Automatically copy a folder to destination with date and time appended

I'm manually using the 'Copy to destination lister and append date' to copy over a folder I have some files in that changes regularly but I'm wondering if DOpus can do it automatically? I know its not a backup program, but I don't really want a backup program to do it, because the files inside the folder ends up nested in the whole source path when its copied. I just want the folder with its contents copied over as it is but with the current date and time at the end. Automatically :slight_smile:

Automatically as in on a schedule? You could set something like that up in Opus (using Task Scheduler to trigger a copy command, for example) but it would not be the best tool for that kind of job, since Opus is mainly designed to be interactive.

The same could be done using Task Scheduler and a batch file or script, since those can copy files as well. That might be more suited to something that you want to happen automatically and in the background.

Windows also has built-in backup software, although it's not great for all situations. (And Microsoft keep changing how it works.)

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A schedule or when files inside the folder change, yes. I see what you mean, when I remember to save the folder I do it with the dual pane lister opened, so interactively it's great. But sometimes, when I get really engrossed with my task I forget to do it and an hour has gone by! Fille change would be better so it can backup when files change.
I'll try with a batch file, I'm not very good with scripting. Thank you :slight_smile:

Maybe look into using one of these:

File Juggler ($40)
https://www.filejuggler.com/copy-and-backup-files-when-they-change/

Belvedere (free but old and discontinued)

Other alternatives

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@ktbcrash, Thank you for the links to the programs, I'll have a look at them and let you know how I do :slight_smile:

There were some good programs listed on the 'Alternative To...' website. I settled with RoboBasket, it's pretty good, very configurable. Thanks again for your help and the links :slight_smile:

You might also consider some syn programs like FreeFileSync that than can sync folders one way or both depending on how you set that sync up (including deleting files no longer present in the source folder)

As for the for date labeling part, I don't think it would handle that but a log file might if it produces one.

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@hpearce, I actually have FreeFileSync and also GoodSync, I've tried both for this, but I don't like when the folder is synced, the deleted or changed items are put in one subfolder with the dates appended to each file, I prefer the folder to be copied as it was with the date appended. It's hard to explain, but the folder I'm working with has a number of folders in it that I'd like to process together and KEEP together each time the root folder has changed, so sync programs are no good because they put all importance on the files within the folders, not the folders themselves.

My guess is you have set the sync up as VERSIONING or something which would keep prior versions in other folders
I don't use that at all and have no problems (FreeFileSync).

But doesn't the files get deleted if not set to keep old versions? How do you you set yours up?

it does

But then how do you expect versioning to work when you don't want the folders that store them - unless you can somehow direct those folders elsewhere in the setup

Yep, that's why sync programs won't work for me, they would have to delete or move the deleted files to some other folder for versioning. I don't want anything moved or deleted, I want the folder I copy to have tthe date and time appended to it so its different to the other times I copied that same folder, but I want all my copies to still exist but with different times and dates.

You could use a backup program which keeps historic backups. The better ones let you backup just what has changed since the last backup, while also keeping a defined number of older backups so you have more than just the latest versions of things.

From what I read, I think File Juggler does just that:

"File Juggler is set to overwrite the new file every time it's copied. But it can also append a date to the file name, so you can keep backups of all versions of the file."

That's why I linked to it first. Just need to change from "file" to "folder". Now I haven't tried it personally so I could be wrong. I'm guessing you could then also add another rule to clean up the backup location so files/folders older than x days would be deleted.