Inadvertently copied files & folders instead of moving

[turtlegurl]

Yesterday I was organizing my files and folders by dragging them around on the same harddrive. I was *not* moving between different drives. Today I discovered that instead of moving files, they were copied. Now I have to find and delete the duplicates. Never happened before.

This is how I was doing it:
- Used trackpad only, not using the keyboard. Not using the option key on the keyboard.
- Clicked on the lower left corner of the trackpad, then clicked on the filename or foldername and dragged to another folder on the same drive.

After discovering this morning the problem, I tried to replicate the problem but now it is moving them as I intended. I searched the Internet and it appears I was following the correct action for moving. However, I must have been doing something wrong that which is not obvious to me. Probably a simply user error. Maybe I clicked on the wrong part of the filename? Maybe hovering too long???

BTW, I recently upgraded to Yosemite, though that does not seem like it should be an issue. Any ideas? Thanks.

Mac Pro Mid 2010
Yosemite 10.10.5

 

[chscag]

Can't answer what might have happened, but I can tell you that moving files rather than copying is not safe. When you move a file, it's deleted from its original location and placed in the new spot. Any mistake while moving (accidentally letting go of the file, etc.) can result in the loss of the file. Copying is a lot safer even if you wind up with dupes you have to later remove.

 

[turtlegurl]

Can't answer what might have happened, but I can tell you that moving files rather than copying is not safe. When you move a file, it's deleted from its original location and placed in the new spot. Any mistake while moving (accidentally letting go of the file, etc.) can result in the loss of the file. Copying is a lot safer even if you wind up with dupes you have to later remove.

Potential loss of a file? OK, I see what you mean that duplicates are better than losing files. Especially when using the trackpad. Will change my habits. Thanks for your reply.

 

[Slydude]

That one goes in this weeks Sunday show bag of tips Charlie. I'm sure I've made that mistake before and not realized that is what caused the file to disappear.

 

[turtlegurl]

In case someone else might benefit from this information, I thought I would share what I learned. I discovered that there is a Move function.

In Finder, after copying a file, highlight the location/folder where you want to move the file.

Then hold down the Option key and click on the Edit menu item. Select the option "Move Item Here". So far, this appears to work well for me.