data/sessions/explorer-duplicate-file-2/memory.md

# Memory: explorer-duplicate-file-2

## Overview

Duplicate a file in place using only the keyboard: select it, copy, and paste back into the
same folder. Use this when a second copy is wanted beside the original and no pointing
device is available or wanted beyond selecting the file. The file manager resolves the name
collision itself by appending its own suffix. The recorded trace leaves
`report - Copy.pdf` beside `report.pdf`.

## Prerequisites

- A desktop environment with a file manager, or a shell — either route reaches the same
  end state.
- A file that already exists and can be identified at run time, together with the folder
  holding it. The file is found by name, so the name has to be known; its path does not.
- Write access to that folder. The copy is created beside the original, so the folder
  itself must be writable even though the original is only read.
- Enough free space for a second copy of the file.
- A decision about the copy's name. The file manager names it automatically, following its
  own convention; a shell names it explicitly. The two produce the same file only if the
  shell is told to use the same name.
- No file already occupying the copy's name. The shell route overwrites it silently; the
  file manager route sidesteps it by choosing a different name, which is a different end
  state from the one intended.

## Steps

### Step 1 — Left-click at (250, 386)

The task is to make a duplicate copy of a file inside the same folder, using the keyboard only, so the file has to be selected first. Move the cursor and Left-click the `report.pdf` row in the Explorer window to select it. Selecting is all this does — the click lands on the name in the Name column, which highlights the row without opening anything, since a single click selects and only a double-click opens.

![Step 1](vision/frames/step_0001_20260731_122829_at.webp)

### Step 2 — Press: Ctrl+C

Press Ctrl+C to copy the selected file. Nothing is duplicated yet; this places a reference to the file on the clipboard, and whether that becomes a copy or a move is decided by which paste follows.

![Step 2](vision/frames/step_0002_20260731_122833_at.webp)

### Step 3 — Press: Ctrl+V

Press Ctrl+V to paste into the folder that is already open — the same folder the file came from. Pasting a file into its own directory is what produces the duplicate: Windows cannot store two files under one name, so it keeps the original untouched and names the new one by appending `- Copy` to the base name.

![Step 3](vision/frames/step_0003_20260731_122837_at.webp)

## Notes & Edge Cases

1. The click is the whole of the selection, and both shortcuts act on it with no further confirmation. Read what is highlighted before pressing anything, because nothing between here and the finished copy will ask.
2. Copy followed by paste in the same folder is what makes a duplicate. The file manager resolves the resulting name collision by appending its own word, so the copy's name is its choice rather than the task's.
3. Shortcuts fire against whatever window has focus. With focus elsewhere the same keys do something else entirely, and the file manager gives no sign that the keystroke went somewhere else.
4. The clipboard is shared with every other running application. A copy performed in between by anything at all substitutes a different file silently, and the paste succeeds with the wrong content.
5. Nothing is reported when this works — no dialog, no progress, no prompt. Confirm from the folder's contents rather than from the keystrokes having been accepted.
6. The keyboard route reaches the same end state as the menu route in fewer steps. Prefer it when the selection is already right, and fall back to the menus when a shortcut does not respond.
7. Pressing paste twice produces a second copy under a further name rather than doing nothing. The operation is not idempotent, so a repeated key is a new file rather than a no-op.