---
alias: user-guide-automation-task-filedrivers-copy
tags:
- automation tasks
description: "This task copies files or directories to a specified destination with configurable retry behavior"
---

# Copy

![Screenshot showing a file copying process.](images/copyfile-lg.svg)

When activated, the `copy` task will copy a given file or directory (`source`) to a different location (`destination`). The `source` and `destination`, can be provided either by the input port or in the task settings.

![Screenshot showing a copy operation with source labeled as "Sxring" and destination labeled as "destination".](./images/image8.png)

## Inputs

| Name                 | DataType  | Description                                                                                     |
|----------------------|-----------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| source               | `String`  | Source file/directory                                                                           |
| destination          | `String`  | Destination file/directory                                                                      |
| overwrite            | `Boolean` | Overwrite existing file or directory                                                            |
| preserveTimestamps   | `Boolean` | When true, will set last modification and access times to the ones of the original source files |
| recursive            | `Boolean` | If the source is a directory, should the subdirectories be copied as well                       |
| attempts             | `Integer` | Number of attempts to perform this operation. Default is 1 attempt                              |
| sleepBetweenAttempts | `Integer` | Interval of time between the attempts. Default is 1000ms                                        |
| Activate             | `Any`     | Activate the task                                                                               |

## Outputs

| Name    | DataType | Description  |
| ------  | --------- | --------- |
|  Success  |       `Boolean`         | Triggered when the task is executed with success |
|  Error           |        `Error`                | Triggered when the task failed for some reason |

## Settings

On the `General` tab, you have the usual settings and the following settings:

| Name    | DataType | Values | Default | Description  |
| ------  | --------- | --------- | --------- | --------- |
| Source | `String` |  |  | Source file/directory |
| Destination | `String` |  |  | Destination file/directory |
| Overwrite | `Boolean` |  | False | Overwrite existing file or directory |
| Preserve timestamps | `Boolean` |  | True | When true, will set last modification and access times to the ones of the original source files |
| Recursive              | `Boolean` |        | True    | If the source is a directory, should the subdirectories be copied as well |
| Number of attempts     | `Integer` |        | 1       | Number of attempts to perform this operation. |
| Sleep Between Attempts | `Integer` |        | 1000    | Interval of time between the attempts.        |

For the `Source` and `Destination` settings you can use tokens as represented below:

```bash
Available tokens:
  ${path} - Watched path
  ${archive} - Archive path
  ${temp} - Temporary directory of the user
  ${id} - DriverId ("\" chars replaced with "_")

Examples:
  ${path}\subdir\file.txt
  ${temp}\files\${id}\file.txt
  c:\dsource\file.txt
```

![Screenshot showing settings options.](./images/image9.png)

## Behavior

In this task you choose a driver when dropping it into the workflow (if you have more than one driver associated with the controller).

Upon activation, will send a `Copy` command to the driver where it will try to copy the `source` location (file or directory) into the `destination` location. If it fails, will retry `attempts` times, waiting `sleepBetweenAttempts` milliseconds each time.

If the operation is executed with success, a value `true` is emitted on the `Success` output. In case of the task , for some reason, is not able perform the `copy` operation, an `Error` is emitted.

## Remarks

There is no particular remark to be made.