Tuesday, October 17th, 2017 Author:One of the shortcomings of is the lack of options when it comes to managing folders and their content. While there are a few issues that are often mentioned, the one we’re going to address here is how to merge folders that have the same name.It seems to happen quite often when you have a project you’re working on in two different locations, say at home and at work.
Windows 10 Alternative to macOS' 'Automator' Application for Renaming Multiple Files Solved. I need to be able to 'replace' text and 'sequence' files, as each file has both a sequential numeral and a block of text that is a unique identifier for that file. Erasing the file names and sequencing them will not work, as I need to keep. I am trying to write a simple Automator service to merge selected text files. I’ve nearly got it, but I am running into one problem. I want to create a new text file from the combined output of the selected files. When I add the New Text File action, I can only set the Where location to a particular folder.
Or perhaps you’re working on a project on just one Mac, but you have a folder for the currently active project, and one for the updates you’re planning to perform.In either case, the goal is to unite the two folders so they contain all of the files found in each one. When there are two files with the same name, you want the most recent version to be used, and the older one to be replaced.Seems simple enough, but for a long time this type of basic file/folder manipulation was beyond the capabilities of the Mac’s Finder. Of course, there are quite a few third-party utilities that can perform the merge function for you; there are even some Apple utilities that can assist in this undertaking. But we’re going to start with just the Finder we use every day, and try out some of its merging options.Options When Moving FilesWhen moving or copying files (we’re primarily going to refer to moving files, though you could also be copying files) from a source folder to a destination folder, there are a number of options for how file merging is performed.The first option is none at all. If the files you’re moving are unique, that is, the names don’t match any of the files currently in the destination folder, then no merge option is presented, and files are simply moved to their new home in the destination folder.
(The Skip option replaces the usual Keep Both button provided there are multiple files being moved and you hold down the option key once the dialog box is presented.)Skip: This is the hidden option that can be revealed by holding down the option key when the dialog box is present. Skip replaces the Keep Both option and allows you to skip over the currently listed file. This is the same as the Stop function, but only applies to the currently listed file in the dialog box.
You can use Skip when you spot a file during the merge process that you didn’t mean to move.Options When Merging FoldersSo far, we’ve looked at the options available when moving one or more files between folders. But there are different options when you find yourself moving folders with identical names into a folder.In this example, you’re moving a folder into a folder that already has a folder with the same name. That’s a lot of items called folder, so let’s add some names to make it easier to follow along.In this example, you have two folders named Project X, a super-secret assignment you’ve been working on. You have two folders with the same name because you’ve been working on this project on two different computers, and now you want to merge the two folders into one, keeping the most recent versions of any files they contain, and discarding older versions.While there are quite a few syncing apps that can do this for you, the Finder can also take care of this basic task.For the Finder to perform the merge you’ll need a destination folder to hold the merged folders; for this example, we’ll simply call this folder Merged. The two source folders have the same name, Project X, but they’re located in two different locations on your Mac.Start by moving one of the Project X folders to the Merged folder; either one will do.Hold down the Option key while you drag the second Project X folder onto the Merged folder. The closest I’ve come so far is by making a custom preset (which unfortunately you can’t save) in Cocoatech Path Finder’s FolderSync to DELETE the identical files (same name, same modification date) from one folder, then using the Finder’s Merge / Keep Both to copy all the files from the other folder into that folder.
That results in a single copy of the unchanged files, and appends “ 2” onto the duplicate files’ names, which is great, but sometimes the “ 2” is on the newer file, sometimes the older, which isn’t what I’d like, but it might have to do. I’m trying to archive a writer’s work, merging files from three computers. What I need to do is “Keep Both” when the files have different modification dates (who knows if he had worked on the files on the different computers at different times), but NOT duplicating the files with the same modification dates. I’ve looked at Terminal’s ditto and rsync commands, Finder merge, AASync and Path Finder’s FolderSync to no avail.
Everything either duplicates everything or overwrites one of the different files. I just did a ditto from source to destination. In theory the destination should have all the files from source and update any newer files from source to destination.Then option-drag source to destination and and it takes quite a while and tells me:A folder named “Foo” already exists in this location.
Jason I am very interested in finding a solution to merging folders and sub folders and files. Is there a way we can connect via phone or email? Ive spent three month now with tech support high level at Apple and been in a continuous loop where each of the the 7 techs had contradicted themselves. The latest example was today when after two hours i was told that the ditto command only replicates files and the option key with drag and drop will not merge subfolders. I get a different explanation with every tech i seal to, very unsettling and scary. Thank you for the input on merging folders and the app created.
I am on Sierra. I still have files missing after 4 months of working with Apple senior advisors. The files went missing after and upgrade to high Sierra. I then had to manually move files from a time machine back up after ordering a new computer and having it restored to Sierra then I was told to restore the back up from before high Sierra was installed then manually bring files over for the months I was creating new files after upgrading to high Sierra. It worked I thought until I found many more missing files and now I have to move forward without them. I do have another Delmia and that is the iPhone back ups on the computer which is all I was using to back up my phone for years. When I restored the data version of my computer before high Sierra was installed I was not able to bring the back up files over that were created during the use of high Sierra do you have any suggestions.
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