Copy, Move and Drag Files
In this lesson, you will learn:
Essential Housekeeping Skills
This section shows you how to copy and move your files from one place to another safely when working in desktop folders or Windows Explorer. The common term for this is House Keeping, and is the demanding chore of cleaning up your disks and extra files that are old, outdated, or no longer needed. The drag and drop technique, cut and paste and menu commands will get a workout, but keeping organized is a key for working fast and efficiently.
As you have seen, Files, Folders and Drives are some of the means of organizing data into useful and meaningful hierarchies. As you become more proficient on the computer, file maintenance and house keeping chores of copying, moving, deleting and backing up files will become more second nature.
Cut, pasted, dragged or dropped, deleted or wiped. These terms probably sound familiar, but a deeper look shows some very profound differences in the way the operating system handles the file.
Copying and Moving Files
Copying and moving a file is inevitable. At some point, you'll need to put a file in another folder or disk. Here are some examples of when you would need to do that.
- To copy files to diskettes. You likely do this on a regular basis to create backup copies of files, to give files to a co-worker, or for portability (to take them to another machine).
- When re-organizing your system. By default, many programs store documents in the same folders as program files. At some point you might want to move the documents to a separate document folder. By keeping all of the same types of files in the same location, backing up your important data is much easier.
- To create a duplicate of a file within the same folder. You would do this, for example, so you could edit one file and keep the other intact.
- To copy files from one computer to another. Using external "jump drives" or if your computer is on a network, you might need to do this.
Before beginning, you should understand the difference between copying and moving objects. There are basically three methods for moving or copying files:
- Drag and Drop
- Cut, Copy and Paste (covered in the next lesson)
- Use the Context Menu: Right click the file and choose Send To, and then select the destination (covered in another lesson)
Copying: Prompts the user with a message box "Are you sure you want to copy......". If 'Yes' it makes a duplicate. Keeps the original intact including all of its properties. If another exists in the same folder, 'Copy of' is appended to the name automatically to prevent duplicate names. Otherwise it MUST be renamed for the operation to continue.
Moving: Prompts the user with a message box "Are you sure you want to move......". If 'Yes' it copies the file with all of its properties, then changes the properties of the new file or folder to the settings specified by the folder it is being moved to. Deletes the original with no further warning.
Note: Placing the file in the new location does not guarantee that the properties and attributes (settings) of the file will stay the same. This can create some unwanted effects, especially if the file is "protected" and then sent to another disk or directory. More on the file attributes and properties is covered in another Lesson.
Remember: Copy creates duplicates of files. If you copy a folder to a new location on the same drive when you meant to move it, you'll end up with duplicates of all the files in the folder on the same drive with 'Copy of' attached to it.
Drag and Drop Files and Folders
You can use the Mouse to click on the file and drag it to a new location. Use drag and drop techniques when you can see the source and the destination folder, drive or other object that you want to move to. You might need to minimize some windows or re-position others before you can drag and drop an object. In the last Lesson you created folders inside of each other inside of your student folder. We’ll experiment with techniques for copying and moving a file in this folder. The same principal applies to Files.
Now it's time to open Explorer and experiment with drag and drop techniques in the dual window pane interface. If you do not have Explorer open, do so now.
- Navigate to "My Documents > Students > " Your Student Folder.
- We will use the Personal 1 Folder. If you do not have a folder called "Personal 1" inside of your student folder, create one.
- Select your Student Folder on the left.
- Click in the right side in any white area, Right click and select "New > Folder"
- Name the Folder Personal 1 (one).
- Click the new Personal 1 Folder to open it.
- Create a new Text File called Text1.txt inside of Personal 1
- Create a new folder inside of Personal 1 called Personal 2
- Create a new folder inside of Personal 2 called Personal 3
- You can now use Personal 1 along with a Text1.txt File and the Personal2, and Personal3 Folders, but this applies to all folders and files.
- Create a text file inside of the Personal 3 folder. (Right click > New > text file) and name it Text 1.txt.
To copy or move files by dragging and dropping objects in Windows Explorer, follow the steps here. Drive A:\ and the 'Personal' Folders are referenced here, but these techniques apply to any drive or folder.
- With Explorer open, press the Folders button to expand the folder tree in the left pane that holds your 'Personal' folders.
- To copy the Text1.txt file in the right pane to the Personal 3 folder on the 'My Documents' > Students'> Your Data Folder, you have to make both of the folders visible.
- In the left pane find the Personal 1 Folder click to select it. You see the contents of the folder in the right pane.
- Make the Personal 3 Folder visible in the left pane by scrolling in the left window.
- When you find the Personal 1 folder, do not click on it. If you do, this will change the view in the right pane to show the contents of the Personal 1 Desktop folder. Simply return to step 2 if you need to
- In the left pane click on the plus sign next to the folder name to expand the folder list.
