How to Say 'No to All' During File Copy Operations in Windows

While copying or moving a large number of files from one location to another folder in Windows, you may often encounter errors or warning messages saying the file(s) you are trying to copy already exists in the target location.

no to all in windows

Windows No to All - Keyboard Shortcut

If you are using a previous version of Windows (like XP or Windows 2000 but not Vista), the default error window will offer four choices - “Yes”, “No”, “Yes to All” and “Cancel”.

There’s no “No to All” button in the File Replacement dialog but you can simply hold down the Shift Key before pressing the No button and Windows will automatically interpret this action as a “No to All” command.

This will be so useful when you are copying a large number of files and folders but don’t want to overwrite content that already exists at the target.

vista-copy-paste

In case of Windows Vista, Microsoft designed a more intuitive warning message with a check box that lets you repeat the same operation on all upcoming conflicts. Thanks Elliott.

Check out some more Windows Keyboard Shortcuts

Amit Agarwal

Amit Agarwal

Google Developer Expert, Google Cloud Champion

Amit Agarwal is a Google Developer Expert in Google Workspace and Google Apps Script. He holds an engineering degree in Computer Science (I.I.T.) and is the first professional blogger in India.

Amit has developed several popular Google add-ons including Mail Merge for Gmail and Document Studio. Read more on Lifehacker and YourStory

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