F5: Copy
 
This command copies files and whole directories from the source directory to another directory.
 
Select the files you want to copy and press F5.
 
To copy a file in the same directory (to a different name), press SHIFT+F5. To copy multiple files this way, you can select the option Rename each file separately, then you will be asked for a new name for each file separately.
 
You can also create shortcuts (LNK files) with CTRL+SHIFT+F5.
 
Copy dialog
 
This opens a dialog box where you can type the target path and a file mask. As a default, the path of the target window is presented together with *.* as the file mask. You can use any type of valid file name including wild cards as your target file name. If you don't specify any target path, the files will be copied to the source directory. Press F5 a second time to select just the file name without path, and third time to select also its extension. Ctrl+Home places the cursor directly in front of the file name (behind the last "\"). The combobox offers all open tabs and target subdirs for choice.
 
With the button "+ F7" you can add the current target directory to the list (Alt+Down arrow) or remove it. You can also open the list of most frequently used directories (directory hotlist, bookmarks) to select a destination path.
 
In the field Only files of this type, you can define that only specific files should be copied.
Examples:
*.txt *.doc will copy only text and doc files (also applies to files in subdirs!)
*.* | *.bak *.old will copy everything except for bak and old files
*.* | somedir1\ somedir2\ will not copy files in subdirs named somedir1 and somedir2
 
The button "+ F8" allows you to define search filters, which offer more options which files should be copied, e.g. by size, date/time or via content plugins. You can also copy related files. For example, you would want to copy all jpg files, plus all RAW image files (.cr2), but only if there is a jpg file in the same directory. This can be done with the following selection string: *.jpg>*.cr2 . Note: The copy filter will only be applied to selected files, and to files in selected folders. Append |**\ to skip copying of empty folders.
 
With the button labeled Tree you can choose the target directory from a directory tree. If you want to choose a directory from a different drive, you can specify the drive (including the :) in the dialog box before selecting the Tree button.
 
With the button F2 Queue, the selected files will be added to the last opened background transfer manager. This is useful to copy many big files one after the other, which is more efficient than multiple in parallel in the background.
 
If you right-click on the button OK or F2 Queue, then you will be able to perform a move operation instead of copying (and vice versa, copy instead of move, if you've opened the F6 Move dialog).
 
You can also append a file to another file: Make sure that overwrite confirmations aren't turned off, then simply copy the file you want to append to the file to which you want to append it. Total Commander will then show an overwrite confirmation dialog, in which you can click the "Append" button.
 
The checkbox Copy NTFS permissions allows you to copy permissions specific to the NTFS file system, like read and write permissions, and the file owner. Also copies auditing info if we can access it.
 
With the option Verify enabled, Total Commander reads the copied file again after copying finishes, and compares its MD5 checksum with the original. The disk cache will be bypassed.
 
When copying files from branch view (Ctrl+B), there is an option Keep relative paths. This allows you to copy files with the full path relative to the current directory. This way the directory structure can be preserved.
 
The button Options allows you to set options for unattended copying: By default, Total Commander asks before overwriting files. This button allows you to set the default to "Overwrite all", "Skip all", or "Overwrite all older". Click the Save button to the right to save this overwrite option as the default.
Under Options it's also possible to ignore read only, hidden and system attributes when overwriting or moving files. The options extension can be pinned to remain open.
 
When you select some directories and/or links in the target panel, there will be an option to copy to ALL these locations. This is done via background transfer manager. If you select normal files in the target panel, e.g. after Search - Feed in Listbox, Total Commander will copy to the directories in which the selected files are located.
 
Note: With "Use copy+paste via Explorer" option enabled, a simplified Copy dialog is used, with only options to confirm or cancel the operation.
 
Packing and unpacking
 
If the source directory shows the contents of an archive, the dialog to unpack files is shown. You can also unpack files directly from an archive to an FTP server! The files will then first be unpacked to a temporary directory, and then uploaded to the remote server. The reverse (FTP to archive) isn't supported. The danger is too high that after a long download, the pack operation fails, and the downloaded files are lost.
 
Alternatively, if the target directory shows the contents of an archive (and the source directory shows a normal directory), the dialog to pack files is shown.
 
If you want to create a new archive and pack the selected files into it, simply press ALT+F5. This will open a dialog box to pack files. With ALT+SHIFT+F5 the files will be deleted after packing. You can also pack files directly from one archive to another!
 
If you want to unpack the archive under the cursor (or the selected archives), press ALT+F9. After giving the target directory (and if desired a file mask), all files from the archive will be unpacked.
 
Copy progress dialog box
 
The copy progress dialog shows, if available, the number of copied and total number of files, and the number of copied and total number of bytes. By clicking on these numbers, this can be switched to the remaining number of files/bytes (shown with a minus sign).
The pack/unpack (ZIP, TAR, RAR, 7Z, external packers and some plugins) and copy operations can be moved to the background by pressing the 'Background' button during the copy operation. This allows you to do other things in Total Commander during the operation. The full names are shown when hovering with the mouse over the displayed names.
It's also possible to move a background operation back to the foreground if no other dialog is open in Total Commander.
You may need to press F2 or CTRL+R to refresh the directory after a background operation completes. Otherwise modified files may not be shown.
 
Overwrite dialog box
 
This dialog box is shown when a file already exists in the target directory. You can choose whether you want to overwrite or skip the file, to overwrite only older files, or to overwrite or skip all already existing files.
 
The button More Options >> opens a popup menu, which offers more commands: Compare by content, Rename target, and the automatic rename options: In case of a name collision, either the name of the copied file, or the name of the target file is renamed automatically to keep both the old and new file. Furthermore, you can overwrite all files which are older or of the same age, or copy all smaller or all larger files.
 
In the normal copy/move function, the overwrite dialog can optionally display thumbnails for source and target files, and custom fields from content plugins. This is especially useful when copying pictures. The thumbnails/icons support the normal right click context menu.
 
 
On Windows 2000 and newer, you will also be asked whether you want to copy a file "As Administrator". This will start a small program, tcmadmin.exe, which then performs the desired operation with the rights of a different user (or extended rights on Vista when already logged on as an administrator). The program terminates itself after a user-defined timeout defined by AdminTimeout in wincmd.ini. During this period, you will not be asked again for the administrator password. Tcmadmin will also not terminate while it is active, e.g. when you copy files as administrator in a background thread.