Can I move Files instead of copying in the Action Menu on my MacBook Pro?

Copy and Moving files in MacOS:

Drag and Drop from local drive to local drive will MOVE files.

You must hold “Option” key and see the Plus sign. Then it will COPY and not MOVE.

Drag and drop from local drive to external drive will COPY files by default. 

You must hold “Command” key to change from copy to Move. You will see the Plus sign by default. Pressing Command will remove the Plus sign and allow Move instead of Copy.

Are you not referring to Finder, but rather Automator or Shortcuts actions?

If you drag and drop to a folder in the same drive, it moves. It has always been that way.

It is a quite simple operation, because the file does not go anywhere, what changes are which folders (actually, directories) point to the location of the file.

Moving from one drive to another is a completely different thing.

You can hold down the COMMAND key and do a move instead of a copy; but what happens is that,

behind the scenes, the file IS copied, and then the original is deleted by the system.

If need be, I prefer to copy the file manually and then delete the original. If the copy phase fails, for some reason, you may lose data.

On Macs:

Under APFS:

Dragging a file to another location on the same Volume will move the file. Option-dragging will copy the file.

Dragging a file to a location on a different Volume or Drive will copy the file.

Under HFS+:

Dragging a file to another location on the same Drive or Partition will move the file. Option-dragging will copy the file.

Dragging a file to a location on a different Drive or Partition will copy the file.

The action menu does not have a "move" function.

If you want to move by cutting the file and pasting it somewhere else instead of the simple method of drag and drop, hold down the option key when you paste after copying the file.

No, on my sonoma install, I am tying to move apps I don't use to a sub folder but no mater what I do it makes links. It is very frustrating.

Here's a tip: don't try organise the applications folder. If you want to organise things into folders you can do that with Launchpad, on the Dock or simply access applications by Search.

TopSteve wrote:

No, on my sonoma install, I am tying to move apps I don't use to a sub folder but no mater what I do it makes links. It is very frustrating.

You can't move apps that are shipped as part of the OS. Just leave them be.

You don't need to wander into the Applications folder to use the apps, anyway. You can use Launchpad, as Yer_Man suggested, but there are other options.

I am partial to Spotlight - I just press command-space and type the first two or three letters of the name, and press enter. A lot of people use the Dock.

You can also make your "Favorite Apps" folder and make aliases of the applications you want, so you never see the rest unless you want to.

Thank you for your comments but they don't answer the question I posed.

As for Spotlight, I have never found it useful. Using a Graphical User Interface (GUI), I use the Graphics/Icons. If I wanted to use Text to find my Applications then I would use a TUI (Text User Interface).

As for "Launchpad" that is just a different way of displaying the Application folder, It does not give any functional difference than opening a folder.

As for "Just leave them be" why should I? It's My computer, not yours.

[Edited by Moderator]

Finder

Randall_2023 wrote:

Copy and Moving files in MacOS:

Drag and Drop from local drive to local drive will MOVE files.

You must hold “Option” key and see the Plus sign. Then it will COPY and not MOVE.

Drag and drop from local drive to external drive will COPY files by default. 

You must hold “Command” key to change from copy to Move. You will see the Plus sign by default. Pressing Command will remove the Plus sign and allow Move instead of Copy.

Yes these commands/actions are ones I have used for years. The problem I have has only come up in Sonoma where the Applications folder seems to be locked up tight. For example I don't trade stocks so why can I not removed the stocks app or move it to a sub-folder "/Application/Not used". Or how do I do that when the above commands and action don't work?

MartinR wrote:

On Macs:

Under APFS:

Dragging a file to another location on the same Volume will move the file. Option-dragging will copy the file.

Dragging a file to a location on a different Volume or Drive will copy the file.

Under HFS+:

Dragging a file to another location on the same Drive or Partition will move the file. Option-dragging will copy the file.

Dragging a file to a location on a different Drive or Partition will copy the file.

The action menu does not have a "move" function.

Works in most folders and is info I as a person that have used Apple and Mac computers from 1990 on, know. What I was asking relates specificity to the folder /Applications on Sonoma and the apps in it.

The reason why you cannot delete them is because, although the Finder makes it look like they sit in the Applications folder, they do in fact live (since Big Sur, perhaps, or Catalina) in /System/Applications.

This location is mounted as part of the read-only and sealed system volume.

You could try and jump through hoops to remove them, but this would probably invalidate the system checksum or something, so it is uncertain if the system would still be bootable after that. I also don't use Stocks, or Chess, or several others, but I don't own the OS.

If this is unbearable to you, perhaps you should install some version of Linux and get more control of what you can or cannot do. Apple owns macOS, not you or me.

👍 😎

Signed system volume security

Sealed Key Protection (SKP)