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Filters for Files and Folders

Filters allow you to exclude specific files and folders in the source and destination folders from the copy operation.

Table of Contents

• Filter List
• Options
• Notes
• Filter Actions
• Filter Target
• Filter Types
• Comparison Criteria
• Filter Examples

Filter List

The filter list contains all defined filters for files and folders. Each filter can be enabled or disabled using a checkbox. The buttons below the list allow you to add new filters, edit existing ones, or delete them.

Buttons

• Add Filter
  • Add Multiple File Filters
  • Add Multiple Folder Filters
• Filter Templates
  • Exclude all subfolders (Folder Level)
  • Exclude all subfolders (RegEx)
  • Exclude all subfolders (Attributes)
  • Exclude all files in root directory (Folder Level)
  • Exclude all files in root directory (RegEx)
  • Exclude files older than 24 hours
  • Exclude files older than 1 week
  • Copy only image files
  • Exclude Windows Recycle Bin system folder
  • Exclude Windows system folders for restore points and file indexing
  • Exclude Windows page file
  • Exclude Windows hibernation system file
• Edit Filter
• Copy Filter
• Remove Filter
  • Remove All Filters
  • Remove All File Filters
  • Remove All Folder Filters
• Move Filter Up
• Move Filter Down
• Start Filter Assistant

Options

• Filter Combination
  Specify how multiple active filters should be combined:
  • At least one filter must apply
    A file or folder is filtered if at least one of the active filters matches the comparison criteria.
  • All filters must apply
    A file or folder is filtered if all active filters match the comparison criteria.
• Show contents of filtered folders in copy preview
  This option displays the contents of filtered folders in the copy preview report.

Notes

• When you filter a folder, the entire contents of that folder are always excluded.
• For the filter types Text (Wildcards), Text, and RegEx, Windows environment variables can be used.
• Difference between an absolute and a relative path:
  

  Source Folder	Absolute Path	Relative Path
  C:\	C:\Windows\System32	\Windows\System32
  C:\Windows	C:\Windows\System32	\System32

Filter Actions

• Exclude
  All files or folders that match the filter are excluded from the copy operation.
  Example: If you create the file filter *.txt, all files with the extension '.txt' will be excluded.
• Include
  Only files and folders that match the filter will be included in the copy operation.
  Example: If you set the file filter *.txt, only files with the extension '.txt' will be copied. All others will be excluded.

Filter Target

Specify which data the filter should apply to:

• Source
• Destination
• Source + Destination

Filter Types

The following filter types are available to specifically filter files and folders:

• Text (Wildcards)
• Text
• RegEx
• File Size (Greater than / Less than)
• Age (Older than / Not older than)
• Time Range (within / outside)
• Attributes (All / Some / Exact)
• Folder Level
• Date (Older than / Not older than / Exact)

Text (Wildcards)

This filter type allows you to use wildcard characters such as the asterisk (*) in the filter text. The filter text can be applied to the following properties:

• File Name
• Absolute File Path
• Relative File Path
• Folder Name
• Absolute Folder Path
• Relative Folder Path

Example:
The filter text *.exe filters all files with the extension '.exe'.

Text

This filter type treats wildcard characters as regular text. The filter text filters all files or folders whose name exactly matches the text. If the partial match option is enabled, files or folders that partially contain the filter text are also considered.
The filter text can be applied to the following properties:

• File Name
• Absolute File Path
• Relative File Path
• Folder Name
• Absolute Folder Path
• Relative Folder Path

RegEx

This filter type allows you to use regular expressions. The filter text can be applied to the following properties:

• File Name
• Absolute File Path
• Relative File Path
• Folder Name
• Absolute Folder Path
• Relative Folder Path

File Size (Greater than / Less than)

Filters files based on their size. Size can be specified in the following units:

• B (Bytes)
• KB (Kilobytes)
• MB (Megabytes)
• GB (Gigabytes)

Age (Older than / Not older than)

Filters files and folders based on their age. The value can be specified in:

• Seconds
• Minutes
• Hours
• Days
• Weeks (7 days)
• Months (30 days)
• Quarters (90 days)
• Years (365 days)

