Q: Best way to copy a file in Finder
I am really struggling with the Mac interface, having been a PC/Windows user for decades. I can copy/move files in Windows Explorer with ease. On my MacBook, this simple task seems to be impossible. My objective is to copy a file from one location to a specific folder.
In Finder, I select the file I want to copy and select "Copy" from the Edit menu. I then navigate to the folder I want to place the file, highlighting that folder, and select "Paste" from the Edit menu. It proceeds to place it in the parent directory of the folder I selected, not the selected folder. Tried to do this by dragging a file (which is really hard when using the touchpad). When I drop it on the folder I want, again, it places it in the parent folder. Since I was doing this on a network drive (WD Cloud NAS), I gave up and used a PC to move the files where I wanted them.
This is ridiculous. I thought Macs were supposed to be easy to use. I'm almost to the point of returning my MacBook to the Apple store.
MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.4), 15", 500GB disk drive
Posted on May 16, 2016 9:52 AM
For the most part, we just drag and drop.
You sound like you are using List View, which shows subfolders in a hierarchical manner.
When you attempt to paste into a selected subfolder, you are actually pasting into the active folder as shown by the name in the titlebar of the window.
You could be twelve layers deep in the hierarchy, but the active folder is still the one whose name appears in the title bar, not the one you have selected.
If you just drag and drop into the folder twelve layers deep, it will copy to that folder.
Posted on May 17, 2016 4:16 AM
