Using the software

To use the software you simply highlight your selected cells containing file and/or folder names, select your options and click 'Run'.

You need to understand the 'rules' outlined below in order to use this effectively.

We strongly recommend that you take a close look at the demo workbook provided with the software, which you can open using the drop-down at the lower right of the PATools File Manager screen.

Please note: PATools cannot take any responsibility for your use or misuse of this software, and any resultant cost or inconvenience, for example from moving or deleting or renaming files or folders etc.

'Rules'

For all activities except 'Delete' you must choose a cell or range of cells from within one column, and in one contigious block (ie a group of cells next to each other).

• For 'Create', each selected cell should contain the full path and name for the file or folder to be created. When creating files, empty files will be created by default, but you can specify text contents to be inserted from the cell immediately to the right of each selected cell.
• For 'Delete', only the selected cells will be evaluated.
• For 'Copy', 'Move' and 'Rename', each cell should contain the source path and file/folder name, with the new file/folder name specified in the cell immediately to the right of each one.

Useful Functions

To help you create the destination paths and names easily, the software includes 4 built-in functions that you can use, as follows:
(where cell A1 contains 'C:\test folder\test file.xls')

• =FilePath(a1) returns 'C:\test folder\"
• =FileName(a1) returns 'test file.xls'
• =FileBase(a1) returns 'test file'
• =FileExtn(a1) returns '.xls'

You may find these useful when combined with the Excel 'Concatenate' function (see Excel help on using this), or a briefer alternative using the '&' (ampersand) character as in some of the demo worksheets.

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Options

Tip: Right-click any checkbox to set the default to your preference.

1. 'Colour cells on results' simply shows you whether each cell you selected succeeded or failed - it will be filled with green if it passed or red if it failed. You can easily reset all colours by clicking the link on the right. You can get more information on all failures by using the link to view the previous run results in Notepad.

2. 'Overwrite without asking' should be used with caution as you will not get any prompts when overwriting files or folders for create, copy, move or rename.

3. 'Create destination folders if they do not exist' will make any necessary folders and subfolders in the path specified for the destination when creating, copying, moving or renaming files or folders.

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General Notes, Tips and Precautions

1. Although the software is well tested and written, we would recommend as good practice that any data and template workbooks be saved and backed-up before running this software, as it is impossible to protect against every possibility of system crashes, printer problems, etc causing runtime problems that may damage your data.

2. For this, as with any software, the best way to evaluate it and make it work for you is to play with it using dummy data until you become comfortable and are ready to use it for real.

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