batch copying files pointed to by shortcut

[edself]

Hello,

I have a folder containing a bunch of shortcuts that point all over my hard
drive to various files. I would like to copy the files pointed to (NOT the
shortcut files themselves) to a single destination folder on a CD or other
drive.

Is there a way in XP, file manager, or some utility I can use to do this?

I've heard you can do this with various multi-step custom scripts. However,
I've heard rumors there is a one click way to do this without having to
fabricate a custom script each time, where regardless where the shortcuts
point to, I can select the group of shortcuts and do a copy operation that
will grab the files they point to. Then, I can paste or otherwise put the
actual files (not shortcuts) into one directory.

I sure hope I can find a way to do this, because it would be very painful to
manually find each file pointed to by a shortcut and one by one copy them to
one master folder.

Thanks for your help!
Ed

 

[Pop`]

Hello,

I have a folder containing a bunch of shortcuts that point all over
my hard drive to various files. I would like to copy the files
pointed to (NOT the shortcut files themselves) to a single
destination folder on a CD or other drive.

Is there a way in XP, file manager, or some utility I can use to do
this?
I've heard you can do this with various multi-step custom scripts.
However, I've heard rumors there is a one click way to do this
without having to fabricate a custom script each time, where
regardless where the shortcuts point to, I can select the group of
shortcuts and do a copy operation that will grab the files they point
to. Then, I can paste or otherwise put the actual files (not
shortcuts) into one directory.
I sure hope I can find a way to do this, because it would be very
painful to manually find each file pointed to by a shortcut and one
by one copy them to one master folder.

Thanks for your help!
Ed

That doesn't sound very practical; perhaps if you explained what you wanted
to accomplish?

Pop

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Hello,

I have a folder containing a bunch of shortcuts that point all over
my hard drive to various files. I would like to copy the files
pointed to (NOT the shortcut files themselves) to a single
destination folder on a CD or other drive.

Is there a way in XP, file manager, or some utility I can use to do
this?
I've heard you can do this with various multi-step custom scripts.
However, I've heard rumors there is a one click way to do this
without having to fabricate a custom script each time, where
regardless where the shortcuts point to, I can select the group of
shortcuts and do a copy operation that will grab the files they
point to. Then, I can paste or otherwise put the actual files (not
shortcuts) into one directory.
I sure hope I can find a way to do this, because it would be very
painful to manually find each file pointed to by a shortcut and one
by one copy them to one master folder.

Why'd you repost?
Your other cross-posted thread was doing fine.

 

[RJK]

...oh b****r ..with two g's in the middlish ! I didn't notice that
x-posting - I should have spent more time - and helped him knock up a batch
file, ...but, would have to do it myself to test it etc. ..am off to bed
now !

regards, Richard

 

[edself]

I started a new thread because I wanted to add more info and wasn't sure if
anyone would see it buried way down in a thread. I'm not too familiar with
newsgroups and how they work.

Anyway, I hope someone can help me. The batch example kindly provided by
RJK didn't look like it would do what I need.

Once upon a time, I had gotten an easy solution to do this problem.
Unfortunately, I changed computers and didn't bring over the utility to do
this operation.

It amazes me that XP doesn't include a feature to handle this, like ALT C if
you want to copy the files behind the shortcuts instead of the shortcut
files themselves. That sure would be handy!

Ed

 

[edself]

Hi Pop,

I'm not sure how to explain what I am trying to accomplish any more clearly.
I have a folder which contains various shortcuts I have collected to files
in various other folders. I use the shortcuts as a way of grouping files
that may be related in some way, but happen to be in other directories.

But, then if I want to take all these files and copy them somewhere, the
shortcuts are not very useful.

That's why I need a utility to help with the operation. I know it's
possible, because I found a simple utility once before, but unfortunately
didn't bring it over from a slightly older computer to my newer one.

Ed

 

[DanS]

I started a new thread because I wanted to add more info and wasn't
sure if anyone would see it buried way down in a thread. I'm not too
familiar with newsgroups and how they work.

Well, continuing on in the original thread is the way to go. I'm not sure
how Outlook works, because I passed on that a long time ago, but most any
decent newsreader will automatically new flag message in a an old thread
you have participated in.

