Filter for Files and Folders

Filters enables you to filter specific files and folders from the source and destination folders during a copy operation, i.e. exclude them from the copy operation.

AllSync Profile Properties - Filter for Files and Folders

Filter List
Notes
Filter Actions
Use With
Filter Types
Compare with
Filter Examples
Filter Assistant

Filter List

The filter list contains all filter set up for files and folders. Each filter can be enabled or disabled via its checkbox. The buttons below the filter list enables you to add, edit or remove filters.

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 at the root folder (Folder Level)
- Exclude all files at the root folder (RegEx)
- Exclude files older than 24 hours
- Exclude files older than one week
- Copy only picture files
- Exclude the system folder of the Windows Recycle Bin
- Exclude the system folder for the System Restore Points and the File Index
- Exclude the Windows Page File
- Exclude the Windows Hibernation File
Edit Filter
Copy Filter
Delete Filter
- Remove all filters
- Remove all file filters
- Remove all folder filters
Move filter up in the list
Move filter down the list
Start Filter Assistant

Notes

When filtering a folder the complete content of this folder will be filtered too.
You can use the Windows environment variables with the Filter Types Text (Wildcards), Text and RegEx.
Difference between an absolute and a relative path:
- Source folder: C:\
  absolute path: C:\Windows\System32
  relative path: \Windows\System32
- Source folder: C:\Windows
  absolute path: C:\Windows\System32
  relative path: \System32

Filter Actions

Exclude

All files and folders matching a filter are excluded from the copy operation. Example: If you specify the filter *.ini, all files with the .ini extension are filtered, i.e. excluded from the copy operation.

Include

Only files matching a filter are included in the copy operation. Example: If you specify the filter text *.ini only files with the .ini extension are processed during a copy operation. All other files are filtered (= excluded) from the copy operation.

Use With

Here you can specify where the filter is to be used with:

Source
Destination
Source + Destination

Filter Types

Text (Wildcards)

With this filter type you can use wildcards at the filter text. For Example, the filter text *.exe will match all files with the extension .exe. The filter can be compared with one of the following properties:

File Name
File Path (Absolute)
File Path (Relative)
Folder Name
Folder Path (Absolute)
Folder Path (Relative)

Text

With this filter type all characters of wildcards are ignored and treated as normal text. The filter text can be compared with one of the following properties:

File Name
File Path (Absolute)
File Path (Relative)
Folder Name
Folder Path (Absolute)
Folder Path (Relative)

RegEx

With this filter type you can use regular expressions at the filter text. The filter can be compared with one of the following properties:

File Name
File Path (Absolute)
File Path (Relative)
Folder Name
Folder Path (Absolute)
Folder Path (Relative)

File Size (Larger than / Smaller than)

This filter type enables you to filter files that are larger or smaller than a specific file size. The file size can be specified by one of the following size units:

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

Age (Older than / Newer than)

This filter type enables you to filter files or folders according to their age. The filter can be compared with one of the following properties:

File Creation Date
File Modified Date
File Last Access Date
Folder Creation Date
Folder Modified Date
Folder Last Access Date

The age of the file or folder can be specified by one of the following time units:

seconds
minutes
hours
days
weeks (7 days)
months (30 days)
quarters (90 days)
years (365 days)

Time Period (Within/Outside)

This filter type enables you to filter files or folders with a time/date stamp within or outside a specific time period. The filter can be compared with one of the following properties:

File Creation Date
File Modified Date
File Last Access Date
Folder Creation Date
Folder Modified Date
Folder Last Access Date

Attributes (All/Some/Exact)

This filter type enables you to filter files or folders according to their attributes. The filter can be compared with the following attributes:

Archive
Compressed
Directory
Encrypted
Hidden
Normal
Not Content-Indexed
Symbolic Link
Offline
Sparse File
Write-protected
System
Temporary
Virtual

The selected attributes can be filtered by 3 different methods:

Filter Method	Description
All	All selected attributes have to be present.
Some	Some of the selected attributes have to be present.
Exact	The attributes of the file or folder and the selected attributes must be exactly the same.

