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XPS 8920, copy and paste issue
I am having trouble copying a Documents folder from an external drive to the Documents folder listed under This PC.
I copied my Documents folder to my external drive. See screenshot 31.
Some time ago I attempted to copy the Documents folder from my external drive to the Documents folder itself under This PC. When I did, the Documents folder ended up being an additional Documents folder under the Documents folder in This PC. See screenshot 29.
So, now what happens is this:
Assume I added Window files to the Documents folder appearing on my external drive. And, now, I want to copy the full Documents folder from the external drive to the Documents folder itself under This PC.
When I attempt to do the above, the full Documents folder from the external drive is copied to the Documents folder listed under the Documents folder in This PC and not to the Documents folder itself in This PC. See screenshot 29.
And, to complicate this issue is this:
I deleted the Documents folder listed under the Documents folder on This PC as seen in screenshot 29. But, when I restart my PC, that Documents folder reappears.
So, my question is, how can I perform a Documents copy and paste from my external drive and have its contents appear in the Documents folder listed in This PC and to delete the Documents folder from appearing as an additional folder under the Documents folder in This PC?
Thanks,
Jerry
6/1/20
Vic384
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June 1st, 2020 13:00
We can't see your images until they are approved, but I think I know what is happening.
The Documents folder under This PC is a shortcut to the folder 'c:\Users\(username)\Documents'. You can see this if you right-chick on Documents (under This PC) and select Properties. So when you copy the Documents folder from your external drive and paste it to Documents (under This PC) you are really pasting it to the folder 'c:\user\(username)\Documents', therefore creating a Documents folder under the folder c:\Users\(username)\Documents.
"So, my question is, how can I perform a Documents copy and paste from my external drive and have its contents appear in the Documents folder listed in This PC and to delete the Documents folder from appearing as an additional folder under the Documents folder in This PC?"
If all you want is the contents of the Documents folder on your external drive, you need to open the Documents folder on the external drive and copy its contents (not the Documents folder) and then you need to right-click on the Documents folder under This PC and click on Paste. If you do this another Documents folder will not appear so there will be no need to delete anything.
Jerry8A
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June 1st, 2020 17:00
Thanks for the reply and your detailed answer. I think my issue was clicking on the folder and not its content.
Regards,
Jerry
RoHe
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June 1st, 2020 18:00
And do you really want/need to copy all those files from the external drive back onto the internal drive, overwriting any existing files with the same name?
Why not just copy the new or recently updated files? Open that external docs folder and sort by date to find the newest/latest files...
Jerry8A
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June 1st, 2020 19:00
Hello RoHe
I understand your suggestion. However, I had other reasons for copying the full folder.
Thanks,
Jerry