How to copy-and-paste content of folder via shortcut?

[joeu2004]

I have a folder shortcut on the desktop. Ostensibly, I want to
copy-and-paste the folder such that when I paste it (to other media),
it will create a folder of that name and copy the contents of the
original folder into the new folder. How can I do that?

Of course, normally when we copy-and-paste the folder shortcut, we get
a copy of the shortcut, not the folder and its contents.

I know that we could open the folder, select all of its contents
(ctrl-A), then copy-and-paste them into a folder that we create
manually.

But I am trying to simplify the steps for an unsophisticated user.

I see that we can right-click on the shortcut, click Explore, then
copy-and-paste the folder. But I worry that even that is a too complex
and error-prone for the unsophisticated user.

Previously, the user had a folder (not a shortcut) on the desktop. So
he merely had to copy-and-paste the folder. I convinced the user to
put all user data into the My Documents folder, creating shortcuts on
the desktop as needed. This seems to have increased the difficulty of
copying the folder.

 

[Larry(LJL269)]

Easy to do with 3rd party macro app such as KeyText/AutoIt
which type/move mouse as a user would. I have 1 that does
Properties of shortcut>FindTarget.

U'd have to compose macro& assign a hotkey. Tip- use
keyboard navigation where possable & insert pauses to slow
macro down.

HTH-Larry

I have a folder shortcut on the desktop. Ostensibly, I want to
copy-and-paste the folder such that when I paste it (to other media),
it will create a folder of that name and copy the contents of the
original folder into the new folder. How can I do that?

Of course, normally when we copy-and-paste the folder shortcut, we get
a copy of the shortcut, not the folder and its contents.

I know that we could open the folder, select all of its contents
(ctrl-A), then copy-and-paste them into a folder that we create
manually.

But I am trying to simplify the steps for an unsophisticated user.

I see that we can right-click on the shortcut, click Explore, then
copy-and-paste the folder. But I worry that even that is a too complex
and error-prone for the unsophisticated user.

Previously, the user had a folder (not a shortcut) on the desktop. So
he merely had to copy-and-paste the folder. I convinced the user to
put all user data into the My Documents folder, creating shortcuts on
the desktop as needed. This seems to have increased the difficulty of
copying the folder.

Any advise given is my attempt to show appreciation for all
the excellent help I've received here but I'm no MVP so it
may only apply NUGS (Normally, Usually, Generally, Sometimes

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I have a folder shortcut on the desktop. Ostensibly, I want to
copy-and-paste the folder such that when I paste it (to other media),
it will create a folder of that name and copy the contents of the
original folder into the new folder. How can I do that?

Of course, normally when we copy-and-paste the folder shortcut, we get
a copy of the shortcut, not the folder and its contents.

I know that we could open the folder, select all of its contents
(ctrl-A), then copy-and-paste them into a folder that we create
manually.

But I am trying to simplify the steps for an unsophisticated user.

I see that we can right-click on the shortcut, click Explore, then
copy-and-paste the folder. But I worry that even that is a too complex
and error-prone for the unsophisticated user.

Previously, the user had a folder (not a shortcut) on the desktop. So
he merely had to copy-and-paste the folder. I convinced the user to
put all user data into the My Documents folder, creating shortcuts on
the desktop as needed. This seems to have increased the difficulty of
copying the folder.

This is usually handled by creating a shortcut to a batch file
that might look like this:

@echo off
echo.
echo Copying D:\Accounts to F:\Accounts.
echo.
xcopy /s /d /y d:\Accounts F:\Accounts\
echo.
echo . . . done!
echo Please press the space bar to close this window.
pause > nul