how to move files

[doyal]

Copying and pasting files is easy. But how do I move files so they no longer appear in original location. The time has come for me to make some room on my hard drive and the way to do it is move all the pictures to another drive. What is the command to do this? Isn't drag and drop copying and not moving? I suppose I could copy then come back and delete. But moving would be better I think. Less chance for a mistake
Thanks.

 

[boohbah]

try cut then paste. cutting removes the file and pastes it in the new location ,so no need to return to delete original.

 

[doyal]

Brilliant! Maybe that is the best way. There used to be a command to do this. In XP and earlier I think.

 

[rraod]

You can also use drag and drop but with mouse's right click button. Once you drop the file on a new location with right click button, a context menu will appear, showing you options to either "copy here", "move here" or "shortcut here". From this menu you can copy, move or create shortcuts here.

 

[Bumpkin]

Brink has a tutorial on how to add "Move To" / "Copy To" in your right click menu in Windows 7.

Look at it http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/516-context-menu-add-copy-folder-move-folder.html

I used the .reg file download and it works great.

 

[MilesAhead]

Or you could use the dreaded command line

C:\Utils>move /?
Moves files and renames files and directories.

To move one or more files:
MOVE [/Y | /-Y] [drive:][path]filename1[,...] destination

To rename a directory:
MOVE [/Y | /-Y] [drive:][path]dirname1 dirname2

[drive:][path]filename1 Specifies the location and name of the file
or files you want to move.
destination Specifies the new location of the file. Destination
can consist of a drive letter and colon, a
directory name, or a combination. If you are moving
only one file, you can also include a filename if
you want to rename the file when you move it.
[drive:][path]dirname1 Specifies the directory you want to rename.
dirname2 Specifies the new name of the directory.

/Y Suppresses prompting to confirm you want to
overwrite an existing destination file.
/-Y Causes prompting to confirm you want to overwrite
an existing destination file.

The switch /Y may be present in the COPYCMD environment variable.
This may be overridden with /-Y on the command line. Default is
to prompt on overwrites unless MOVE command is being executed from
within a batch script.

I believe RoboCopy has a switch to move files matching pattern for the current and all sub folders. Type RoboCopy /? in a command prompt for help screen

 

[Bumpkin]

MilesAhead- Wow! That's more than I ever wanted to remember.

I've been trying to forget all that stuff since I stopped using Dos 5!

 

[nala]

Why not simply use Windows Explorer?
Click the folder in the left pane that which contains the files you wish to move. This produces a list of all files in that folder to appear in the right pane. Highlight the particular files you wish to move and drag-and-drop them to your target folder back in the left pane.

 

[Duzzy]

Why not simply use Windows Explorer?
Click the folder in the left pane that which contains the files you wish to move. This produces a list of all files in that folder to appear in the right pane. Highlight the particular files you wish to move and drag-and-drop them to your target folder back in the left pane.

Drag-and-drop only moves files/folders if they are on the same drive/partition otherwise it copies them.

 

[strollin]

Why not simply use Windows Explorer?
Click the folder in the left pane that which contains the files you wish to move. This produces a list of all files in that folder to appear in the right pane. Highlight the particular files you wish to move and drag-and-drop them to your target folder back in the left pane.

Drag-and-drop only moves files/folders if they are on the same drive/partition otherwise it copies them.

Unless you click and drag with the right mouse button as described by rraod above.

A move is really a copy followed by a delete so you can highlight the files you want to move, click and drag to copy, then, after your sure they were copied correctly, delete them.

 

[MilesAhead]

Also holding down Shift while dragging is supposed to move between drives. However I've found it to be flaky. Better to drag with right mouse button and select Move from the menu.

If you want to move the files in a folder tree using Explorer, type a pattern into Search in the top folder. Then control-a to select all, then drag with right mouse button and click Move in the context menu. If the target is something that might lose connection during the file move you might be better off doing a copy then deleting the found files on success. But for local drives, right mouse drag & drop should be fine.

 

[Duzzy]

Also holding down Shift while dragging is supposed to move between drives.

Yes that's true, I forgot about that one.

 

[MilesAhead]

Also holding down Shift while dragging is supposed to move between drives.

Yes that's true, I forgot about that one.

So did I. After trying it a few times I remember why I forgot. It doesn't work half the time. Seems a bit touchy as to exactly when you press shift. More hassle than it's worth.

 

[MilesAhead]

Also you can "cheat" and use FreeCommander or another file manager.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Keyboard + Mouse Combos

You can use keyboard + mouse combos.

Most of these actions were mentioned above.
I've collated them here.

Keyboard + Mouse (2 Buttons + Wheel) Combos

Copy

Ctrl + drag (left mouse button)
​

Move

Shift + drag (left mouse button)
​

Create Link/Shortcut

Alt + drag (left mouse button)
​

Zoom (in & out)

Ctrl + Scroll Wheel ​

Scroll (left & right)

Alt + Scroll Wheel
OR
Shift + Scroll Wheel
This action depends on the program you are using (e.g. IIRC, Photoshop uses Alt and GIMP uses Shift).
​

Auto-Scroll (up & down, left & right)

Scroll Wheel Button
Some programs allow auto-scrolling (e.g. Word, IE, Firefox).
This places a marker on the page.
The distance and location that you move the mouse pointer (relative to the marker) controls the speed and scroll direction.
​

You can also use drag (right mouse button), which will give you a menu of options (when you release it) including "Cancel".


This only applies to Windows (in Linux, the GUI uses the mouse differently).

 

[MilesAhead]

Just to tack something related on, this thread I've found handy:

Comprehensive list of Windows hotkeys.