I decided to make a small but useful program with what i’ve learned so far from C and the Windows API.I have used a free version of xplorer² for some time, and i’ve been overusing one small but useful feature in that program, which, in a keystroke, copies the selected file path to the clipboard. I have liked this feature so much I wanted to add that in any file manager as a menu item in the right-click (aka contextual) menu.

So here’s my little app. I didnt named it, really, but let’s call it “File to clipboard”, for simplicity’s sake.

To use it, extract the executable anywhere, i’d recommend into \Program Files\ or \Windows\ . Execute it once directly to install the right-click menu element into the system. From on now, you can right-click any file an select “Copy path to clipboard” to.. surprisingly, copy the whole file path to the clipboard.

Let me rephrase: you only have to execute the program direcly once so you install the right-click menu into the system. Even if you have to execute it only once, it gets executed everytime you use the menu item “Copy path to clipboard”, so do not erase it.

Installation and usage: Download the zip file here, and copy filetocb.exe in a directory of your choice. I recommend Program Files or Windows, as stated above. Execute once to add the right-click menu item, and profit!

Tip: Holding Shift when clicking on “Copy path to clipboard” will instead copy a 8.3 (DOS) formatted path, if available. If there is no 8.3 path, it will revert to the long (standard/default) file path. Either way, an audio dignal (Windows’ “ding!”) will play, indicating you really copied a 8.3 path into the clipboard.

Open source, newbie friendly: in the zip file, there is a folder named “source”, which is my source files used to build filetocb.exe. I have fully documented main.c so if anyone wanted to learn abit how it works, they can do so. There is also a GIMP XCF file, used to make a simple Windows icon for the program.