Can scripts in ID be used to copy or delete files?

[dublove]

Suppose my script directory is:

..\myFile\myScript\copyToGrep.jsx

My regular expression directory is:

..\myFile\myGrep\aaa.xml

I want to copy aaa.xml to the GREP directory:

C:\Users\olo\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\InDesign\Version 19.0-J\zh_CN\Find-Change Queries\GREP

First clear the files in GREP, then copy. The version number 19.0 is automatically recognized.

Alternatively, if can open the specified directory in the script, which is also a good option.

[m1b · Accepted solution]

Hi @dublove, here is a generic function to copy a file from `sourcePath` to `destinationPath`.

- Mark

/**
 * @file Copy File Example.js
 * 
 * Example copying the active document file
 * to the desktop named "copy.indd".
 * 
 * @author m1b
 * @version 2025-08-20
 */
(function () {

    if (0 === app.documents.length)
        return alert('Please open a document and try again.');

    var activeDocPath = String(app.activeDocument.fullName);
    var copyToPath = Folder.desktop + '/copy.indd';

    var copiedFile = copyFile(activeDocPath, copyToPath);

})();

/**
 * Copies a file at `sourcePath` to `destinationPath`.
 * @author m1b
 * @version 2025-08-20
 * @param {String} sourcePath - the source path.
 * @param {String} destinationPath - the destination path.
 * @returns {File}
 */
function copyFile(sourcePath, destinationPath) {

    var f = File(sourcePath);

    if (!f.exists)
        throw new Error('File not found: "' + sourcePath + '".');

    var dup = File(destinationPath);

    f.copy(dup);

    return dup;

};

[dublove]

I think I understand a little bit.
The difficulty may be obtaining the path.
C:\Users\olo\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\InDesign\Version 19.0-J\zh_CN\Find-Change Queries\GREP
I don't know how to get the “olo” here, and Version 19.0-J may also be Version 20.0-J.

It might be more practical to open the directory.
Then, manually copy and delete.

[dublove]

Can this function copy all files in the entire path?

Is there a delete function?

I want to copy all files to a specific path, such as aa, but nothing happens.
var copyToPath = Folder.desktop + ‘/aa/’;

[rob day · Accepted solution]

I want to copy all files to a specific path, such as aa, but nothing happens.
var copyToPath = Folder.desktop + ‘/aa/’;

Hi @dublove , It needs to be — Folder(Folder.desktop + "/aa");

To check if the folder exist:

var copyToPath = Folder(Folder.desktop + "/aa");
alert("Does a folder at " + copyToPath + " exist?\r" + copyToPath.exists)

To create a folder:

var copyToPath = new Folder(Folder.desktop + "/aa");
copyToPath.create();

To delete the folder:

copyToPath.remove();

Also there are other path shortcuts to commonly used system folders:

$.writeln("User Desktop: " + Folder.desktop)
//~/Desktop

$.writeln("System Application Support Folder: " + Folder.appData.fsName)
//System Application Folder: /Library/Application Support

$.writeln("User Application Support Folder: " + Folder.userData.fsName)
//User Application Support Folder: /Users/fishercat/Library/Application Support

$.writeln("Target Application Folder: " + Folder.appPackage.fsName)
//Target Application Folder: /Applications/Adobe InDesign 202X/Adobe InDesign 202X.app

$.writeln("Documents Folder: " + Folder.myDocuments)
//Documents Folder: ~/Documents

$.writeln("Application Startup Folder: " + Folder.startup.fsName)
//Application Startup Folder: /Applications/Adobe InDesign 2021/Adobe InDesign 2021.app/Contents/MacOS

$.writeln("System Folder: " + Folder.system)
//System Folder: /System

$.writeln("Temp Folder: " + Folder.temp.fsName)
//Temp Folder: /private/var/folders/w2/s1lk7d6d3m95v4pq7m4flscw0000gn/T/TemporaryItems

$.writeln("Trash Folder: " + Folder.trash)
//Trash Folder: ~/.Trash

[dublove]

Hi rob day.