The filter text can be applied to the following properties:

• File Creation Date
• File Modification Date
• File Access Date
• Folder Creation Date
• Folder Modification Date
• Folder Access Date

Time Range (within / outside)

Filters files and folders that fall within or outside a specific time range. The filter can be applied to the following properties:

• File Creation Date
• File Modification Date
• File Access Date
• Folder Creation Date
• Folder Modification Date
• Folder Access Date

Attributes (All / Some / Exact)

Filters files or folders based on their attributes:

• Archive
• Compressed
• Directory
• Encrypted
• Hidden
• Not Indexed
• Symbolic Link
• Normal
• Offline
• Sparse File
• Read-only
• System
• Temporary
• Virtual

Filter Methods:

• All
  All selected attributes must be set.
• Some
  At least one of the selected attributes must be set.
• Exact
  Attributes must match exactly.

Folder Level

Filters files or folders based on their position within the folder structure. Multiple levels are separated by commas.

Example:

Source Folder: C:\Data

Level	Path
1	C:\Data
2	C:\Data\Backup
3	C:\Data\Backup\Windows

Filter Action 'Exclude':

• Filter text 1,3 for files: Excludes files in C:\Data and C:\Data\Backup\Windows.
• Filter text 1 for folders: Excludes all subfolders and copies only files from the first level.

Filter Action 'Include':

• Filter text 2 for files: Copies only files from C:\Data\Backup. Files from level 1 and 3 are excluded.

Date (Older than / Not older than / Exact)

Filters files and folders by a specific date. The filter can be applied to the following properties:

• File creation date
• File modification date
• File access date
• Folder creation date
• Folder modification date
• Folder access date

Comparison Criteria

The following comparison criteria are available depending on the selected filter type:

• Filter type: Text (Wildcards), Text, RegEx
  • File name
  • Absolute file path
  • Relative file path
  • Folder name
  • Absolute folder path
  • Relative folder path
• Filter type: File size (Greater than), File size (Less than)
  • File size
• Filter type: Age (Older than), Age (Not older than), Time range (within), Time range (outside)
  • File creation date
  • File modification date
  • File access date
  • Folder creation date
  • Folder modification date
  • Folder access date
• Filter type: Attributes (All), Attributes (Some), Attributes (Exact)
  • File attributes
  • Folder attributes
• Filter type: Folder level
  • Files
  • Folders

Filter Examples

Example 1

You are synchronizing data between drive C: and D: and want to exclude the folders 'C:\Windows' and 'D:\Windows'. You need a filter with the following settings:

• Filter Action: Exclude
• Filter Type: Text
• Filter Target: Source + Destination
• Comparison Criteria: Folder name
• Filter Text: Windows

Example 2

You are creating a backup of the system folder 'C:\Users' and want to exclude all data from the subfolders C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local. You need a folder filter with the following settings:

• Filter Action: Exclude
• Filter Type: Text (Wildcards)
• Filter Target: Source
• Comparison Criteria: Absolute folder path
• Filter Text: *\AppData\Local\* or C:\Users\*\AppData\Local\*

Example 3

You want to back up the following folders from all Windows users:

• C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default
• C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default
• C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

Use the source folder 'C:\Users' and create 3 file filters with the following settings:

• Filter Action: Include
• Filter Type: Text (Wildcards)
• Filter Target: Source
• Comparison Criteria: Absolute folder path

Use the following filter texts for each file filter:

• 1st File Filter: C:\Users\*\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default\*
• 2nd File Filter: C:\Users\*\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\*
• 3rd File Filter: C:\Users\*\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\*

Additionally, you must enable the folder option 'Delete empty folders created during copy operation' to prevent the entire subfolder structure of the source folder from being created in the destination.

Example 4

You want to back up the entire contents of all folders named Windows on a drive. You need a file filter with the following settings:

• Filter Action: Include
• Filter Type: Text (Wildcards)
• Filter Target: Source
• Comparison Criteria: Absolute file path
• Filter Text: *\Windows\*

Additionally, you must enable the folder option 'Delete empty folders created during copy operation' to prevent the entire subfolder structure of the source folder from being created in the destination.