Deleting folder without deleting its' contents

[florodesignertiles]

I would like to delete a folder without deleting its contents. Copy, Paste and then deleting the folder with its' contents etc can work. But is there any way of getting it as a windows context menu? ie right-clicking and selecting "delete folder but not contents"

Thanks & Regards
florodesignertiles@yahoo.co.in

 

[n3f0ur]

Your question makes no sense. The contents of a folder will be gone if the folder is deleted. Has been like that since the 1st PC.

 

[TomNJ]

The folder's contents have to go somewhere (i.e. another folder.) If the option you wanted, "delete folder but not contents", actually existed, where would you expect the contents to be afterwards?

 

[badge]

Your question makes no sense. The contents of a folder will be gone if the folder is deleted. Has been like that since the 1st PC.

:lol:

 

[Guest]

I Understand your question. Im trying to figure out this also. My iTunes cant find my songs because I put them into a folder. I wanted to remove the contents of the folder back to their original place or find a way to remove them from the folder or delete the FOLDER itself so that the contents will be back in theri origional place.

 

[TomNJ]

OK, but you can't delete the folder, because that will also delete the songs. You first have to move the songs from that folder to wherever they originally were for iTunes. On my PC, it's My Documents/My Music/iTunes/iTunes Music where I can see all my album folders.

 

[thomasvladimir]

Your question makes no sense. The contents of a folder will be gone if the folder is deleted. Has been like that since the 1st PC.

here is a context for the perfectly rational need for this function.my music files come up as single file icons and or folders,normal,but now i find that i would prefer to have each track/file come up as an individual item.not in cd automatically generated folders..i as for where would they go? i would expect the files to stay in the My Music folder,without any subfolders .thats is what finds me on this google hunt as i ponder how?any help welcome ,thomas

 

[thomasvladimir]

yes,right click an option "remove selected folders,keep contents" yes it has been like that since the first computer. how stupid.its a logical command,remove groupings

 

[thomasvladimir]

show file view?

 

[tosh9i]

I might be missing something, but can't you just use Search.

Go to the Main Folder > click on Search > type in *.* > hit Enter > then sort the results by Type (the folders will be at the top and the files will be below them) > then just copy and paste what you want

 

[badge]

Copy and paste or drag and drop. Whew. :lol:

 

[thomasvladimir]

Copy and paste or drag and drop. Whew. :lol:

copy what to what ?
be patient, learner

 

[thomasvladimir]

i am talking about a few hundred folders.

 

[badge]

copy what to what ?
be patient, learner

thomas read the OP's post and his original question. It makes no sense like n3four noted. I echo what toshi91 replied to you're earlier question about you're music files:

"I might be missing something...just copy and paste what you want"

 

[badge]

I would like to delete a folder without deleting its contents. Copy, Paste and then deleting the folder with its' contents etc can work. But is there any way of getting it as a windows context menu? ie right-clicking and selecting "delete folder but not contents"

Thanks & Regards
florodesignertiles@yahoo.co.in

 

[thomasvladimir]

thomas read the OP's post and his original question. It makes no sense like n3four noted. I echo what toshi91 replied to you're earlier question about you're music files:

"I might be missing something...just copy and paste what you want"

what i want is that when i open" my music" i see only files.not folders,that the files,now in folders shed the folders.

 

[badge]

what i want is that when i open" my music" i see only files

So files have been entered the My Music folder. But not placed in a folder originating from the My Music toolbar (new folder).

.not folders

Yeah, you have to make a folder from the My Music toolbar to put those random files into.

,that the files

Yeah, the random file have to be put into folders from the My Music task bar, remember.

now in folders shed the folders.

If the files are in folders, someone put them there. To 'shed' the folder simply drag the music files out. Then delete the folder. Solved.

 

[thomasvladimir]

Your question makes no sense. The contents of a folder will be gone if the folder is deleted. Has been like that since the 1st PC.

500 times?

 

[thomasvladimir]

someone did not put them in folders,as they are cds they are automatically in cd folders as opposed to my mp3 files.

 

[tosh9i]

Assuming that all your music files are within this folder "My Documents/My Music" and that they are all MP3 files, then:

1: Go to My Documents/My Music
2: Click on Search at the top
3: In the Search Box, type in: *.mp3
4: Hit enter or click on Search
5: After it's done searching, hit: Ctrl-A (select all)
6: Copy everything and paste it in the Main folder
7: It might ask you if you want to replace some of the files, just click on Yes to All.

 

[badge]

Select ALL!!!!!!!!!! Whew. 😉

 

[thomasvladimir]

Assuming that all your music files are within this folder "My Documents/My Music" and that they are all MP3 files, then:

1: Go to My Documents/My Music
2: Click on Search at the top
3: In the Search Box, type in: *.mp3
4: Hit enter or click on Search
5: After it's done searching, hit: Ctrl-A (select all)
6: Copy everything and paste it in the Main folder
7: It might ask you if you want to replace some of the files, just click on Yes to All.

they are not all mp3s

 

[tosh9i]

they are not all mp3s

Then try this:

1: Go to My Documents/My Music
2: Click on Search at the top
3: In the Search Box, type in: *.*
4: Hit enter or click on Search
5: After it's done searching, click on View in the Menu Bar, and select Details
6: Then sort everything by Type, this will put the folders at the top and the files below it.
7: Highlight and Copy whichever files you want, and paste it in the Main folder
8: It might ask you if you want to replace some of the files, just click on Yes to All.

 

[jamescecorn]

First, let me say i understand the issue; something that seems lost on many replies.

For clarification, the OP wishes to simply remove ALL files that have been nested in directories and subdirectories of the 'music' directory by the music application to the root of the 'music' directory. For whatever reason, it is easier for the OP this way. It is not for me to judge.

next, the last reply is correct. I just thought i'd type up a n000b hand-held version of the simplest, non-CLI way i can think of completing the task. it involves opening one or two explorer windows, performing an advanced search, and drag/dropping the results to the final destination. Note, this is from XP Pro, but should be very similar in most flavors of windows.

1. open the music folder (the directory where you ultimately want all of your loose files to reside--My Documents/My Music most likely)

2. click the Start button (lower left of the screen) then Search -> for Files & Folders

3. in the left pane, choose the little green arrow pointing to 'all files and folders'

4. Use the 'look in' pulldown menu to select 'browse'; choose the 'My Music' directory inside 'My Documents'

5. leave the 'all or part of the file name' field blank
[post edited for clarity]

6. click search

7. that will show ALL files in the directory, including the directories. click the grey header named 'type' to sort the results.

8. with the results sorted, you can easily select all the music files by click-dragging a box around them without selecting the unwanted directories as well.

9. with the music files selected, click and drag them to the folder/directory you opened in step 1.

10. with all the files now in the root of the 'My Music' directory, click the 'type' column of the 'My Music' directory to easily select the empty folders.

11. drag them to the bin

 

[tosh9i]

Is that a "apostrophe period apostrophe" ('.') in step 5? I think you meant asterisk period asterisk (*.*)

And thomasvladimir, be sure to let us know if it works.