Windows – Copy and Paste without needing to use the Mouse

copy/pastefile-transferwindows 7

In previous versions of windows when your were Copying Files (Ctrl-C) then alt-Tab (to the appropriate window) and Pasting (Ctrl-V) using the Keyboard everything could be driven by the keyboard.

With Vista and 7, it seems if you are copying and pasting (and the files exist) in the Destination Location you have to Click the Copy and Replace, there doesn't seem to be a way to do it…

"Do this for the next {n} Conflicts" can be driven by Alt-D, but the "Copy and Replace" and "Don't Copy" are not.

Or is there and have I just missed something?

I'm more than happy to change registry or something to enable Keyboard shortcuts for this.

Best Answer

I can't reproduce this - it works fine on both systems I have access to right now with Windows 7.

But if for some reason you're having trouble with this, I can think of at least three work-arounds:

Use either the special key between the right alt and ctrl to bring up a context menu that will allow you to select the Paste option.
Use the normal Tab key a few times so that focus is on the client portion of the window.
Hit alt+E to show the pull down menu, which will again allow you to choose Paste.

Update:

I missed the part at first where the file already exists in the destination folder. In this case, I am still able to do it using the keyboard, however I have to use the Tab key to toggle between the different Copy/Replace options.

Related Solutions

Windows 7 – Copy File Dialog Keyboard Accelerators

After thinking about it some more, I realized I could accomplish this with AutoHotkey.

Save the following into a script and run it with AutoHotkey. The key combination is Alt + A. It simulates pressing Alt + D, Tab, Tab, Tab, Space when a window titled "Copy File" is active.

NOTE: The IfWinActive function matches partial titles, so if you have this running and the title of the window has "Copy File" in the title, AutoHotkey will send the keys to that window as well.

;alt + a ... do replace all on select file dialog
#IfWinActive Copy File
!a::
    SendInput !d
    SendInput {Tab}
    SendInput {Tab}
    SendInput {Tab}
    SendInput {Space}
    return

Windows – Control copy/paste doesn’t work

Does it happen constantly and consistently? That is, does it happen every time you boot and occur from startup to shutdown or does work sometimes?

If it works sometimes, then when it doesn’t, do you happen to have a browser open? If so, do you have some websites that you open regularly?

I ask because there exist programs (especially Flash applets) that copy an empty string to the clipboard in a loop in order to disable copying or pasting. I first discovered this on a web-survey site, but they also exist on other pages in an attempt to prevent users from copying content; however they also block copy/paste from working on the whole system until the applet is killed! (Yes, it’s not very effective copy-protection and incredibly intrusive and sucks CPU cycles, but… um, that’s it.)

What you can try is to view the clipboard to see what happens when you try to copy something. Windows 7 does not have the clipboard viewer (which was limited anyway), so get ClipSpy, then try copying various things to see if they end up in ClipSpy. Try copying some text, copying graphics (press PrintScreen to capture the screen), and try copying some files/folders. Do they show up in ClipSpy? Does the Paste option become available or does it remain grayed? By running these tests, we can narrow down what the problem is.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Windows 7 – Copy File Dialog Keyboard Accelerators

Windows – Control copy/paste doesn’t work

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