It’s always safe to include the trailing backslash ( Method 2: Using the Libraries feature in WindowsThe Libraries feature, first introduced in Windows 7, is also available in subsequent versions, including Windows 10. Libraries are virtual containers for users’ content. A library can contain files and folders stored on the local computer or in a remote storage location. Windows libraries are similar to “Saved Search” and are backed by full content search and rich metadata. You can aggregate content from multiple storage locations into a single, unified view using Libraries. Let’s use the Libraries feature in Windows to flatten a directory structure. Let’s say we have a folder structure like this: D:\PHOTOS └───Camera ├───2018-01 ├───2018-02 ├───2018-04 ├───2018-05 └───2018-07 Under each folder, we have several photos imported from the camera. To flatten the Camera directory structure and consolidate all images in a single folder, follow these steps:
Next, we’ll see how to accomplish the same using Windows Search in Method 3 below. Method 3: Using Windows SearchUsing Windows Search is another easy way to flatten a directory structure if you don’t prefer the command-line.
Method 4: Using 7-Zip7-Zip is not just a compression utility, but it also has file management capabilities that can be useful for other purposes. 7-Zip supports the “Flat View” feature that can help us quickly locate files in multiple subfolders, or copy them to a different location.
That’s it. The selected files are copied to the selected folder (flattened.) Note
that you can also enable the “2 Panels” view via 7-Zip’s View menu and copy the files by dragging to the desired folder in the right pane. You must make sure to press the Method 4: Using Total CommanderIf you’re using the Total Commander file manager software, you can flatten a directory structure easily.
That’s it. This copies or moves all the files in the source directory tree to the target folder (flattened). Making sure every file has been moved successfullyImportant: Windows Search may not list every file in search results in some cases, either due to indexing issues or if the “Temporary” attribute is set for a file. It’s prudent to ensure that there are no files left behind at the source location, before clearing out those folders. RELATED: Windows Search Not Finding Google Drive Files and Folders To verify that, right-click the parent folder (or select all sub-folders and right-click) in the source location, and click Properties. If you had moved the items instead of copying, the Properties tab should say “0 Files“. That means every file has been successfully moved to the new location. Alternately, you can check the Properties tab in the destination path and make sure the number of files is the same (total 33 files, as seen in the image under Step #6 above). Once you ensure every file has been moved, the folders in the old location can be deleted. This post takes the case of photos imported from a camera. But the procedure to move or copy all files from multiple sub-folders to a separate folder (aka “flattening a directory structure”) is the same for all other situations. One small request: If you liked this post, please share this?One "tiny" share from you would seriously help a lot with the growth of this blog. Some great suggestions:
Which command would you use to copy all files and subdirectories?To copy a directory with all subdirectories and files, use the cp command.
How do I copy a directory and subdirectories?Copying Directories with cp Command
If you want to copy directory, including all its files and subdirectories, use -R or -r option with cp command. The above command will create a destination directory and copy all files and subdirectories recursively to the /opt directory.
How do I copy a subdirectory?To move folders and subfolders in cmd, the most used command syntax would be:. xcopy [source] [destination] [options]. Click Start and type cmd in the search box. ... . Now, when you're in the Command Prompt, you can type Xcopy command as below to copy folders and subfolders including contents. ... . Xcopy C:\test D:\test /E /H /C /I.. How do I copy a directory and subdirectories in Linux?In order to copy a directory on Linux, you have to execute the “cp” command with the “-R” option for recursive and specify the source and destination directories to be copied.
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