Click and Drag

Click and Drag
Mac Tip #46/13-Mar-2002

When you click on an item you select it, that is, you tell the computer: “This is the object I’m working with”.

One of the things you might like to do with that object is drag it around. Maybe you just want it to sit in a different place in a folder. Or maybe you want to move it out of one folder and into another. Possibly you want to make a copy of the file, or an alias of it. Or maybe you want to make a backup on a Zip disc, your free Apple iDisc or somewhere else.

You can do all of these things by dragging. Just point to an object, press the mouse button down and move the mouse, which will move the object under the mouse. When you release the mouse button you’ll “drop” the object.

There are some things you should know about dragging though.

If you drag a file or folder on top of a closed folder and drop it while the folder beneath it is highlighted then the file you dragged will move into that folder. Provided you don’t let go of the mouse button though you won’t actually drop the object you’re dragging.

Be careful not to drop the file accidentally or you might move it to a place you didn’t intend.

If you drag a file over a closed folder and then keep holding it there the folder beneath it will automatically open up. This happens in newer versions of the Operating System and is called Spring-Loaded Folders.

If you drag a file or folder to or from a different disc then it will be copied not moved. Examples of different discs are: a floppy disc, a CD, a Zip disc, the icon for another computer’s hard disc if your computer is connected to another one, your Apple iDisc, another partition on your own computer (this last one isn’t relevant to most of you unless someone has set up your computer for you in this way). Don’t know what an iDisc is? I’ll write about this in a future tip.

If you drag some words or pictures from a document onto your desktop you will probably create a clipping, picture or text file. Try dragging a picture out of a web page to your desktop for example, or a paragraph or two out of a wordprocessing document. Then see what happens if you drag that picture, clipping or text file into a wordprocessing document or email message.

Click and drag has many uses.