Windows 7: File Gets COPIED if Moved to New Folder!!

I have only just noticed that when I drag a file to a different folder on the same drive, it does not *MOVE* but gets COPIED!!

So it's behaving as if it were being moved to a separate drive.

No wonder I'm using disk space so quickly - I'm doubling up on everything!

Is there somewhere I can change the settings please, so dragging files only moves them; and doesn't copy them?

Thanks a lot

Please hold SHIFT key to force moving while dragging file to another location.


And holding CTRL key forces copying (if dragged in the same folder).

Sweet. I didn't even know this, lol.

Something new today wahoo. Repping i think..........

Fabulous! - thank you



UPDATE:
OK I made a mistake and pressed Control instead of Shift, (which obviously didn't work) meaning some of my *future* posts in this thread may not now make sense, but I've been asked to change this so it it less confusing.

It is indeed SOLVED.

Sorry for any confusion.

Hello RealGem,

In addition, this can help make moving files a bit easier by adding "Move To Folder" to the context menu.

Context Menu - Add Copy To Folder and Move To Folder

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thanks Shawn. I don't want to sound ungrateful, but that takes me quite a bit longer than dragging to a folder, then deleting the original - especially if the folder I want to move to is right next to it, and the Explorer window shows deeply embedded folders (as a lot of mine are).

Thanks for your help anyway. Still good to know.

But I wish the Control thing had worked, as that seemed so simple. Can't believe I can't just drag them anymore.

Maybe I need to have certain settings for the Control + Drag to work?

RealGem, please post a screenshot of the moment when you dragged file over the folder, but didn't dropped yet.
And do you press any keys when you do the dragging?

OK forget that - he said SHIFT, not CONTROL!

yes SHIFT worked, duh

The behavior you're describing is NOT the way it is supposed to work by default. Your expectations are 100% valid and correct.

In the absence of any variations on usage (e.g. using CTRL or SHIFT or right-click drag) simple left-click dragging a file from one folder to another on the same drive is supposed to default to MOVE, not COPY. Period. There's no setting to control this. It's not a system setting or option.

Something's wrong or corrupted with your system, if you ask me. Or, maybe you have some special [wireless] mouse software that's been configured to "get involved", and actually produce the effect you're seeing... converting MOVE operations to COPY?

When did this start happening? I'll bet if you reinstalled Windows 7 it would disappear, not that I'm suggesting this course of action.

If it's only fairly recent, do you have a restore point or system image which might get you back to when it still worked as expected?

Sorry... I have no other suggestion. Your expectation of how it is supposed to work is correct. That's the only way it's supposed to work.

What about this?

Thanks dsperber, not sure if you saw my last post; I have solved it, now I read Neutron16's post properly and used Shift.

But I get what you're saying - it shouldn't need anything other than left click. I have only just noticed it happening, but I won't worry about it, now that I have a workaround. I'm snowed under with work, so unless it's something crucial, I don't have time to fix it.

Thanks for the reassurance though.