move files

I don't know that using the Command key would do anything - option-drag makes a copy of the file.

Are you copying files on the same drive - or from one drive to another?

Clinton

You SHOULD simply be able to select a file and drag it to wherever you want to move the file: no need to hold down the command key.

What's happening when you just select and drag the file? It's not moving into the new folder/location?

Clinton

As mentioned here, CMD-dragging will "move" a file rather than copying it. I just confirmed that this does still work in Mountain Lion by CMD-dragging a test file from one volume to another.

(There is no reason to hold down the CMD key when moving a file to a new location on the same volume because all you are really doing in that case is changing the file system pointer to the folder the file is in, not actually moving the file to a new location on the volume. In this case there is no difference between dragging & CMD-dragging -- both do the same thing.)

That said, this only works if you have both read & write permission for the file. That's because the "move" operation actually first copies the file to the new location & then deletes the original. This is done for safety's sake. So if say you are trying to move a file owned by system & you only have read permissions, the original file will not be deleted & you get a copy owned by you (with full read & write permissions) at the target location. This behavior is the same whether or not you hold down the CMD key.

Hope this helps.

Odd - if I command-drag a file to a new volume, it just creates an alias... just dragging the file copies the file to the other volume...

Clinton

clintonfrombirmingham wrote:

Odd - if I command-drag a file to a new volume, it just creates an alias... just dragging the file copies the file to the other volume...

To create an alias, I have to cmd-option-drag the file to the new volume. Dragging with no keys held down copies it, & cmd-dragging it moves it.

Each operation shows the expected "badge" on the pointer: a curved arrow for the alias, a green + sign in a circle for the copy, & no badge at all for the move. This works for me even if I hover the pointer over the volume's Finder window & try the different keyboard combinations before releasing the mouse button.

And thank you for reminding me that this option still exists! I think I heard about it back when I was running Leopard, but I had long since forgotten about it. 😊

Let's reset here

A simple drag of a file within the same partition will always move. dragging a file to a different partition will always copy.

These are the results with various key combinations

Frank,

That first item in your table is slightly misleading in that the pointer icon doesn't change when command dragging -- it remains an arrow icon throughout the move.

The charts not mine it's Apples from OS X keyboard shortcuts

What they mean is if you drag to another volume the pointer icon chnages to a green ➕ indicating a copy. If you hold the command key down the pointer changes back to a normal pointer indicting a move.

I know it is from Apple, but it is still a little misleading, in part because it doesn't tell users that for some drag operations the pointer icon you see depends on if you are in the source or target window, or that if you don't have write permissions for the dragged item, you get a copy icon whether or not you hold down the command key.

Basically, there are just too many variations to consider to cram them all into a table like that one.

Further to this thread, I just migrated a user onto a MacBookPro with 10.7.5. For some reason, it has the similar problem. When dragging a file (without touchung the CMD key), it is copying not moving. None of our other 10.7.5 Mac's are doing this. I have run Repair Permissions and no change Is there a system setting to return this back to normal or is it a bug?