Don't use the /Users/Shared folder. You will run into permissions issues. To move files from account A to account B, do this:
1. Log in as A.
2. Move the files to /Users/A/Public. *Don't move your Documents, Pictures, Movies, Desktop, etc folders. Just move their contents.
3. Log in as B.
4. Navigate with Finder to /Users/A/Public.
5. Drag the files to the Desktop. This will make new copies of them with correct permissions for User B.
6. Put the files away in the appropriate places in B's home folder.
7. Log back in to A's account and delete the files from /Users/A/Public if you want.
I tried the procedure you've described, and I am having permissions issues when trying to work with the files in the new account. It will let me read, but not write. Any idea what I might be doing wrong?
Doing it the way I suggested should not cause permissions issues. Did you use the user's Public folder instead of the /Users/Shared folder? Have you ever manually changed permissions of the user's Public folder?
First ensure all of the files are in the new account's home folder somewhere. Then log in to an admin account and enter these commands in Terminal (where "ginty" is your new account's short user name):
I would like to say thank you as well. The commands you gave were the finishing touches in resolving the issue I was having in my user migration to another account.
I tried a few methods. Yes, the terminal commands work. Though, all files still have the previous account owner +user 1+ left as custom permissions. Not sure if that is an issue. I called Apple and found a few more methods to try... one is to make a disk image of the files 1st, that strips permissions. Then I realized a zip may do it. So, I made a zip of +user 1+ files, dropped it in a drop box of +user 2+, extracted in +user 2+ and walla! permissions now set to +user 2+.