Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MattSepeta

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 9, 2009
1,255
0
375th St. Y
Hey.

I finally have been bothered enough to post about this...

Why cant i choose "Cut" when im dealing with things in the finder?

Why doesnt Command + x work?

I tried looking into it, and found that through the terminal you can turn on an option that activates "Cut", but all it does is send the file to the trash, not allowing you to paste it.
I find it hard to believe that Apple would include the option, then not let you use it, and grey it out in the edit menu.

Am I missing something?>?
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,419
43,307
You're not missing anything.

This has baffled many people, its an omission that has confounded many folks.

I beleive a program called path finder which markets itself as a finder replacement has this. I've been playing with the trial of the program and it appears pretty good.
 

MattSepeta

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 9, 2009
1,255
0
375th St. Y
Ugh

I was afraid thats what you guys would say...

Thanks for the info though, I hope that they take care of this in the next os release, I seriously cant believe that Leopard couldnt do it, then snow leopard still couldnt do it. :confused:
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,419
43,307
I can. It's obviously not a very high priority for people other than the vocal minority. Pathfinder works fine, or you can lobby Apple to include it in 10.7.

I wouldn't even go as far as to say its a priority. I doubt very much that its even on apple's radar to be honest. Like you said, Pathfinder works for those who want that functionality.
 

MattSepeta

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 9, 2009
1,255
0
375th St. Y
Please!!!

I am all about Apple products, and paying the premium for increased functionality and ease-of-use, and I find this absolutely inexcusable.

Maybe if there was no "Cut" option....

But there is....

And it is inaccessible....

And when one of the selling points for the Apple hardware is the OS that it comes with, I would think that the OS should be highly refined.

I can see the coders now.... "Oh s$%t! We forgot to hook up the "Cut" command in finder, AGAIN!" "Oh well, we already made the dock commands translucent, isn't that enough?! I doubt they will notice, nobody does real work on a mac anyways!"


Long story short... I feel cheated being forced to buy new $40 software to do something that windows ME could do....


That aside, I am probably going to buy Path Finder because it seems amazingly awesome, high five to those developers for picking up the slack :)
 

HLdan

macrumors 603
Aug 22, 2007
6,383
0
You're entire posts show that you are a recent switcher. Firstly, Apple has not forgotten CUT, Command X works for everything else. It's designed to Cut N Paste text in documents only. I've been on the Mac since Mac OS 8 and Apple has never had Cut in the Finder. As others said, try Pathfinder, although for me it's stupid to install a whole program to replace the Finder, the extra functionality in Pathfinder, along with the steep price isn't enough for me to use it.
You'll seriously have to drop your Windows way of thinking. The Mac OS is NOT Windows and vice versa. I can assure you some of the features on Snow Leopard will get you so spoiled that when you go back and try to use Windows you'll be annoyed that those features aren't there.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,419
43,307
I am all about Apple products, and paying the premium for increased functionality and ease-of-use, and I find this absolutely inexcusable.

Actually while I think many people have danced around it. The cutting/pasting of files does not fit apple's UI designs since you really are not "cutting" a file, you're trying to move it. cutting/pasting is intended for text and data in an application. I'm not sure why you're getting upset about something you can remedy or work around. Don't want to spend 40 bucks then open two finder windows and move the files that way.

If you're that upset about the lack of a windows functionality, perhaps OSX isn't the right OS for you then. Each operating system, be it windows, OSX, or Ubuntu has its own peculiarities. If you cannot live within how the OS works, then move on.

Are you going to get set that apple doesn't have a graphical ftp program and you're stuck spending $$ to get one, or the text editor isn't up to snuff and its inexcusable that apple doesn't supply a text editor that suits your needs.
 

MattSepeta

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 9, 2009
1,255
0
375th St. Y
Wrong.

I have actually been using macs since Tiger 10.4, and am on my 3rd machine, but I can understand why you would get that impression. I have just been unusually irritated with a few things in the Finder recently.

