Capture File Paths in 3 Simple Steps

In the Reader to Reader articles “Hidden Option, Free Utility Can Be Real Time-Savers If You Copy File Paths Often” (November 2007, InstantDoc ID 95953) and “Another Way to Quickly Copy File Paths” (April 2008, InstantDoc ID 98268), Alex K. Angelopoulos and Toby Ovod- Everett provide several ways to capture file paths. I’d like to offer another easy way to capture file paths in Windows Vista and Windows XP. You simply need to follow these steps:

1. Select the Run option on the Start menu. (In Vista, you’ll find the Run option in the Accessories folder.)
2. Start Windows Explorer. Find the file for which you want to capture the file path, then drag it into the Run dialog box’s Open field.
3. Highlight and copy the path in the Open field.

Voila—you now have a copy of the file’s complete path on the clipboard!

—Michael M. Thommes,
Argonne National Laboratory