10 Different Ways To Move Files On a Mac

There are more ways to move files on your Mac than just simply dragging them from one Finder window to another. You can also use a variety of shortcuts to get to the destination folder while dragging, use copy, and even create an Automator Quick Action.

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Video Transcript: Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. Let me show you ten different ways to move files on your Mac.
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Now chances are when you need to move files on your Mac you use one method to do so. But there are actually a whole bunch of different ways to move files. Some of those are good for some situations and some are good for other situations. 
So let's start off with the most straight forward method. That is to simply drag and drop between two windows. So here I have some files in a folder and I want to move a file from one folder to another. I can go to File, New Finder Window and I've got a second Finder window open. Let's resize that so I can put it next to this window so I can see them both side-by-side. Now let's go to the Folder that I want to move the file to. So maybe in this folder here. Then I simply drag and drop from one window to another to move the file from one folder to the other folder. 
But let's say I want to move this file to a folder I can see here in the other window. Like I want to move this file to this folder. I don't need a second window for that. I can simply take this file and drop it in there. But let's say it's a little more complex than that. Let's say I don't want to move it into the folder but I want to move it into a subfolder here. In List View I can do just what I did. I can drag and drop that directly into that subfolder by simply opening up this folder here. 
But I can also use spring loaded folders for this. So I drag this document here. I hover over this folder and wait for a couple of seconds and then it will open up. That's called Spring-loading. Now I can see the contents inside of here and I can drag and drop into this folder. The Preferences for Spring-loading can be found in System Preferences under Accessibility and then Pointer Control. Then you see Spring-loaded delay. You can turn it On or Off. You can set it from short to long or somewhere in the middle. Now regardless of where you have it set Spring-loading can be sped up by the spacebar. So I can drag over to Temp and as soon as I'm over it hit the spacebar and it immediately jumps down into that folder. Spring-loading is particularly handy if you're in Icon View because there's no way to view the contents of this folder without hovering over it, waiting for Spring-loading to activate, and then you jump down into the folder there.
Now instead of having two windows open you can use Tabs. Let's expand this window a little bit and then let's go and open up a new Tab. In this Tab I can go to another location. Now I've got the file I want to move here and I want to move it to the folder in this Tab here. You can use Spring-loading for this as well. Drag over here to the Tab and wait for it to load up. Then I can drop it in here. 
Here's some more straight forward ways to move files. You can add folders to your Favorites on the left. All you need to do is take a folder and drag it over in there. One reason people do that is to quickly navigate to those folders. But you can also use them as a way to drop files. So I can take a file like this and drop it into one of these folders here without ever having to actually view the destination. This is something I use everyday.
Likewise if you have a folder you're commonly moving things to you can drag and drop the folder to the right side of the Dock here. Drop it in and then you can use that as a place to drop files. You drop it in there and the file then goes into that folder.
So what happens if you're in a folder and you want to move the file to a folder above it. I can Command click here and see how deep I am in the folder structure. Let's say I want to move this file up two levels. I can't, while dragging, do anything here to move up. But I can go to View, then Show Path Bar. You'll see the full path down here below. You can drag and drop into anyone of these to put it in one of the levels above the current folder.
Now here's one most people even experts don't even know. You can use the Forward and Backward buttons here. So let's say I'm in a folder and I'm at this location. Then I go to another location, like here, and I decide I want to move this file to the previous folder I was looking at no matter how I got there. Whether I navigated using the Sidebar or the Go command or however I got from one folder to another. I can go here, go to the Back button, wait, you'll pop back to that previous location. Then I could drop the file there.
Likewise I could go into a location I want, let's say down into here, and then go back. I'll go back two there. I'll drag to the Forward button and you could see it goes one step forward. If I move off and then back on it will go the second step forward. Now I can drop it in there.
So here's one that might work for some people. Notice how my Desktop is nice and clean. I don't have any files or folders there. If you've got a nice clean Desktop like this you can use it as a temporary holding place because it's always there. You always have the Desktop behind everything. So you can drag this file here temporarily. Then navigate to another location and then drag it to that place. So look at this as another reason why you might want to keep a nice clean Desktop.
Now if you have a location that you're commonly  moving files to you can always create a Quick Action to do it for you. So in Automator create a Quick Action. Set it to received files or folders in the Finder. Then look for the Move Finder Items action. Add that there. Under TO select the location where you want the files to go. So in this case let's say it's that Docs folder inside the Temp folder. Way down in there. Then let me Save this and since it's a Quick Action it will save to the Services menu. Now you can quit Automator and I can select a file and then go to Finder, Services. Then look under Files and Folders for that. Move to Special Docs Folder. Activate that and it will move it there. You can also set a keyboard shortcut for it in System Preferences and if you're using the Preview you'll have Quick Actions here. You can click on More, Customize and add it here and then you'll see it appears right here and I can click on it.
Now here's one a lot of people know, but not everybody, and it may be the most useful technique besides the basic drag and drop. That's to Copy and Move. You can select a file like this and use Command C or Edit, Copy. Then you can go to a new location. So navigate however you want. Then go to Edit, and instead of Paste item which would make a copy of the file and place it here, you hold the Option key down and it changes to Move item here. So Option Command V would do this. This moves the file there. I know a lot of people complain that this is the opposite of how Windows works. In Windows you cut the file, then you move, and then you paste it in place. On the Mac, you Copy the file, then you  go somewhere else, and then you Option Paste to move. I like this method better because it doesn't leave the file in limbo anywhere. You don't cut it and then it's gone and then paste it somewhere. You just simply Copy it. It doesn't do anything with the file and then you can choose whether to Paste or Move the item.
All of these methods, including Copy and Paste, work for multiple files. So I'm going to use the Command key to select multiple files here. You can see I can drag them together. Use any of those dragging techniques. I can Command C to Copy. I can go into a folder here and you can see I can Paste the four items or Option and Move the four items.
Now I want to finish with one quick note. Any of these Move commands you can change to a Copy command by simply holding down the Option key. I'm going to drag and move this here. But if I hold the Option key down notice how the cursor adds this green plus icon under it. That will make a copy of it at the current location. However, this is the opposite if you're going to another drive. For instance I have another drive right here called Archive. If I were to take that and move here you could see it changes to a plus button. That means it's going to make a copy of it there. It's not going to delete it from my current drive. It's going instead to make a copy of it for the new drive. But if you want to move it there you hold the Command key down and you could see the green plus icon goes away. Now I'm actually moving the file. So it's really basically making a copy of the file on the new drive and at the same time deleting it from the original drive.