Don't get me wrong, I cant imagine what it would take to get me to switch back to windows, watching friends try to use their Win7 computers to do ANYTHING is enough to keep me away from that OS for a LONG TIME.

"It's designed to Cut N Paste text in documents only. I've been on the Mac since Mac OS 8 and Apple has never had Cut in the Finder."

Again, my problem. The "Finder" is not for word processing... The finder is for moving between documents, staying organized, and the like. I could care less what other apps allow cut-n-paste.

That said, I still do not understand why they include an inoperable "Cut" function in the FINDER->Edit menu. Would that not lead one to believe that when using the FINDER, they could "Cut" things (documents) they are viewing in the finder, to paste them elsewhere in the finder, JUST as one would cut paste words in a word processor, as a word processor is used with words, the finder is used with documents and files.

So - I understand that no OS is perfect, I don't need a lecture. I just find it strange and a bit misguiding that the Finder has its own Cut command that is, in essence, empty. So if Apple feels that needing to open up two windows simultaneously to achieve the same thing that a cut-paste could achieve, fine! Im sure they have their perfectly valid reasons. But WHY include the Cut command in the finder if its inoperable?
 

Mitthrawnuruodo

Moderator emeritus
Mar 10, 2004
14,413
1,041
Bergen, Norway
Maybe if there was no "Cut" option....

But there is....

And it is inaccessible....
It's there for another reason: If you choose some text in finder, like a file name, then you can cut the text (and paste it elsewhere).

_Skjermbilde 2009-12-21 at 19.48.15.png
 

ScoobyMcDoo

macrumors 65816
Nov 26, 2007
1,188
37
Austin, TX
The "Apple can do no wrong" crowd always comes out for this subject. The argument that copy and paste of files fits fine, but cut and past does not is absolutely ridiculous.
 

HLdan

macrumors 603
Aug 22, 2007
6,383
0
I have actually been using macs since Tiger 10.4, and am on my 3rd machine, but I can understand why you would get that impression. I have just been unusually irritated with a few things in the Finder recently.

Don't get me wrong, I cant imagine what it would take to get me to switch back to windows, watching friends try to use their Win7 computers to do ANYTHING is enough to keep me away from that OS for a LONG TIME.

"It's designed to Cut N Paste text in documents only. I've been on the Mac since Mac OS 8 and Apple has never had Cut in the Finder."

Again, my problem. The "Finder" is not for word processing... The finder is for moving between documents, staying organized, and the like. I could care less what other apps allow cut-n-paste.

That said, I still do not understand why they include an inoperable "Cut" function in the FINDER->Edit menu. Would that not lead one to believe that when using the FINDER, they could "Cut" things (documents) they are viewing in the finder, to paste them elsewhere in the finder, JUST as one would cut paste words in a word processor, as a word processor is used with words, the finder is used with documents and files.

So - I understand that no OS is perfect, I don't need a lecture. I just find it strange and a bit misguiding that the Finder has its own Cut command that is, in essence, empty. So if Apple feels that needing to open up two windows simultaneously to achieve the same thing that a cut-paste could achieve, fine! Im sure they have their perfectly valid reasons. But WHY include the Cut command in the finder if its inoperable?

You either missed that in my post or you ignored it. I told you already that Cut on Mac is for text. Command X is for cutting text. I wasn't trying to give you other ideas on what to use Cut for, I was explaining to you what Command X does on Mac.
 

sidewinder

macrumors 68020
Dec 10, 2008
2,425
130
Northern California
I told you already that Cut on Mac is for text. Command X is for cutting text.
Not just text. One of the first Mac commercials in 1984 showed cutting and pasting in MacPaint.

Cut and Paste is for any type of data. One could argue that it should be extended to files in the Finder. I don't cut and paste files now on my Windows system, but I don't see a good reason to not have it in the Finder.

S-
 

AoFFiE

macrumors newbie
Feb 4, 2009
16
0
With no offense, I can't see any benefit but problems.

