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Submission details

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Adding files to finder should have that green plus symbol

Submitted by .Chris on December 26, 2008 to Usability

When adding files to finder, there is no real visual other then a faint blue box along the side of the finder window. I think it would be better if that round green plus symbol is there instead.

Low

Low

Not fixed

Discussion (2 comments)

mojo2012 wrote on December 26, 2008, 12:46pm

The plus is used for copying files from one folder to another. If you move files there should be a small arror (->) or something simmilar.

Watchful wrote on December 26, 2008, 4:12pm

No, no, no, green plus symbol is for COPY only. It indicates that files are going to be COPIED into the location you are dragging to. When the drag and drop action is going to MOVE the file(s) from its current location to the new location, no additional info is needed. Why do you need other visual indicators? You can already see a faint outline of the file(s) you are dragging, and you know they are going to land where you are dropping them.

Re: the comment above mine about the arrow. An little arrow indicates you are creating an alias (shortcut) to the file you are dragging (hold down command + option to do this). Again, I maintain all visual indicators currently in place should not change, and none should be added.

Here's the default actions in the Finder for copying vs. moving.

Dragging from one folder location to another located on the same hard drive will MOVE the file(s).

Dragging from one folder location to another located on a DIFFERENT hard drive than it is currently on will COPY (duplicate) the files to the folder you are dragging to as indicated by the green plus icon. This is as it should be!!!

When dragging from one location to another on the same hard drive, hold down the option key to COPY the files instead of moving them, you will see the green plus sign as confirmation.

When dragging to a location on a different hard drive, hold down the command key to MOVE the files to the new location and erase them from the original location. You will see when holding the command key the green plus sign will go away. (of note what is really happening is, because the files are on a seperate hard drive they cannot "actually" be moved in that case like from folder to folder on the same hard drive, so they are copied to their new destination, then the original files are deleted).

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