- Click on the Personal3 folder to open it up in the right side.
- Right Click the Text1.txt file in the top of the right pane, then drag it over to the Personal 1 folder in the left pane and release the Mouse.
- Choose Copy Here from the menu to copy the file.
You may already be familiar with Drag and Drop, but you may not be familiar with Drag and Drop inside of Windows Explorer. Windows Explorer provides unique side-by-side views in which you can select source file(s) in the right pane and locate the destination in the left. First, we'll Drag and Drop between a folder on a Floppy and another folder on a different Disk Drive.
In the picture you see that Personal 2 folder is open in the left pane showing the contents in the right pane, which in this case is Personal 3 folder. Dragging the folder from the right to the left shows a shadow of what is being copied so there is no confusion about what is happening. Both the source (right side) and the destination (left side) are visible.
These are the steps:
- Click the Personal 2 Folder in the left pane to open its window on the right side
- To move objects directly to the destination, right click and drag the object to the destination and drop the object. Releasing the Mouse button places the object where you left it.
- Select the action you want from the drop down menu.
(If you double click the object it will open in a new window).
Copying is done the same way, but select 'Copy' from the drop down list.
Remember that Right clicking, then dragging the object gives you the context menu with options of what you want to do. As you are dragging, the outline of the object follows your mouse movement and the symbols tell you what is about to happen, so look at the symbol before you release the Mouse Button. To cancel the operation, either press the Escape Key, or select Edit > Undo Move/Copy on the menu, or press my personal favorite, CTL z (Press and hold the control key and touch the z key. Control Z is 'Undo').
Dropping a file onto a Drive opens the Drive and places the file inside. You cannot drag and drop one file on top of another to merge the data or append a file to the bottom of another. If you could, that would be disasterous, because if a mistake was made there would be no way of knowing which file contained the "mistake" and all of them would have to be opened one by one to find the missing data!
There are two important points to remember about drag and drop.
- Move is the default when you left click and drag an object to a folder on the SAME DISK.
Note that the folders on the A:\ Drive and a USB Thumb (Flash) Drive are considered the same drive as your Windows Desktop!
- Copy is the default when you left click and drag an object to a folder on a different drive.
If you think about it, this is logical. Windows assumes that if you drag an object to the same drive, you probably don’t want two copies of it in basically the same location, so Windows moves the object to the new location and kills the original. However, if you left click and drag to another drive, Windows assumes that you want to keep the original intact and copies the object. If you really want to copy an object to the same drive, simply right click and drag, then choose the operation you want from the context menu. Another way to copy is to hold the Control Key, then Left Click and drag the object to the destination, but you will see no context menu or warning about what you are doing. Dragging files from the Desktop to a Folder is similar. We can copy the file we just put onto the Personal Folder back into the Personal Folder on the A: drive. Right click the file in the 'My Documents' folder or Personal folder and drag it into the USB Drive or the Floppy Drive A:. Choose Copy Here from the menu.
Notice what happens when the object is moved directly to the destination, not copied! After releasing the mouse, the file or copy of it is no longer in the Personal Folder on your drive! You’re not even asked to confirm the operation, and you’re not shown a menu of options. That’s becauseyou dragged the object with the left Mouse button, and depending where you are in the folder structure, it will either Copy or Move it. The Context menu only appears when you Right Click an object and drag it with the Right Mouse Button.
This technique of dragging and dropping files from the Desktop into a folder can be useful. Suppose, for instance, that the folder 'Personal' contained a template file that held often used text information or page layout used in a personal letter. Whenever you wanted to create a new letter, you could copy the template from the desktop into a folder where you wanted to create the newletter, then rename and edit it. The Desktop is a good place for often-used templates, but if you have a lot of templates it is better to make a folder for them and keep the shortcuts on the desktop in their own folder.
Drag and Drop Folders
Remember: A folder contains files as well as other folders. While moving or copying files is simple enough, copying or moving folders is another thing entirely. Be aware that you are performing the operation on the entire contents of the folder, including all of its files, other folders and subfolders. When working with folders always right click and drag to make the menus appear. That way, it ensures that the destination is clearly understood, and that you can choose exactly what it is you want to do. You can always cancel!
You might be wondering how you copy or move folders from one place to another, since all of the folders seem to appear only in the left pane. Here's a review:
- Click the drive containing the folder you want to copy or move.
- Scroll the left pane until the destination drive or folder is visible.
- Use the Click and Drag techniques to copy or move the folder in the right pane to the destination drive or folder in the left pane.
If a folder is inside another folder, click on the plus + sign for that folder in the left pane. If you click on the folder, a list of folders on the drive or within the folder you selected appears in the right pane.
If you have a project or would like to see something that is not here, send me an email. I would love to hear from you!!
