How to stop mac from creating auto shortcuts from drag and drops?

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Level 1

7 points

How to stop mac from creating auto shortcuts from drag and drops?

I just want to move things onto my desktop without having to save them there.

I just want to move a couple of folders onto my desktop, so then I can move them somewhere else. I USED to be able to do this by dragging and dropping but now it is auto creating shortcuts when I do a drag and drop. Is there some way to disable this feature? Or did apple just think this would be something every single person would want?

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.4), 24-inch 2008

Posted on May 26, 2016 2:31 PM

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Answer 1

dialabrain

Level 10

136,055 points

May 26, 2016 3:53 PM in response to OFQ

FWIW, if you are trying to drag something from /Applications it will create a shortcut. Option+Drag creates a copy.

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Answer 2

dialabrain

Level 10

136,055 points

May 26, 2016 3:37 PM in response to OFQ

It depends on what and where you are dragging from. try pressing the option key while you drag.

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Answer 3

Yer_Man

Level 10

165,936 points

May 26, 2016 2:35 PM in response to OFQ

Dragging and dropping doesn't create shortcuts here. Exactly what are you dragging, from where to where?

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Answer 4

May 28, 2017 4:10 AM in response to OFQ

I am having a similar problem - all of the sudden having an issue with downloads in Firefox when I drag them from the arrow box on the tool bar to my desktop it used to give me the file no issue now it auto creates a shortcut to the file ugh! I then have to go to the downloads folder and pull it out...

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