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When processing files, you may come across a time when you need to make a copy of a file, but preserve the Created Date. By default when you copy a file, the Modified Date is preserved, but the Created Date is updated to the date the file was copied. This can become a problem if want to process a batch of files in chronological order. If you move (or cut) a file to a new destination, then the Created Date is preserved.
Many solutions out there suggest downloading special tools or using the command prompt, which can be useful in certain situation. But for me, I just wanted a simple copy/paste method that could achieve this result without having to (potentially purchase and) install software for this one feature.
It turns out there is a way this can be done with the built-in tools provided by Microsoft in Windows 10 (and possibly other versions of Windows).
- Simple compress by right click your selection of file > Send To > Compressed (zip).
- Move by copy/paste the .zip file to your destination.
- Unzip the files in the new destination.
With this method, the Created Date of the files inside the zip compressed file are preserved!