RoboCopy stands for Robust File Copy and it is an advanced version of Xcopy (Extended Copy).
There are several other GUI versions of RoboCopy which have been released by Non-Microsoft developers, WinRoboCopy is one of them.
Interface and functionality of WinRoboCopy
After downloading WinRoboCopy from the website and installing it, the first window pop-up looks like the below screenshot:
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Let’s go through each field and it’s functionality in order.
Name
A drop down menu. You can choose an appropriate name for the current RoboCopy settings to be used later. It’s an optional field. 4 icons at the right are:
Save this job, Delete this job, Clear the current job, Open Script Editor Window.
Script Editor Window looks like the screenshot below:
Each saved job can have a Pre-RoboCopy or Post-Robocopy script (this is optional). These scripts would run if applicable to the current RoboCopy job.
All the log is displayed in the Log Menu in the main window.
From & To
From and To are just plain fields indicating files to be copied from and to folder. You can Browse and Open Folders through the icons on right side.
+ Button
Clicking on the + Button (green shade) shows the complete functionality and meaning of the commands.
A snapshot of expanded + Button (which is a “– Button” below):
Others:
How does it work?
If you want to work with multiple functions of WinRobocopy, you can follow these steps:
- Give a name to RoboCopy settings (although this is optional. If you want to use the same settings again, you can save it).
- If you want to run some pre or post job for RoboCopy, you may input the desired function using script editor.
- Select the “From” and “To” folders for copying files from and to desired location.
- Expand the + button and check the required functions out of all the available functions as seen in the photo above.
- Once you’re sure of the setting, you can just click “RoboCopy” to run it instantly.
- Alternately, you can save the setting by clicking “Save” button. Name of this setting will be the name used in Step 1 above.
- You might want to schedule the job for a later time or event. Clicking “Schedule” enables this option to use.
- Progress and Log can be seen below after pressing the “RoboCopy” button.
While RoboCopy is a command line tool used by tech savvy people, its front end GUIs like WinRoboCopy is an easy tool with multiple functionalities in a single window. You can also save your RoboCopy settings which can be executed later for different locations thus making file handling easy. The link to WinRoboCopy download page is here.