Move new files automatically into another directory
I was asked recently by a reader of this wonderful blog if I knew a program that would monitor folders on Windows and move files out of the folder once they would appear in them. It took a while until I found an software that observed a folder or folders on the system to move new files out of the monitored folders automatically.
FileWarper is a German freeware which is fortunately not difficult to use. I took the liberty and translated all buttons and explanations into English. You need to configure the tool once and keep it running in the background. Let me explain the various settings, don't worry, it is not much.
You can add new folders that you want to observe by clicking on the button Hinzufügen. Just browse to a folder that you want to add and select Wählen to add it. The default directory where the files are moved is C:\Program Files\FileWarper\data\ - you probably want to change that to another one, just click and enter another save folder.
The program checks every 10 seconds if new files are found in the observed directories. You can change that interval easily. The * entry means that all files that are in monitored folders are moved to another directory and the *.dat excludes files with the .dat extension from being moved. It is possible to move only *.jpg for instance or *.mp3 or add more extensions that should be excluded.
Just add extensions to the whitelist or blacklist to customize which file types get moved and which stay in the monitored folders after all.
Update: File Warper does not appear to be available anymore. I suggest you use another program instead which offers the same functionality. Move Out can monitor folders for files to move them into a different directory on the system automatically. The program is available free of charge and compatible with all recent versions of the Windows operating system.
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Or you could use a backup software like SyncBack that would do the job for you. It wouldn’t actually watch the directory though.