I believe if there is cut-and-paste function in Finder, people would spend hours a day to recover the files they cut but forgot to paste.
I have completely no idea how windows users can live with it.

However, moving files, in my opinion, makes more sense, Apple should put Move command on the menubar.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,419
43,307
With no offense, I can't see any benefit but problems.

I believe if there is cut-and-paste function in Finder, people would spend hours a day to recover the files they cut but forgot to paste.
I have completely no idea how windows users can live with it..

You can cut a file in windows and it stays in the original folder until you select a destination and paste it there. You can also cancel the operation by hitting escape. The file does not disappear from the original location until you paste it.
 

AoFFiE

macrumors newbie
Feb 4, 2009
16
0
You can cut a file in windows and it stays in the original folder until you select a destination and paste it there. You can also cancel the operation by hitting escape. The file does not disappear from the original location until you paste it.

I got it. but how inconsistent?

Take, for example, MS Word. If I cut something but did not paste, they're gone; but for a file, it's still there.

I'm glad that I've been a Mac user for life.
 

TuffLuffJimmy

macrumors G3
Apr 6, 2007
9,022
136
Portland, OR
Apple just needs to put the move command back in the Finder. It was there back in Classic, but now it's no where to be found. It was basically cut'n'paste, but made more sense.
 

Buzz Bumble

Guest
Oct 19, 2008
802
2
New Zealand
TuffLuffJimmy said:
It was there back in Classic, but now it's no where to be found.

Err, nope. I've been using Apple computers since before there even was a Mac, and there's never been a "Move" command in the Finder's File menu (other than "Move to Trash"). There's also never been copy/cut/paste of files in Finder either. :)
 

TuffLuffJimmy

macrumors G3
Apr 6, 2007
9,022
136
Portland, OR
Err, nope. I've been using Apple computers since before there even was a Mac, and there's never been a "Move" command in the Finder's File menu (other than "Move to Trash"). There's also never been copy/cut/paste of files in Finder either. :)

I swear you could move files, by selecting something (maybe it wasn't called 'move') and it would change your cursor until you told it to put the object down...

Maybe not. I was awful young for pre-OS X computers.
 

thejadedmonkey

macrumors G3
May 28, 2005
9,155
3,265
Pennsylvania
You're entire posts show that you are a recent switcher. Firstly, Apple has not forgotten CUT, Command X works for everything else. It's designed to Cut N Paste text in documents only. I've been on the Mac since Mac OS 8 and Apple has never had Cut in the Finder. As others said, try Pathfinder, although for me it's stupid to install a whole program to replace the Finder, the extra functionality in Pathfinder, along with the steep price isn't enough for me to use it.
You'll seriously have to drop your Windows way of thinking. The Mac OS is NOT Windows and vice versa. I can assure you some of the features on Snow Leopard will get you so spoiled that when you go back and try to use Windows you'll be annoyed that those features aren't there.

What about me? I'm no recent switcher, and I've un-switched due to 1) Apple's strange logic, and 2) Windows Aero.

Apple needs to implement a command+cut, even if it doesn't fit with the "Apple" way of doing things, simply because that's what people expect. What if you got a mac, and all of a sudden you couldn't hide the dock. Not a big deal, but when everyone expects it, it's strange. yeah, that's how OS X is when it comes to cut and paste.
 

robkat

macrumors regular
Dec 22, 2008
196
71
Scotland
Cut/Paste in Finder???

I am a recent convert from the darkside and do not know what all the fuss is about. Copy & Paste does everything you need, or simply drag file in finder.
Or, am I missing something obvious here?:)
 

jetoo

macrumors member
Dec 1, 2009
67
0
Cut & Paste is very useful.

For example, I used to cut and paste documents from my pc to my nas. On mac, i cannot do that. I'll have to delete it after i've copied it.
It's one step that I didn't had to do on my pc. Yet, it's more secure, but it's still 2 more seconds you lose, deleting the old file. :/
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.