# Making and Moving

Make folders and files, then copy, move and rename them, many at a time.

Updated: November 10, 2026

## [Making](https://www.ask-codey.com/courses/powershell-in-depth/topics/powershell-making)

1. [Making Folders and Files: New-Item](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-new-item) (Novice): New-Item makes new folders and files where you say, several at once or a whole path of folders in one go, -Value puts text into a new file, and -Force means "it's fine if it's already there" for a folder but "replace it" for a file.

## [Moving](https://www.ask-codey.com/courses/powershell-in-depth/topics/powershell-moving)

1. [Copy and Move: Copy-Item and Move-Item](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-copy-and-move) (Novice): Copy-Item makes a copy and leaves the original where it was, Move-Item takes the original to its new place, -Recurse copies a folder with everything in it, and -WhatIf shows exactly where a copy or move would land before anything changes.
2. [Renaming: Rename-Item](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-rename-item) (Novice): Rename-Item gives a file or folder a new name in the folder it's already in; the new name is only a name, so renaming and moving in one step is Move-Item's job, and Rename-Item never replaces a file that already has the new name.

## [Many at Once](https://www.ask-codey.com/courses/powershell-in-depth/topics/powershell-many-at-once)

1. [Wildcards and Filters](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-wildcards-and-filters) (Apprentice): The wildcards \*, ? and \[ \] match many names with one pattern, so one Move-Item carries every photo at once, and Get-ChildItem's -Filter, -Include and -Exclude choose which names to list, -Filter the fastest of the three.

## [Exercise: Sort the Downloads Folder](https://www.ask-codey.com/courses/powershell-in-depth/topics/exercise-powershell-sort-the-downloads-folder)

1. [Exercise: Sort the Downloads Folder](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/exercise-powershell-sort-the-downloads-folder) (Apprentice): Sort a messy downloads folder of eighteen made-up files into photos, receipts, school, documents and a backup with New-Item, Copy-Item, Move-Item, Rename-Item and wildcards, and let a Pester check tell you which tasks are done.

Source: https://www.ask-codey.com/courses/powershell-in-depth/chapters/powershell-making-and-moving