Copy vs Move File Off Desktop

[brsboarder]

For some reason, whenever I drag a file from my desktop (where I usually save downloads) to my external harddrive, it only copies them, never moving them. I thought it shoudl simply move the file not copy it, how to I ammend this error.

 

[michaelrjohnson]

For some reason, whenever I drag a file from my desktop (where I usually save downloads) to my external harddrive, it only copies them, never moving them. I thought it shoudl simply move the file not copy it, how to I ammend this error.

No, this is correct behavior in Mac OS X. When you drag the item, a green "+" should appear on your cursor, indicating that a "Copy" is taking place.

There is a key that you can hold down to make enable the "Move" function during the same action.

 

[yellow]

No, this is correct behavior in Mac OS X. When you drag the item, a green "+" should appear on your cursor, indicating that a "Copy" is taking place.

Addendum.. this is what happens when one moves data to another volume. If one is drag & dropping on the same volume, the data is "Moved". In order to drag & copy data on the same volume, one uses the Option+click+drag. Anyway, drag & copy to another volume is the default behavior. I wasn't aware that there was any way to change this behavior at all, so I'll be interested to see below:

There is a key that you can hold down to make enable the "Move" function during the same action. (I'll post it here when I find it, or it will be posted below.)

 

[michaelrjohnson]

Solution:
Check out the Mac OS Keyboard Shortcuts from Apple.
It states that the key command you're looking for is (I believe):

• Command-Drag (Move to new location without copying)

 

[balamw]

FWIW this is also standard behavious on XP.

Drag to same volume = move, drag to another volume = copy, shift-drag to another volume = move, control-drag to same volume = copy.

B