Keyboard Shortcuts to Move Files in Finder

Since switching from Windows to the Mac in late 2007, I’d always wanted a way to cut and paste files from one folder (or directory, in Windows parlance) using keyboard shortcuts.

In Windows:

1. You first select one or more files.
2. Press Ctrl+X to “cut” those files.
3. Navigate to the destination directory.
4. Press Ctrl+V to “paste” the files there.

Prior to Mac OS X Lion, to perform the same on the Mac, I’ve had to open and arrange two Finder windows, one is the source folder where I want to copy the files from, and the other is the destination folder where I want to move the files to. Having selected the files, I’d then drag them from one folder across to the other.

With the just-released Mac Lion 10.7, you can now use keyboard shortcuts to “move the files” from one folder location to the other.

No, we don’t use the term “cut and paste files” over here in the Mac world.

Here’s how you move files on the Mac:

1. Select the file or files you want to move. I’ve selected two files in the example below.

   

2. Press command+c to copy the files.
3. Navigate to the destination folder.
4. Press option+command+v to move the files there. The screen capture below shows the two files already moved to the destination folder.

   

Windows habits die hard, and I personally find the system-wide “cut and paste” concept more consistent and easier to work with. On the Mac, you have command+x –> command+v for cutting and pasting document data, while having to remember to use a different set of key combinations – command+c –> option+command+v – to copy and move files.

I’m confident though, that it’s just a matter of time before muscle memory sets in and I should be able to deftly move files with my keyboard without having to think too hard about the whole process.