Help for PATools File Manager
Tip: Use your browser's 'Find' (often Ctrl+F) to search within this page.
To use the File Manager software you simply highlight your selected cells containing file and/or folder names, select your options and click 'Run'.
You need to understand the 'rules' outlined below in order to use this effectively.
We strongly recommend that you take a close look at the demo workbook provided with the software, which you can open using the drop-down at the lower right of the PATools File Manager screen.
Please note: PATools cannot take any responsibility for your use or misuse of this software, and any resultant cost or inconvenience, for example from moving or deleting or renaming files or folders etc.
'Rules'
For all activities except 'Delete ...' and 'Create folders' you must choose a cell or range of cells from within one column, and in one contigious block (ie a group of cells next to each other).
- For 'Create', each selected cell should contain the full path and name for the file or folder to be created. When creating files, empty files will be created by default, but you can specify text contents to be inserted from the cell immediately to the right of each selected cell.
- For 'Delete', only the selected cells will be evaluated.
- For 'Copy', 'Move' and 'Rename', each cell should contain the source path and file/folder name, with the new destination file/folder name specified in the cell immediately to the right of each one. If the adjacent cell to the right is left blank then the previous destination will be used. If you do not specify a path for the destination then the path of the source will be assumed.
- For 'Rename' the path (if specified) must be the same as the original file
Zipping
You can create empty zip files using the 'Create' option - simply set the filenames to end in .zip
To copy or move files into zip files simply set the destination filenames to end with .zip (and the source items of course must not).
Our software uses Windows native software to work with zip files.
Deleting
The 'Delete permanently' option uses the standard Windows permanent deletion feature, which means the file still physically exists on your disk until Windows needs to reutilise that space. Therefore although you cannot see the file it could probably still be recovered using third party software for that purpose (search the web for Undelete or File Recovery). Only specific software for 'shredding' your files will actually completely remove files.
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Tip: Right-click any checkbox to set the default to your preference.
1.
'Colour cells on results' simply shows you at a glance whether each cell
completed or not; It will become green if it completed, or a different colour if it
did not; yellow means if failed due to the source (perhaps not existing or being mistyped), orange means the destination failed (perhaps the folder path could not be created due to rights or incorrect format eg c:/abc should be c:\abc), and red means both of the above passed but Windows failed in the selected operation.
Blue means the operation did not complete because the user chose No when
prompted.
You can easily reset all colours by clicking the link.
You can get more information on all failures by using the link to view the
previous run results.
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1. Although the software is well tested and written, we would recommend as good practice that any data and template workbooks be saved and backed-up before running this software, as it is impossible to protect against every possibility of system crashes, printer problems, etc causing runtime problems that may damage your data.
2. For this, as with any software, the best way to evaluate it and make it work for you is to play with it using dummy data until you become comfortable and are ready to use it for real.
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