Folder Level

This filter type enables you to filter files or folders by folder level. Multiple folder levels must be separated with a comma. Examples:

Source Folder: C:\Data

1. Folder Level: C:\Data
2. Folder Level: C:\Data\Backup
3. Folder Level: C:\Data\Backup\Windows

Examples when using the filter action Exclude:

With the filter text 1,3 for files, all files in the folder C:\Data and C:\Data\Backup\Windows are excluded from the copy process.
With the filter text 1 for folder, all folders including their contents are excluded in the source folder C:\Data and only the files from the 1st folder level are copied.

Example when using the filter action Include:

With the filter text 2 for files only files from the folder C:\Data\Backup are copied. All files from the 1st & 3rd folder level are excluded from the copying process.

Compare With

The following properties can be selected depending on the selected filter type:

Filter type: Text (Wildcards), Text, RegEx
- File Name
- File Path (Absolute)
- File Path (Relative)
- Folder Name
- Folder Path (Absolute)
- Folder Path (Relative)
Filter type: File Size (Larger than), File Size (Smaller than)
- File size
Filter type: Age (Older than), Age (Newer than), Time Period (Within), Time Period (Outside)
- File Creation Date
- File Modified Date
- File Last Access Date
- Folder Creation Date
- Folder Modified Date
- Folder Last Access Date
Filter type: Attributes (All), Attributes (Some), Attributes (Exact)
- File Attributes
- Folder Attributes
Filter type: Folder Level
- Files
- Folders

Filter Examples

1. Example

You are synchronizing data between the C: and D: drives and want to exclude the C:\Windows and D:\Windows folders. A filter with the following settings is required for this:

Option	Setting
Filter Action:	Exclude
Filter Type:	Text
Use With:	Source + Destination
Compare with:	Folder name
Filter Text:	Windows

2. Example

You want to back up the system folder C:\Users and exclude all data from the subfolders C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local. A folder filter with the following settings is required for this:

Option	Setting
Filter Action:	Exclude
Filter Type:	Text (Wildcards)
Use With:	Source
Compare with:	Folder Path (Absolute)
Filter Text:	\AppData\Local\ OR C:\Users\\AppData\Local\

3. Example

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

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

To do this, use the source folder C:\Users and create 3 file filters with the following settings:

Option	Setting
Filter Action:	Include
Filter Type:	Text (Wildcards)
Use With:	Source
Compare with:	File Path (Absolute)
Filter text 1. File filter:	C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default\
Filter text 2. File filter:	C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\
Filter text 3. File filter:	C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\

In addition, you should activate the folder option Don't create empty folders in source or destination folder so that the entire subfolder structure of the source folder is not created in the destination.

4. Example

You want to back up the complete contents of all folders named Local on a drive. A file filter with the following settings is required for this:

Option	Setting
Filter Action:	Include
Filter Type:	Text (Wildcards)
Use With:	Source
Compare with:	File Path (Absolute)
Filter Text:	\Local\

Filter Assistant

The Filter Assistant gives you an overview of how your folder filters affect the subfolders of the source and destination folders. All activated source and target folders, including the 1st folder level, are read in and displayed in 2 opposing tree structures, as in a copy preview. When reading the subfolders, all activated folder filters from the filter list are applied and excluded subfolders are displayed with a filter symbol. Source and target folders that could not be found are displayed with a gray folder icon.

Context Menu

You can add new folder filters to the filter list via the context menu of a subfolder. You can choose from the following filter types to exclude folders from a copy process:

Folder Name (Source or Destination)
Folder Name (Source + Destination)
Folder Path
Folder Level (Source or Destination)
Folder Level (Source + Destination)

Buttons

Create filter preview

This reads in all activated source and target folders including the 1st folder level and applies all activated folder filters from the filter list to the subfolders.

Expand another folder level

This reads the next folder level for all source and target folders and applies all activated folder filters from the filter list to the expanded subfolders.