Moving multiple files in Windows

I am often moving and copying many large files around on computers that I manage.

If all the files that I want to move or copy are in one folder then it's easy.

My problem is two-fold...

Can I highlight files from different folders or drives and move them all in one go?
(It's not practical to move the files - even temporarily - into one folder.)

If I can't do that, is there a way of adding additional files to the transfer queue, once I have started moving/copying files.
(I do NOT want to start another transfer running side by side with the existing one halving the speed - rather, I want to add files to an existing transfer so they transfer sequentially.)

Maybe there is a program out there that would enable the kind of file movement I'm looking for?

Thanks...

To be honest, with things like this I try to set up a system where I can use file syncing software (like SyncBack) to set up a particular sync query that I can run to sync folders from one location to another. After the initial setting up and testing and making sure it's syncing exactly what I want, I can then re-run it whenever without having to worry about mistakes/errors, etc. However if the files you're interested in are random, then obviously that makes it more difficult.

Is there any way the files you are interested in can be filtered? For example, are they all picture files, or created in a certain time period, or have a part of the file name in common, etc.?

If there's some way to narrow them down, you could go to a top level folder (such as C:\Users\UserName) in File Explorer and use the search feature in File Explorer to narrow down the search. Then go through the folders/files you're interested in copying, select them and copy them to another location. You can change various views according to what you're looking for, for example, Details View, Large Icons View, etc.

See the following tutorial for more info on narrowing down File Explorer Search:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/21310-search-find-more-filters-operators.html

teachermark said:

I am often moving and copying many large files around on computers that I manage.

If you do that a lot, then relying on the built-in File Explorer for file operations would be a rather unrewarding endeavor. Typically people would adopt a third-party file manager, which would normally include features designed to achieve exactly what you want (i.e. selecting and copying files from multiple locations).

For example, such timeless classics like Far Manager, Midnight Commander, Total Commander and such (of Norton Commander heritage) allow you to open an intermediate temporary "scratch" panel and "copy" your files to that panel. This operation does not really copy anything physically, it just places links to the source file locations into the temporary panel. Once you finished collecting these links in that temporary panel, you can physically copy them to their final destination in one shot.