I mainly want to access the following paths. The key point here is how to obtain “Version 19.0-J”.

C:\Users\olo\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\InDesign\Version 19.0-J\zh_CN\InDesign Shortcut Sets
C:\Users\olo\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\InDesign\Version 19.0-J\zh_CN\Find-Change Queries\GREP
C:\Users\olo\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe PDF\Settings
C:\Users\olo\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\InDesign\Version 19.0-J\zh_CN\Workspaces

How to delete files in a folder.

var copyToPath = new Folder(Folder.desktop + “/aa”);
copyToPath.create();

This seems to delete the aa directory, but I want to delete all the files under aa.

[rob day · Accepted solution]

How to delete files in a folder.

$.writeln(Folder.userData)
//returns ~/Library/Application Support on OSX

$.writeln(Folder.userData.parent)
//parent is ~/Library

//creates a new folder named HellowWorld in my Find-Change Queries/GREP folder
var hw = new Folder(Folder.userData.parent + "/Preferences/Adobe InDesign/Version 16.0/en_US/Find-Change Queries/GREP/HellowWorld")
hw.create();

//Gets the folder named MyFiles on my Desktop
var dtf = Folder(Folder.desktop + "/MyFiles")

//Permanently removes an InDesign file named IDFile.indd in the MyFiles folder 
var f = File(dtf + "/IDFile.indd")
f.remove()

[dublove]

Can I only delete a specific file?
I want to delete any files and folders.

When copying, I also want to copy the files and folders under “Myfile/”.

var f = File(dtf + “/*.*”)
This does not seem to work.

[rob day]

The File and Folder API is here:

https://www.indesignjs.de/extendscriptAPI/indesign-latest/#File.html

https://www.indesignjs.de/extendscriptAPI/indesign-latest/#Folder.html

[dublove]

Is there one for all documents?
I can't seem to find it.

[Laubender · Accepted solution]

@dublove asked: "Is there one for all documents?"

There is no single command to delete all files in one folder or directory.

Nothing like files.everyItem().remove(). You have to use getFiles() first* and then loop the files you found to remove them one by one. And of course that can fail if there are restrictions in the user's rights to manage files.

* And you have to sort them out, getFiles() will also find folders.

Also, as far as I know, you will not be able to delete a folder or directory until it is empty..

You have to write your own function that traverses recursively all folders and subfolders of a "top hierarchy" folder to empty them before you can remove (delete) the top one…

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[rob day · Accepted solution]

You can try a getFiles loop as @Laubender  suggests—this works for me. Just be aware that remove() deletes the file—it will not be recoverable from the trash:

//Folder named Myfiles on the desktop
var f = Folder(Folder.desktop + "/MyFiles")
//get the files in MyFiles
var fl = f.getFiles()
for (var i = 0; i < fl.length; i++){
    try {
        fl[i].remove()
    }catch(e) {}  
};  

[dublove]

@Laubender 

I've learned f.remove().

I raised another question.

Copying all files in the directory was unsuccessful.
I'm unsure how to express relative paths.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/is-it-possible-to-copy-all-files-under-a-specifi...

I can't manage to copy the entire directory.

Thank you very much.

[Laubender]

"Can scripts in ID be used to copy or delete files?"

Hi @dublove ,

yes. So be very careful what you are doing.

( The right soundtrack to this:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-HYayT1vwg&list=RDV-HYayT1vwg&start_radio=1 )

C:\Users\olo\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\InDesign\Version 19.0-J\zh_CN\Find-Change Queries\GREP

"I don't know how to get the “olo” here, and Version 19.0-J may also be Version 20.0-J."

See:

Writing an InDesign script to identify users
Laubender, Mar 26, 2020

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/writing-an-indesign-script-to-identify-users/m-p...

And with ExtendScript there is no need to use backslashes in folder or file paths. Slashes will do.

