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Files won't "Move" when I drag and drop, they only "Copy"

I'm trying to drag and drop files to an external drive off my Mac to free up space which, according to the Help menu, says it will move the files. However, dragging and dropping will only "Copy" the files. These files have read/write permissions, I checked. Are the directions incorrect? Is there no way to just "Move" the files? I have Mac OS Catalina.

MacBook Pro 13″, 10.15

Posted on Sep 20, 2020 10:06 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 20, 2020 10:13 AM

If you simply drag and drop files from the source Volume to the external drive they will Copy over.

If you want to Move the files and have them delete from the source Volume press and hold down

the Command ⌘ key while dragging and dropping.

2 replies

Files won't "Move" when I drag and drop, they only "Copy"

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