Possible bug: Unable to exclude files with "!" as first character of name

[hsehestedt]

I have a naming scheme in which I name certain files and folders with an "!" as the first character. These are special files and folders that I do NOT want synced to another location. In the past, when I used Robocopy to sync all my files, I would simply exclude all files that start with "!" in my sync.

However, with FreeFileSync, I don't seem to be able to exclude anything starting with an "!". Anyone know of a workaround to this or is this a possible bug?

[Radish]

Try the following in your Filter settings (press the key F7 to see them):

*\!*\
The above will force not to copy folders that start with a "!" character. Note that if the folder contains any files and/or other folders they, likewise, will not be copied.

*\!*
The above will force not to copy files that start with a "!".

*\*!*\
The above will force not to copy folders that have a "!" character anywhere in the folder name. Note that if the folder contains any files and/or other folders they, likewise, will not be copied.

*\*!*
The above will force not to copy files that have a "!" character anywhere in the filename.

Experiment with that for a while and you should get it to work. (I didn't know the answer to your question myself until I experimented a bit.)

I would though note that variations of the above are possible. See Exclude Items via Filter For example, *!* looks promising - you would need to experiment with different filters to get what you think works best for you.

[Zenju]

I've added this case as yet another example in the manual.

[hsehestedt]

Thanks for the help. The suggested syntax is working perfectly for me.