Comments: 8 Responses to “10 Different Ways To Move Files On a Mac”

Gregory M.

5 months ago

Thank you Gary! I have been a spring-loader for years (didn’t even know it was called that until today) and never knew about the space bar or delay settings in Accessibility. You have the most useful and practical Mac tutorials on the web. Keep up the great work!

Gene

Another great video. It continues to amaze me that you figure this stuff out (I assume by poking around) and then share it with the world. Thanks
I said “…by poking around” because I assume Apple does not describe these features in their help documentation or do they?

Lali Raj

Thanks Gary, Very useful video. It helps me Quite a bit. Keeps it coming. Once again thanks.

Roger

Brilliant Gary, i have been looking for those sort of file movements for age. Really useful

Robert

This video helped me remove the pesky mouse left-right gesture in Contacts app. I saw the Mouse Options button in the Pointer window and clicked on it. Turned off Scrolling – problem solved. Sometimes the right-left pointer gesture keeps trying to delete a Contacts card. I would really rather use the scroll bars anyway.
About Copy/Paste that I really like is that when I copy/paste something the word “File” in Toolbar flashes. Hope they never remove this feature.

MIchelle J Walker

I am working from home so doing more on my Mac. This right here is the most useful thing I have ever learned. Excuse me while I go sign up for Patreon in deepest gratitude.

Gary Rosenzweig

Thanks Michelle!

Michael Vickers

3 months ago

Thanks Gary, so many things I didn’t know I could do!

Comments Closed.

10 Different Ways To Move Files On a Mac

Comments: 8 Responses to “10 Different Ways To Move Files On a Mac”

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