Posted September 5, 2007 by David Kirk in Apple Mac
You do not have to copy and then delete when moving files on your apple box. Here is how to do it all with one command. This tutorial describes how to drag and drop to move a file from one location to another.
Commander One ranks with Path Finder as a fully-developed, mature Finder alternative. You’ll find dual pane browsing and a few advanced tools here, too, but in a simpler package. The many panes and windows are gone, and the user interface is trimmed down to focus on moving and copying files. I think your OS X OCD may have to live with that one Im afraid. However if you really wanted to use the same icon you could set up an alias within the 'old' downloads folder to the 'new' Downloads folder. That way you could remove the 'new' downloads folder from the sidebar and just have the old.
When copying files from one location to another, I have always found it an annoying process to drag the files to one location and then go back and delete them from the original location.
Select Preferences. Scroll down the settings on the side menu until you see Advanced. Choose Downloads. Click on Change next to Location and select the folder you want your downloads. On your Mac select a file or multiple files that you want to move from one folder to another. Once the files are selected hit the ‘ Command + C ‘ buttons to copy them. Although this is the same shortcut that is used for copying, the next step will make things clear for you. Now open the destination folder where you want the files to be. Mar 29, 2019 Apple’s release of the Mac operating system OS X Lion 10.7 offers hundreds of new features and enhancements that make interacting with the OS easier. Many of these enhancements have been made specifically to the Finder, the one core app that has more than likely received the most requests for improvements.
The default drag and drop process in OS X is to COPY files.
We want to be able to MOVE files.
To MOVE a file is to actually copy files to a new location and to delete them from the original location.
OS X will move the file if you hold the CMD key while you drag and drop.
One caveat:
Something that confuses people is what happens if duplicate files are found during the move drag and drop. If you release the CMD key to answer the dialog box that appears, the file will be copied but not moved. If you continue to hold the CMD key as you click the Replace button, the move action will be completed.
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You can easily change the Downloads folder location on Mac OS X.
Why Move Downloads Folder?
There may be different reasons why people want to move their Downloads folder location.
These days many of the Apple Macs come with solid state drives (SSD) which are not as large in volume/capacity as the hard disk drives (HDD) used to be. For example, the standard Macbook Pro Retina comes with 256GB of SSD space. Some of that is used for the operating system and then you are left with very little for photos, downloads, files, apps, etc.
As a result of new Macs with smaller internal storage, you may want to move your Downloads folder to another volume such as an external drive, flash drive or SD card connected to your Mac. Yes, you can move your downloads folder permanently to another volume like this.
How To Move Mac OS Downloads Folder
Follow these steps to move your Downloads folder on Mac OS to another location:
1. Create New Downloads Folder
Go to the location where you want your new Downloads folder to be and create a folder named “Downloads“.
Mac Os X Move Downloads Folder Download
For example, I have an external drive plugged into USB where I want the Downloads folder to be. So I find my external drive in Finder and create a new “Downloads” folder there.
2. Copy Existing Downloads Over
If you want to keep your existing downloads, you’ll need to copy it over.
Simply use the Finder app to drag and drop the contents of the existing Downloads folder to the new Downloads folder.
3. Delete Old/Default Downloads Folder
In order to create a symbolic link in step 4 below, you’ll need to delete the old/default Downloads folder in Mac OS. It may not be possible to delete the old/default Downloads folder in Finder directly due to permissions on the folder so you’re better off doing it in the Terminal using sudo command.
Mac Os X Move Downloads Folder To Dock
Open the Terminal app and type the following command followed by your password for your account:
Note that this deletes your old/default Downloads folder with all it’s contents.
4. Create Symbolic Link
Next you’ll create a symbolic link from the default Downloads folder in Mac OS to the new one in the other location.
Open the Terminal and type the following command:
Note that command creates a link (ln command) between a target and source directory. The -sparameter creates a symbolic link.
Be sure to change /Volumes/My Passport 1/Downloads/with the absolute path to your new Downloads folder you created in the new location. In my case, Mac OS gave my external drive the path /Volumes/My Passport 1/and then I add the /Downloads/part to the path in the command. The backslashes in the path is simply to escape the spaces in the folder name of the external drive.
If you’re not sure what the path to the new location is and you’re using either an internal or external storage, you can use the Disk Utility app in Mac OS to determine the mount point.
Mac Os X Download For Windows 10
Mac OS Downloads Folder Moved!
Mac Os X Move Downloads Folder To Another Drive
That’s it, you’re all done moving your Mac OS Downloads folder.
The symbolic link you created in step 4 will ensure that any applications putting downloads in the old location ~/Downloadswill go to the new Downloads folder in the new location so that you don’t have to go and edit the Downloads folder in individual applications.