The newsreader I use, after retreiving headers, will jump to the oldest
thread that I've posted in when there are new messages in the thread.

I must say though, that while your crossposting may have been excessive,
at least you didn't multipost, which is completely different. When
crossposting as you did, any replies from any of the groups posted to
will show in every group (good). Multiposting is when you post the same
message multiple times to single groups (bad).

Anyway, I hope someone can help me. The batch example kindly provided
by RJK didn't look like it would do what I need.

RJK's post was confusing, BUT, if you would have continued on in the
original thread, you would have seen the post by NewScience, posted 4 hrs
after you started the original thread, that has the first half of a vb
script that will do EXACTLY what you wanted.

Check that thread, and try it out, and see if it's the first half of what
you need. The VBS should tell you the name of each shortcut and the file
the shorcut points to. NewScience then said 'Let me know how you want to
proceed in Moving the Target File to another location.', which to my
understanding is that is a very small effort to finish it off for you,
and is asking how you want to move them, like a browse... or such.

Hopefully they will overlook the new post, and finish it off for you. I
have 0 experience with VBS.

If the post is relevant to the previous thread and part of it's
discussion, ALWAYS post there.

Once upon a time, I had gotten an easy solution to do this problem.
Unfortunately, I changed computers and didn't bring over the utility
to do this operation.

It amazes me that XP doesn't include a feature to handle this, like
ALT C if you want to copy the files behind the shortcuts instead of
the shortcut files themselves. That sure would be handy!

There are a million features that XP should have, or you think it should
have, like it should display sizes of folders, but it doesn't.

Honestly though, I don't see a point in the feature you are talking
about. Typically, a shortcut point's to an installed program, or maybe a
folder. It's not very often when you want to copy the exe of a program to
a different location.

Regards,

DanS

Ed

 

[Jerold Schulman]

Hello,

I have a folder containing a bunch of shortcuts that point all over my hard
drive to various files. I would like to copy the files pointed to (NOT the
shortcut files themselves) to a single destination folder on a CD or other
drive.

Is there a way in XP, file manager, or some utility I can use to do this?

I've heard you can do this with various multi-step custom scripts. However,
I've heard rumors there is a one click way to do this without having to
fabricate a custom script each time, where regardless where the shortcuts
point to, I can select the group of shortcuts and do a copy operation that
will grab the files they point to. Then, I can paste or otherwise put the
actual files (not shortcuts) into one directory.

I sure hope I can find a way to do this, because it would be very painful to
manually find each file pointed to by a shortcut and one by one copy them to
one master folder.

Thanks for your help!
Ed

@echo off
setlocal
:: Download Shortcut.exe and place it in a folder in your path
:: See tip 6035 » Freeware shortcut.exe creates shortcuts from the command-line.
:: in the 'Tips & Tricks' at http://www.jsifaq.com
for /f "Tokens=*" %%a in ('dir /b /s /a /a:-d "C:\Documents and Settings\Jerry\Favorites\*.lnk"') do (
for /f "Tokens=1* Delims==" %%b in ('shortcut /F:"%%a" /A:Q^|find "TargetPathExpanded"') do (
copy "%%c" C:\zipnew\*.*
)
)
endlocal

Jerold Schulman
Windows Server MVP
JSI, Inc.
http://www.jsiinc.com
http://www.jsifaq.com

 

[Ayush]

When opening a file/shortcut, the action is taken from the registry so the
registry probably look for the actual file and opens it so it should be very
easy to add a context menu item that copies the actual file. Sorry, i don't
know how to do it. Maybe a person that knows about registry will tell you.

--
Ayush [ Be ''?'' Happy ]

Search - www.Google.com | Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org
Snip your long urls - http://snipurl.com/
OE-QuoteFix - http://snipurl.com/quotefix

Replied to [edself]'s message :
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[RJK]

....hold on a minute !!!!!!!!!

Why not use windows Explorer Search e.g. for *.doc files, which will
list all the files with the .doc filetype in a directory OR the whole drive
according to how you use it, then you could drag them to wherever you want
!!

regards, Richard