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Malbone's avatar
Malbone
New member | Level 2
7 years ago
Solved

Dragging file -- copy vs. move

I use Dropbox to move files between Mac computers (OS 10.11 and 10.13) and Windows computers (Win7).  When I drag a file from the Dropbox folder to a Windows local folder, it COPIES the file.  When I drag a file from the Dropbox folder to a Mac local folder, it MOVES the file (i.e., deletes it from the Dropbox folder).

Why the inconsistent treatment of the same action?  Is there anything a user can do to change the default action?  Obviously there is a way in each system to reverse the default action, but why make the user remember to do that?  At this point I don't even care whether the default is MOVE or COPY -- I just want it to be the same on all platforms.


  • Malbone wrote:

    Why the inconsistent treatment of the same action?

    Whether a file is moved or copied when dragged is controlled by your operating system. Dropbox has nothing to do with it.

    I can't speak to a Mac ( Mark can comment on that ), but on Windows, a drag and drop between locations on the same drive is considered a move, and a drag and drop between locations on different drives is considered a copy. There are modifier keys that you can hold on both operating systems to change what happens when dragging files. On Windows, holding CTRL will force a copy, holding SHIFT will force a move, and holding CTRL-SHIFT will create a shortcut.


    Obviously there is a way in each system to reverse the default action, but why make the user remember to do that?


    Ask Microsoft and Apple. It's entirely on them.

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  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II

    Malbone wrote:

    Why the inconsistent treatment of the same action?

    Whether a file is moved or copied when dragged is controlled by your operating system. Dropbox has nothing to do with it.

    I can't speak to a Mac ( Mark can comment on that ), but on Windows, a drag and drop between locations on the same drive is considered a move, and a drag and drop between locations on different drives is considered a copy. There are modifier keys that you can hold on both operating systems to change what happens when dragging files. On Windows, holding CTRL will force a copy, holding SHIFT will force a move, and holding CTRL-SHIFT will create a shortcut.


    Obviously there is a way in each system to reverse the default action, but why make the user remember to do that?


    Ask Microsoft and Apple. It's entirely on them.

    • SB91's avatar
      SB91
      Helpful | Level 5

      I cannot believe that "copy/move is controlled by your operating system. Dropbox has nothing to do with it".  I have consistent behavior of MOVE for all other folders exept for the dropbox folder. When I drag file out of dropbox, it is always COPY.  This behavior is quite annoying.  

      I have Dropbox 86.4.146  on Windows 10 pro 18363.476.

      The best solution is for the Dropbox team to fix this issue.

      • _Bob21_'s avatar
        _Bob21_
        New member | Level 2

        Totally agree with SB91.

        Rich "Super User II" response is "helpful" but inaccurate and does not address that dropbox drag behavior is not normal.

        On windows, I can generally right click drag and CHOOSE to copy or move.  But not with dropbox.  It just MOVES.

        And in my case, it was a drag from a DIFFERENT DRIVE (USB Flashdrive) to the dropbox "drive" and it did a MOVE.   Deleted the original location.  No warning that it was going to do that.  No normal windows program would EVER do that.  I followed up with a drag from the flashdrive to the desktop -- windows performed a COPY, as it should.

        Normally I don't post on forums when I search for answers but this AWFUL "Accepted Solution" really teed me off.  Take responsibility and fix the dropbox behavior.  Thanks.

         

    • SMB-User's avatar
      SMB-User
      Helpful | Level 6

      According to my experience the Dropbox folder is treated by users as a shared [network] folder.

      So the expected default behaviour of the drag-and-drop between the Dropbox folder and local folders is the copy [instead of move] operation.

      The move operation leads to the loss of the original files in shared folder when user means to copy it to a local folder from a shared [network] folder. That causes a bad user experience with Dropbox.

      The Dropbox should have an option to set the default action of drag-and-drop between the Dropbox folder and local folders. The default should be copy.

      BTW the Google Stream (Google Drive) drag-and-drop between the Google folder and local folders the default operation is the copy and that is the way as it should be.

       

  • Takeapunt's avatar
    Takeapunt
    Explorer | Level 4

    Here's my take on this (on Mac OS)...

     

    The Dropbox folder exisits on my computer, in my Home folder. So in the FINDER when I drag files into it from my computer it is a MOVE (moving from one location on the computer to another location). Dragging files into the Dropbox folder from a share or server is of course a COPY (copying from one computer to another).

     

    But, when you use the DROPBOX APP, dragging from a shared server is a MOVE. This is dangerous as it is not the same as the OS, and it removes files from a remote server.

     

    I've tried to explain this to Dropbox here, but can't get them to understand yet: https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-files-folders/Copy-Move-new-app-behaviour-is-dangerously-different-to-Finder/m-p/456696#M172441

     

    In the meantime, to help prevent my users deleting files off our servers when they drag to Dropbox I set the preference in the Dropbox App to Open folders in: Finder. That way they get the Finder integration, but without the misbehaving blue app window.