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I've been dragging and dropping some photos from Photos to a folder on my Mac desktop. I know this can result in a lower-size file, but that’s fine with me. What I want to know is: Does this drag and drop to desktop create a copy of the images? Or does it actually move the original file? I want to delete the desktop folder at some point, but I don’t want to lose the images that are in my Photos library.
It's a copy of the Preview of the photograph. When you import an image or edit it the app makes a preview of the image. This is a handy version that's good enough for a lot of things, like emailing, uploading etc. That's what drag and drop yields also. If you want full size versions use the File -> Export command.
It's a copy of the Preview of the photograph. When you import an image or edit it the app makes a preview of the image. This is a handy version that's good enough for a lot of things, like emailing, uploading etc. That's what drag and drop yields also. If you want full size versions use the File -> Export command.
Which version of Photos are you using?
Drag and Drop to the Desktop is save , if you drag the thumbnail to a folder.
But if you drag a photo from Photos to an application in the Dock, the original may be overwritten. If the original is small and the photo has not been edited, it may double as the preview.
For example, I just dragged a thumbnail to PSE. The "Save" dialog in PSE is writing right back into the photo library, if we are not careful. Dragging is passing Photos's own preview file from inside the library to the app in the Dock, as we can see in the path to the file in the save dialog:
And if the original doubles as the preview, the original may be damaged.
It's a copy (generally of lower resolution).
Does Photos drag and drop to desktop create a copy or move the original file?
