Automatically move, copy, upload or download files with LimagitoX FileMover Lite

Moving a few files around your system is simple, and you’ll probably just do it yourself: drag/ drop, copy/ paste, whatever it might be.

When you regularly need to process a lot of files, though, it might be quicker to automate the task with LimagitoX FileMover Lite.

To set this up you must create a "moving rule", an 8-step process which defines exactly what you want LimagitoX FileMover Lite to do: the source files, the destination, whether you want to copy or move the files, and so on.

These are much more flexible than you might think. Your file source doesn’t have to be local: the program also supports HTTP and FTP. And you don’t have to simply specify a source folder. You can ask it to include subdirectories; to exclude the base directory; to set a subdirectory scanning depth; and to include or exclude subdirectories based on their name, date, or size.

LimagitoX FileMover Lite can rename files or folders (optionally using regular expressions) as they’re being moved. It’s able to check if destination files or folders already exist, renaming them if necessary based on their current name or date. Once the move is complete, you can even have your files verified by one of 11 checksum algorithms (SHA1, SHA256, MD5, CRC32 and more).

A versatile scheduler means your rule can be executed every few seconds or minutes, daily, weekly or monthly, when a file name, size or last access date changes. Or you could combine these, perhaps having LimagitoX FileMover Lite check your source files every 5 minutes, but only between 8am and 5pm on the last Friday of every month.

The program also has many interesting supporting services. One, the "Event Manager", helps you define exactly what should happen if a rule succeeds, has an error, fails file verification, finds files in use, and more (it can play a sound, display a popup, add something to the event log, or send an email).

All this power isn’t particularly easy to access, unfortunately. The interface doesn’t do a good job of walking you through the process, or explaining the individual steps, and the documentation is poor. (The core manual is online, but even that needs work.)

The free Lite build has a major restriction in that it only supports a single rule. This may be enough to do useful work, but it does mean you’ll be able to give the program one task only. (More powerful versions with unlimited rules are available from 150 Euros/ $206.)

LimagitoX FileMover Lite isn’t for PC or file management beginners, then. But if you’re a more advanced user, and you regularly need to carry out some complex file processing task, and you’re happy to spend time learning how it works, the program could prove helpful.