The Copy Files task is going legit (and moving)

I've supplied dozens of custom tasks for SAS Enterprise Guide, but the Copy Files task is easily the most popular. The Copy Files task allows you to capture "file transfer" steps inside your process flow, so that you can automate any file upload and download operations between your PC and your SAS workspace session. It has proven to be an essential task for customers who move from using PC SAS to SAS Enterprise Guide. Many of you still need a method to copy data and results to and from your SAS session. When the SAS session is on a remote server, then this task fills that important gap.

Because "Copy files" is a custom task, you have to download the task package (from this blog) and follow a few steps to install the task into your SAS Enterprise Guide environment. When installed, the task can be found in the Tools → Add-In menu.

Copy Files task moves to the Tasks → Data menu

That's about to change with the next release: SAS Enterprise Guide v7.13. We're going to make an honest task out of "Copy Files," as it becomes an official feature in SAS Enterprise Guide. That's great news for a couple of reasons: no more custom install steps, and you can now get official support from SAS Tech Support when using it (although they would have always helped before now). The task works exactly the same way and if you have existing projects that use it, you don't need to make any changes. However, there is one change you need to know about: as an "official" task, it will appear in an official menu location. As of SAS Enterprise Guide 7.13, you'll find Copy Files in the Tasks → Data menu, near the bottom with some other utility-type tasks. And if you had previously installed it as a custom task, it will no longer appear in the Tools → Add-In menu.

SAS Enterprise Guide 7.13 is set to release within the next couple of weeks (near the end of November 2016), and it contains several exciting new features that I'll describe in this blog. Many of you will see it immediately when SAS Enterprise Guide prompts you to update. Stay tuned!