Windows: The missing ‘No to All’

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When you copy files to a folder, you may get a confirmation dialog asking you whether you wish to replace existing files. You have the option to say Yes, Yes to All and No.
Windows Confirmation Dialog: the missing No to All

How about ‘No to All‘? It’s missing, right?

You can get the No to all function by a simple trick:

Hold Shift and press No. This action is equal to “No to All”. Enjoy!

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 3rd, 2007 at 9:28 am and is filed under windows tips/tweaks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

36 Responses to “Windows: The missing ‘No to All’”

  1. Great Tip!
    Thanks for bringing it here.

  2. You’re welcome, Vinod. I’m glad you liked it. :)

  3. Nice trick. Akin to CTRL+C to copy prompts text.

  4. Nice tip. I never knew that. :D

  5. no is redunant
    yes is to copy OR move
    your choice
    yes to all is copy AND move
    no is no DO NOT copy OR move
    1+2?={(2?)+1}

  6. alan: um..no it isn’t yes is saying that you want to replace the file with the same name. yes to all means you want to replace all files with the same name (if you’re copying more than one file) without being prompted again. no just means no. no to all should be there, meaning you don’t want to replace at all without being prompted.

  7. OMG! This is amazing!!! ;) Thank you!

  8. Ehm…
    “No” means “do not replace this file”.
    Doesn’t “Cancel” say “stop the incessant replacing already” just as well as “no to all” does?

  9. Bokkie,
    Example where “no to all” would be useful:

    You have 25 files. You want to copy them into a folder where you have already copied 5 of the files from the original folder of 25 and updated them in some way.

    “No to all” would mean that you won’t copy the 5 files you already have in the folder but will allow the remaining 20 to copy.

    Great tip.

  10. nice tip – thanks . ..

  11. I want to use this opportunity to condemn the idiot at Microsoft who was probably on crack when he wrote this feature. This corporation has so much money they can bury the Vatican in it. Yet some bugs just stay around forever.

  12. Really Amazing Tip! I was always thinking for “No To All”

  13. Bleedy Hell Shankar :P

    now that was one awesome tip :D thanks mate

  14. Glad you guys liked the tip :)

  15. [...] users love hidden tricks, for example check out this post. And check how many people have given a thumbs up to [...]

  16. Simple, but a tip I will now use always.

    Thanks :-)

  17. Nice!!

  18. Great find!! Thanks =)

  19. Welcome, Ilker.

  20. Wow, thank You. I wouldn’t think it’s that easy…

  21. coool tip..

  22. NO EFFIN WAY!!!!! omg this problem has made me want to punch someone in the face for YEARS…

    i love you man.

  23. I’m sure Microsoft did that so idiots wouldn’t press it and delete important files.

  24. All this time I’ve been just holding the ‘N’ button down and letting the keyboard auto-repeat.

  25. haha nice
    good tip

  26. The ‘No to All’ key is also known as the ‘cmd’ key, which is right next to the alt key, ctrl, and fn. :)

  27. Jakob Nielsen is rolling in his grave right now (if he was in one that is).

  28. no to all = cancel

  29. Could have used that trick for 7 years. Now I have Vista and don’t need it anymore. WHERE WERE YOU SEVEN YEARS AGO?

  30. GYAH!

    THAT IS AWESOME!

    I’ve been annoyed for ages about this!

  31. No = No To All

    The dialog is asking if you still want to copy the folder. If you choose No (Do not copy folder) then it will not overwrite ANY files, as the folder containing the files will NOT be copied.

    Make sense?

  32. No To All =/= Cancel or No
    To help me explain, refer to this handy little guide:

    -Yes = Replace file
    -Yes To All = Replace all files
    -No = Move this file, but not replace (result = two files with the same name)
    -Cancel = Neither move nor replace

    The missing option is “No To All”, which would move all files to the selected folder without replacing any files with duplicate names. The solution to this is to hold the “Shift” key while choosing the “No” option.
    I have to admit this article confused me a bit, I hope this clears things up.

    Also, I don’t think this has been mentioned, but it’s been stumbled. :P

  33. Wrong. “No to All” is the same thing as Cancel.
    I could be mistaken about this next part but I don’t think No = No to All. If you have multiple things you’re copying and you only want to replace some of them, then you can just hit No to the ones you don’t want to replace and Yes to the ones you do. This would only be used for someone who is doing something super specific, most people wil just hit Yes to All or Cancel.

  34. If I find myself clicking a NO button over and over I want a NO TO ALL button. – k thanks bye

  35. that’s just great :D
    thanks!

  36. the “no to all” button is the X in the top right corner

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