When you copy a folder to another folder in the Library, the Developer creates duplicate copies of the entire contents of the folder. If the documents in the selected folder are organized in a structure of subfolders, the Developer re-creates the subfolder structure in the copy.
Note: When you paste a folder to the same parent folder, the Developer creates a new folder named "Copy of <folder name>".
Copy and Paste
When you copy a folder that contains documents, you can paste it to create new copies of the folder and its contents. The new copies are independent documents that you can edit and rename without affecting the original documents. Do not use copy/paste if you are trying to create a copy of a content outline, even if all of the documents reside in the same folder.
Copy and Paste Special
If the copied folder contains parent documents related to child documents, such as a section linked to a topic or a topic linked to a web page, you can use the options in the Paste Special dialog box to select the type of copy you want to create. Each option produces a different result.
Copy (selection only) - Choose this option to create a copy of the documents in the folder that maintain their links to the original child documents. Therefore, if the copied folder contains Section A that is linked to Topic 1 and Topic 2, the Copy (selection only) option creates a new Section B that still links to Topic 1 and Topic 2.
If the copied folder contains both parent documents and related child documents, the Copy (selection only) option creates copies of all of the documents in the folder, BUT the new parent documents maintain their links back to the original child documents, not to the newly created documents.
Duplicate (selection and related) - This option creates duplicate copies of the parent documents and all related child documents, even if they are not stored in the folder. The links between new copies are updated so that new parent documents link to new child documents. The Duplicate option breaks all links to the original documents and creates an entirely new replica of the original. If the copied folder contains Section A that is linked to Topic 1 and Topic 2 (which can reside in any folder), the Duplicate (selection and related) option creates new copies of all of the documents and related documents and links the new Section B to new Topic 3 and new Topic 4.
When duplicating content, you can choose to include or not include duplicate copies of the glossaries and style sheets linked to the selected content. If you do not include glossaries and style sheets in the duplication, the duplicated content links to the glossaries and style sheets linked to the original source content; this allows you to maintain a master glossary and style sheet for all related content. The default setting for glossaries is to create a duplicate since you may want to change the definition of terms for new versions of your content without affecting previous versions. The default setting for style sheets is to not duplicate, with the purpose of linking all content to a single style sheet.
Note: The Duplicate (selection and related) option does not create copies of templates, master role lists, sound files, and custom icon packages. The new copies still point to the original documents for those components.
When duplicating a folder with related documents, the Developer creates a copy of the source folder structure for each related document. If the content in the source folder links to documents outside of the source folder structure, the duplication process creates an Additional Related Documents folder for those document copies.
Multi-user Considerations
Any new document that you create or link is automatically checked out to you. If you want to make a new document available to multiple authors and place the document under the Developer's version control system, you must check it in.
To copy a folder using Copy and Paste:
Select the folder you want to copy in the Folders pane or Contents pane.
You can select more than one folder in the Contents pane using the standard Windows selection keys (CTRL+click and SHIFT+click). You can select all items in a folder by choosing Select All from the Edit menu.
On the Edit menu, choose Copy.
You can also right-click the folder and choose Copy.
Select the destination folder in the Folders pane.
On the Edit menu, choose Paste.
You can also right-click the folder and choose Paste.
To copy a folder using drag-and-drop:
Select the folder you want to copy in the Folders pane or Contents pane.
Hold CTRL and drag the folder to the destination folder.
Release the mouse button and then the CTRL key.
To copy a folder using Copy and Paste Special:
Select the folder you want to copy in the Folders pane or Contents pane.
You can select more than one folder in the Contents pane using the standard Windows selection keys (CTRL+click and SHIFT+click). You can select all items in a folder by choosing Select All from the Edit menu.
On the Edit menu, choose Copy.
You can also right-click the folder and choose Copy.
Select the destination folder in the Folders pane.
On the Edit menu, choose Paste Special.
Choose Copy (selection only) to create a new copy of the selection only and maintain links to the original related documents or Duplicate (selection and related) to create a new copy of the selection and all related documents and create the links among the copies.
For the Duplicate (selection and related) option, choose Duplicate Glossaries and Duplicate Style Sheets to link the new copies to duplicate copies of those document types.
Multi-user Considerations
To copy a folder using Copy and Paste:
Copy.
Paste.