Filters

Built-in filters

SyncFolder uses the following built-in rules to exclude certain files and folders from copying:

• The following folders/subfolders will not be copied:
  • system volume information
  • $recycle.bin
  • $windows.~bt
  • $windows.~ws
  • onedrivetemp
• The following folders will not be copied when present on the source root location:
  • config.msi
  • documents and settings
  • program files
  • program files (x86)
  • programdata
  • recovery
• The following 'System' files will not be copied:
  • pagefile.sys
  • swapfile.sys
  • hiberfil.sys
• If the above folders and files also exist on the target drive and the task is a 1-way or 2-way sync task then these folders and files will also never be deleted on the target.

User defined filters

The built-in filters are often not enough for excluding certain files and folders. SyncFolder therefore allows the user to define additional filters. Do this by clicking the Filters button in the task configuration window.

• Exclude complete folders - List the folders that you want to exclude completely by defining a folder name/pathname matching pattern in the top text box. SyncFolder supports old style DOS filter expressions (using wildcard characters).
  

  

• Exclude system files/folders and hidden files/folders - Check the appropriate checkbox if you don't want to copy system and/or hidden files and folders.
• Include or Exclude files - The app offers 2 ways for specifying the files that you want to copy or dont want to copy.
  • Copy all files except those that you list as to be excluded - You can list the files that you don't want to copy in the 'Files to be excluded' text box. List them with their full name/pathname, extension name, or a file matching pattern to exclude multiple files. The matching pattern must be formatted according to the old style DOS filter pattern (using wildcard characters).
  • Copy only specific files - If you select this option then you MUST specify the files that you want to copy in the 'Files to be included' text box. Again, list them using their full name/pathname, extension name or a matching pattern.
    You can then still explicitly exclude files that would match the 'include' list by defining them in the 'Files to be excluded' text box.

  

File and folder matching principles

The app allows you to define multiple file/folder matching patterns. You list them in the appropriate textbox using a comma (,) to seperate the patterns from each other.
The asterisk (*) and question mark (?) can be used as wildcard characters, as they are in MS-DOS and Windows.

The following principles apply:

1. Filter with an extension name - A extension name filter starts with a period (.) followed by 1 or more characters. When defined, the app will extract the extension name of all files in all directories, and match it with the definition.

   Example: .txt matches all files or folders (in case of a folders filter) that have .txt as extension name. It will try to find a match in all directories.

2. Filter with only a file or folder name - The app only looks at files or folders that have to the exact same name, and does that in all subdirectories. The file path is not taken into consideration.

   Example 1: mydocument.docx matches all files or folders in all directories that have 'mydocument.docx' as name.

   Example 2: temp matches all files or folders in all directories that have 'temp' as name.

   Note - If you want to filter a file that exists at the root of the configured storage folder you must put a leading '\' character before its name.
   Example: if c:\projects is the root folder then \document.docx will match c:\projects\document.docx, but not c:\projects\2025\document.docx.
3. Filter with only a file or folder name with wildcards - This works the same as the previous one but instead of defining an exact name you can insert wildcards in the definition to tell the app to look for patterns in the names.
   • * → matches zero or more of characters
   • ? → matches any single character

   Example 1: AlbumArt_* matches all files or folders in all directories that have a name that starts with AlbumArt_, like: AlbumArt_2100.png, albumArt_2101.jpg, but not AlbumArt2025.

   Example 2: *.txt matches all files that end with .txt.

   Example 3: ?.txt matches all files with 1 character before .txt, like: 'a.txt', 'b.txt', but not 'ab.txt'.

   Note - If you want to filter multiple files at the root of the configured storage folder using wildcards you must put a leading '\' character before the filter definition.
   Example: if c:\projects is the root folder then \*.docx will match c:\projects\document.docx, and c:\projects\document1.docx, but not c:\projects\2025\document.docx.
4. Filter with a pathname, with or without wildcards - This filter behaves the same as the previous one except that the app matches files or folders by their pathname (the full or partial location, including the name of the file or folder).
   Important: When specifying a pathname it must be specified relative to the root folder that is assigned to the storage location of the task. For example: if c:\projects is the assigned root folder for the task's storage location and you want to set a filter for the folder c:\projects\documents\2025 then the filter must be: \documents\2025, i.e. you should not define the full physical pathname.
   You can set the following type of pathname filters:
   1. Exact pathnames with or without wildcards – match one specific file or folder. With an exact pathname the name must have a leading '\' character!

      Example 1: \mydocuments\archive matches c:\projects\mydocuments\archive but not c:\projects\android\mydocuments\archive.

      Example 2: \android\backup* matches c:\projects\android\backup, c:\projects\android\backup-20210810, but not c:\projects\backup\android\backup.

   2. Partial pathnames with or without wildcards – match any path segment that contains the given text.

      Example 1: documents\archive matches c:\projects\documents\archive, c:\projects\android\documents\archive, but not c:\projects\mydocuments\archive and c:\projects\android\archive.

      Example 2: *documents\archive matches c:\projects\documents\archive, c:\projects\mydocuments\archive, c:\projects\android\documents\archive, c:\projects\android\mydocuments\archive, but not c:\projects\android\archive.