Destionation folder, ignore Environment Variables?

[fuba82]

Hi there,

i try to add this as Destionation folder:

D:\!Backup\FFS\%appdata%


but FFS always expand the Environment Variable

any chance to prevent this?

[Plerry]

Not clear what your problem is:
%appdata% always resolves into something like C:\User\[UserName]\Appdata\Roaming.
So, when used like you describe, it will always include the C:\ part and cause your definition to fail.

If your intention is to define a single FFS sync configuration for different users, you should probably use the Environment variable %UserName%, as described here.
And then define your sync location as something like
D:\!Backup\FFS\%UserName%\AppData

[fuba82]

It is very clear ^^

I want to create a folder structure that looks EXACTLY like this:

D:\!Backup\FFS\%appdata%\blabla


or this:

D:\!Backup\FFS\%username%\blabla


or more detailed, i want to create a directory/folder named

%appdata%


or

%username%


as a SubFolder of this path

D:\!Backup\FFS\


[xCSxXenon]

Create the location and then use "browse" to select it in FFS

[fuba82]

Create the location and then use "browse" to select it in FFS

already tried and it does not work, the %appdata% will also be expanded when browse the folder

[Plerry]

OK, so now it is clear what you want.
In the Windows command line, you can escape the special meaning of the % character by escaping it by itself, so %%. Not sure if that also works like that in FFS, but it does not hurt to try.
So, try typing e.g.
D:\!Backup\FFS\%%appdata%%\blabla
directly as your right-side base location.

[fuba82]

OK, so now it is clear what you want.
In the Windows command line, you can escape the special meaning of the % character by escaping it by itself, so %%. Not sure if that also works like that in FFS, but it does not hurt to try.
So, try typing e.g.
D:\!Backup\FFS\%%appdata%%\blabla
directly as your right-side base location.

yeah, I know that, tried that and... it does not work ^^

i've tried everything like %%, \%, .%, !%
all of it does not work!

I'm now working on a command-line script with robocopy to get around this but very sad it does not work in FFS 😢

[xCSxXenon]

Did some testing, I can't figure out how to get it to work either. I would say that using "%" in a folder name is a horrible idea, but it is a perfectly valid folder name.

[fuba82]

Did some testing, I can't figure out how to get it to work either. I would say that using "%" in a folder name is a horrible idea, but it is a perfectly valid folder name.

Well...
For Backup solutions, it is DEFINITELY NOT a "bad idea" at all!

For example, you have Backups in the following Folders:

%appdata%
%localappdata%
%programdata%
%userprofile%


and so on...

Manual Example:
• Click the Folder (%appadata%)
• Press "F2"
• Press "CTRL + C"
• Press "Enter" 2x
• Press "Win + R"
• Press "CTRL + V"
• Press "Enter"
• Press "Alt + Tab" (Switch back to Backup Folder)
• Press "CTRL + A"
• Press "CTRL + C"
• Press "Alt + Tab"(Switch back to %appdata%)
• Press "CTRL + V"
• Done, Restored Backup!
This takes me about ~3-5 seconds for each folder!

Or maybe an automated Example:
Create a Batch-File, loop through Backuped Folders, copy the "folder name" (= destination folder), and paste.

Example Code:

@echo off
cd /d %~d0%~p0
for /D %%i in (*) do start %%i
pause


This will automatically open all "destination" Folders by the name of the Source Folder and can easily be used to restore all contents to the "right" folder, just by the source folder names!

AND as you already said:

it is a perfectly valid folder name

So this is a Bug that needs to be fixed anyhow, because... reasons 😁

[therube]

Will the Hint: work for you?

go.bat:

set XFFS=C:\out\%%appdata%%
set x
pause

C:\FreeFileSync\FreeFileSync.exe -dirpair C:\out\mov %XFFS%
pause


https://freefilesync.org/manual.php?topic=macros


(You need to use %% in the SET so that %appdata% doesn't get expanded.)

[xCSxXenon]

This should work natively in FFS if it's a valid path