how to copy the latest version of previous 'file history' managed file versions to new folder

Question

how to copy the latest version of previous 'file history' managed file versions to new folder

chriseldorado 20

Assume each one of these files has an appropriate 'Date Modfied" stamp. Which windows command (xcopy, robocopy, other) can copy the latest over to a new folder of the same name. Would also like the resulting copy NOT have the (*UTC) encoding in the file name.

ie

orig; E:\complete orig file history\Documents\My Memoirs by Helen\

new; C:\Users\user\Documents\My Memoirs by Helen\

"E:\complete orig file history\Documents\My Memoirs by Helen\89 World Series Part #3 I sat in the Candlestick parking lot and (2024_12_12 20_11_11 UTC).wpd"

"E:\complete orig file history\Documents\My Memoirs by Helen\89 World Series Part #3 I sat in the Candlestick parking lot and (2024_12_12 21_11_20 UTC).wpd"

"E:\complete orig file history\Documents\My Memoirs by Helen\89 World Series Part #3 I sat in the Candlestick parking lot and (2024_12_12 23_11_35 UTC).wpd"

"E:\complete orig file history\Documents\My Memoirs by Helen\89 World Series Part #3 I sat in the Candlestick parking lot and (2024_12_13 19_04_46 UTC).wpd"

"E:\complete orig file history\Documents\My Memoirs by Helen\89 World Series Part #3 I sat in the Candlestick parking lot and (2024_12_13 22_05_15 UTC).wpd"

"E:\complete orig file history\Documents\My Memoirs by Helen\89 World Series Part #3 I sat in the Candlestick parking lot and (2024_12_13 23_05_24 UTC).wpd"

"E:\complete orig file history\Documents\My Memoirs by Helen\1989 EARTHQUAKE (2022_04_04 20_13_16 UTC).wpd"

"E:\complete orig file history\Documents\My Memoirs by Helen\1989 EARTHQUAKE (2022_04_05 00_13_47 UTC).wpd"

"E:\complete orig file history\Documents\My Memoirs by Helen\1989 EARTHQUAKE (2022_04_09 17_19_25 UTC).wpd"

"E:\complete orig file history\Documents\My Memoirs by Helen\1989 EARTHQUAKE (2022_04_21 01_46_22 UTC).wpd"

"E:\complete orig file history\Documents\My Memoirs by Helen\1989 EARTHQUAKE (2024_03_27 23_29_45 UTC).wpd"

"E:\complete orig file history\Documents\My Memoirs by Helen\1989 EARTHQUAKE (2024_06_24 23_11_05 UTC).wpd"

"E:\complete orig file history\Documents\My Memoirs by Helen\1989 TICKETS (2022_04_04 19_13_10 UTC).wpd"

"E:\complete orig file history\Documents\My Memoirs by Helen\89 World Series Part #3 I sat in the Candlestick parking lot and (2024_12_12 05_08_44 UTC).wpd"

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Answer 1

Hello chriseldorado,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum.

As I understand, you want to copy only the latest version of the file copied to the destination folder and also strip the UTC part of the name, am I correct?

The versions are encoded by the file name, not just modified date. So Xcopy and Robocopy are unable to do this. You will need to use PowerShell for this. I will assume that the destination folder already exists for this scenario.

Type PowerShell in the search bar and select "Run as administrator"
Type these commands one by one and press Enter after each.
1. $src = "E:\complete orig file history\Documents\Memoirs by Helen"
2. $dst = "C:\Users\user\Documents\Memoirs by Helen"
Paste this script and press Enter. Get-ChildItem -Path $src -File | ForEach-Object { if ($.Name -match '^(.*?) ((\d{4}\d{2}\d{2} \d{2}\d{2}_\d{2} UTC))(..*)?$') { [PSCustomObject]@{ BaseName = $matches[1] Timestamp = [datetime]::ParseExact( $matches[2], 'yyyy_MM_dd HH_mm_ss UTC', $null ) Extension = $matches[3] File = $_ } } } | Group-Object { $.BaseName + $.Extension } | ForEach-Object { $latest = $_.Group | Sort-Object Timestamp | Select-Object -Last 1 Copy-Item ` -Path $latest.File.FullName ` -Destination (Join-Path $dst ($latest.BaseName + $latest.Extension)) }

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