CopyPathUtil

A tiny Windows tray utility that copies the full path of the file(s) currently selected in File Explorer to the clipboard with a single hotkey:

Ctrl + Shift + C

When multiple files are selected, all of their paths are copied, one per line.

Features

• Global hotkey — works system-wide while Explorer is the foreground window.
• Multi-selection support — copies every selected item's full path, separated by newlines.
• Lives in the system tray — no window, no taskbar entry; right-click the tray icon to exit.
• Single instance — a named mutex prevents a second copy from running (safe for auto-start).
• Optional copy notifications — a balloon tip can confirm what was copied.
• No external dependencies — talks to Explorer through late-bound COM (Shell.Application) via reflection, so no interop assemblies are required.

Requirements

• Windows
• .NET 10 Desktop Runtime (the project targets net10.0-windows and uses Windows Forms)

Usage

1. Run CopyPathUtil.exe. The app starts silently and adds an icon to the system tray.
2. In File Explorer, select one or more files or folders.
3. Press Ctrl + Shift + C. The full path(s) are now on your clipboard.
4. To quit, right-click the tray icon and choose Exit.

If nothing is selected in Explorer (or Explorer isn't the active window), the app shows a brief "No file selected" notice instead.

Note: If Ctrl+Shift+C is already claimed by another application, the hotkey cannot be registered and the app will warn you on startup.

Building

The project is a standard .NET Windows Forms app. From the repository root:

dotnet build CopyPathUtil/CopyPathUtil.csproj -c Release

Or open CopyPathUtil.slnx in Visual Studio and build.

To produce a self-contained executable for distribution, publish with your preferred runtime, e.g.:

dotnet publish CopyPathUtil/CopyPathUtil.csproj -c Release

How it works

The app creates a hidden window solely to receive WM_HOTKEY messages from the Win32 RegisterHotKey API. When the hotkey fires, it gets the foreground window handle, enumerates open shell windows via Shell.Application, matches the one whose HWND equals the foreground window, and reads its selected items' paths. The combined text is then placed on the clipboard (with a short retry loop in case the clipboard is briefly locked by another process).

License

Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 — see LICENSE.txt.

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© Null Software