How can I get the path to a file in Windows 10?

Question

I frequently need to copy the file path of an object in Windows, so that I can paste it into a tool like the command line or Powershell. How can I quickly do this, without having to go to an object's properties and copying the path from there?

Answer 1

Pressing Shift + Right Click will bring up an additional item in the context menu for you, labeled "Copy as path".

This will return the file path as a string, and it will be saved to your clipboard.

Answer 2

I use the open source tool Path Copy Copy, as this offers the ability to copy the path in multiple formats:

• UNC for a full network path,
• or a fully custom defined format, for example escaped backslashes and path enclosed in "".

Image below shows the default Path Copy Copy context menu: