How do I queue multiple files for copying on a Mac?

Solution 1:

UltraCopier

UltraCopier is a free and cross-platform copy utility that is currently in development, so it's not that neat and polished yet. Once you install it, it sits in your menu bar.

It manages a copy list that allows you to queue copy or move jobs, which are then sequentially processed. You can also define the copy process priority as well as the block size of the transfer.

With the new version you can group with similar source and/or destination, or just always or never.

Solution 2:

Here is a bash solution:

cp file1 dest1; cp file2 dest2

Repeat this for how ever many files you want to copy. Just keep adding semicolons and cp commands.

You could also do

cp file1 dest1 && cp file2 dest2

In this example, the file will only be copied if the one before it copied successfully.

For a folder, you can do something like this:

for x in folder/*; do echo "Copying $x"; cp "$x" destdir; done

Solution 3:

Path Finder 6 looks easier to navigate than ultracopier and definitely creates a clear cue, plus it has way more options. There's also a 30 day trial for it.

But I'm using this professionally so I say totally worth it.

File Operations in Path Finder 6 (YouTube video)