On macOS and Windows.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[dublove]

How to obtain “Version 19.0-J”
This is not version number 19.5.

I have asked the following questions.
However, I still cannot directly obtain “Version 19.0-J.”

alert(app.scriptPreferences.version);
alert(app.scriptPreferences.scriptsFolder.parent.parent);
alert(app.scriptPreferences.scriptsFolder);

How to get the path of the regular?
C:\Users\adm\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\InDesign\Version 19.0-J\zh_CN\Find-Change Queries\Text

There are also shortcuts stored in the path
C:\Users\adm\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\InDesign\Version 19.0-J\zh_CN\InDesign Shortcut Sets

Workspace Path
C:\Users\adm\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\InDesign\Version 19.0-J\zh_CN\Workspaces

PDF Export Template Path
C:\Users\adm\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe PDF\Settings

[Laubender · Accepted solution]

Hi @dublove ,

what do you get with:

alert(app.scriptPreferences.scriptsFolder.parent.parent.parent.name);

or the whole path with:

alert(app.scriptPreferences.scriptsFolder.parent.parent.parent.fsName);

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[dublove]

@Laubender 

Can you access this location?

C:\Users\olo\AppData\Local\Adobe\InDesign\Version 19.0 - J\zh_CN\Caches
C:\Users\olo\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe PDF\Settings

[rob day]

On MacOS it’s the parent folder of appData (the user’s Library folder):

$.writeln(Folder.appData.parent + "/Preferences/Adobe InDesign/Version 19.0")
// /Library/Preferences/Adobe InDesign/Version 19.0

$.writeln(Folder.appData.parent + "/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe PDF")
// /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe PDF

[dublove]

The version number may vary.

[rob day]

You would have to test for that in your code

[dublove]

var f = File(dtf + "/IDFile.indd")
f.remove()

@rob day 

What should you do if part of the filename is unstable?

For example, it could be:

IDFile-2025.indd or IDFile-2023.indd or IDFile2024.indd

“IDFile” is confirmed.

[rob day]

What should you do if part of the filename is unstable?

You would have to test if the file exists. Here I have a file named Screen Shot 4.png on my desktop, which returns true, while Screen Shot 4 returns false

$.writeln(File(Folder.desktop + "/Screen Shot 4.png").exists)
//returns true
$.writeln(File(Folder.desktop + "/Screen Shot 4").exists)
//returns false

[dublove]

If fuzzy matching isn't possible, that would be highly unscientific.
$.writeln(File(Folder.desktop + “/Screen Shot*.*”).exists)

Similarly, copy(); does not support copying folders.
This feature is really disappointing.
Still, it's sufficient for most needs.

[rob day]

//$.writeln(File(Folder.desktop + “/Screen Shot*.*”).exists)

Use getFiles() with your search as the parameter

https://www.indesignjs.de/extendscriptAPI/indesign-latest/#Folder.html

var f = Folder(Folder.userData.parent + "/Preferences/Adobe InDesign")
$.writeln(f.getFiles())

[Laubender · Accepted solution]

@dublove said: "If fuzzy matching isn't possible, that would be highly unscientific.
$.writeln(File(Folder.desktop + “/Screen Shot*.*”).exists)"

Matching is possible, but not in the way you tried it.

Let's suppose there is a folder on your Desktop named "ScreenShots" containing, amongst other files and folders, also files where the name starts with "Screen Shot …" you could supply a filter function to getFiles() to part files from folders and match only files where the name begins with "Screen Shot".

For example:

var myFolder = Folder( Folder.desktop +"/"+ "ScreenShots" +"/" );

var myFileListArray = myFolder.getFiles
( 
	function(file)
	{  
			
		if
		( 
				
			file instanceof File 
				
			&& 
				
			decodeURI( file.name ).match( /^Screen Shot/ )
				
			&&
				
			!file.hidden
			
		)
			
		return true 
			
	}  
);

alert( myFileListArray.length );