# I can't choose files to back up

**URL:** <https://kopia.discourse.group/t/i-cant-choose-files-to-back-up/2072>\
**Category:** General Topics\
**Created:** [June 4, 2023, 11:21pm UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/i-cant-choose-files-to-back-up/2072 "2023-06-04T23:21:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Alpha\_A](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/kopia.discourse.group/alpha_a/32/721_2.png) [@Alpha\_A](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/Alpha_A)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2023, 11:21pm UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/i-cant-choose-files-to-back-up/2072/1 "2023-06-04T23:21:26Z")

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With Kopia-UI I can select only the folders in the choice of items to save. I can’t choose files. It’s normal ?

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**Author:** ![budy](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/kopia.discourse.group/budy/32/38_2.png) [@budy](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/budy)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 1:40pm UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/i-cant-choose-files-to-back-up/2072/2 "2023-06-06T13:40:01Z")

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Yes, that’s actually by design. In Kopia you define sources and those only anchor to folders. There are other ways, but those depend on you host OS and code/script skills.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ZebCorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/5fc32e/32.png) [@ZebCorp](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/ZebCorp)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 4:23pm UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/i-cant-choose-files-to-back-up/2072/3 "2023-06-06T16:23:54Z")

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Yes, there’s way. Exclude _everything_ and then include whatever you want.

```auto
#exclude all
*
!**/
#include filters
!/file-i-want-to-include.exe
!/folder-i-want-to-include/**!*.file-extension-i-want-to-include

```

This from Windows. Path are relative. Also, even in the Windows, filters are case sensitive. Also, also this way of filtering has its own quirks, like producing empty non-include folders.