There is even a program to copy the structure of a set of folders, without the content...

At Command prompt, XCOPY /T copies the directory structure without copying any files.

XCOPY has 26 switches, with modifiers.

Most such "miracle add-on" programs simply invoke common Command (formerly DOS) routines, with a pretty interface. Do-It-Yourself using the actual commands avoids "little features" like the double-click (which should be worked out in a real "pro" utility) but knowing that you CAN DO IT ALL (nearly) with what you've got eliminates the need to fill your file structure with a lot of "extras."

The XCOPY function is also useful for backups, since:

XCOPY C:\folder\*.*/S/D

will copy all files from the folder source folder, omitting any that are already in the destination that have the same or newer date (the /D does that). You can also supply an "argument" for the /D switch to copy everything with a date after ...

XCOPY C:\DOCS\*.*/S/D:12-10-2007

would copy only files deom C:\DOCS, including subfolders (/S) with filedate 10 DEC 2007 or after (/D:12-10-2007).

And you can enter a list of files to be excluded from the copy, using the switch:

/EXCLUDE:file1+file2+...

This sort of stuff may be less easily used by those who weren't FORCED TO LEARN to use a command prompt back in olden times; but the methods still mostly work, and if you're not just a wannbe-textmailer it's probably worthwhile knowing at least a few of the commands.

There have been some very important changes in the Command Set - the commands you can use and how they work, with most of the changes being significant improvements, at least up to WinXP. A few new ones in Vista remain "unproven" - in my house; but most of the usual ones seem to be present.

John