Mac Kung Fu, 2nd Edition

Tip 213

Cut Rather Than Copy Files

This is a subtle but useful tip. If you use keyboard shortcuts to copy and paste files from one place to another, you’ll know that it’s not possible to move files. Hitting Command+X—the keyboard shortcut for Cut—simply doesn’t work, and the Cut option on the Edit menu when Finder is selected is grayed out.

You can in fact move a file using keyboard shortcuts but in a slightly obscure way. Hit Command+C to copy the file, but hit Command+Option+V when it comes to pasting it into a new folder, rather than Command+V. This will move the file from the old destination to the new one.

If you like to use the Edit menu to move files around, hold down the Option key while accessing it (after first copying the file in ...