Originally posted April 12, 2010 by Cindy O'Neal
Drag and Drop:
It is one of the more important skills you will develop and should get easier the longer you use a computer. It does involve a little hand-eye coordination and if you need to practice until you get it right, you will thank yourself for honing this particular skill. I don't know why things like this come easier to some and make others absolutely miserable. Hopefully this (and future) tutorials will help.
Dragging and Dropping is how something is moved (or copied) from one place to another on a computer. It means you
Click on something (could be a file, shortcut icon, etc) and while holding the left mouse button down (Click and hold),
Drag the item to the new location. The secret is to
NOT let go of the left mouse button until you are sure the file is where you want it to be. When you release the left mouse button, the deed is as good as done.
The books you purchase for your Kindle in the Amazon store end up in the
Documents folder on the Kindle. If you download a file (doesn't matter where from), you need to know where your file ends up because you will need to be able to find it, click on it, and
drag it to that
Documents folder.
If you are dragging a file to a folder, look for the folder to visually change (usually color) to indicate you are in the right spot. Until you see the visual cue, keep your finger on that button, because if you let it go, there's no telling where the file can end up. This is a skill that takes practice. It will help if you can be comfortable dragging and positioning multiple windows too. At times, when there are several folders, and the possibility to miss and end up in the wrong one is high, it is easier to position the two windows close to each other, but where you can see them both, then open the folder on the one you want to drag the file
to... then from the other folder, click the file and
drag it to the
title bar of the receiving folder. When you let go of the file, it will go into the opened folder via the title bar. You can't miss. The
title bar of any window is the top bar where the main controls are (the x and minimize buttons) and covers the entire length of the window. If you place a mouse pointer anywhere in the middle of this title bar, you can drag it anywhere to reposition it, as long as it is not filling the screen. If it is, and you can't move it, double click in the middle of that title bar and it will make it moveable and resizeable.
If you make a mistake and let go of the mouse button and realize your file isn't where it should be, the next thing is to find where it is. This could be interesting, if not impossible...a reason not to drink while dragging and dropping. The easiest way out of this little fix is to right click any
empty area in the general vicinity of the accident and see if
undo move or
undo copy is an option. If it is, you are in luck. Click it and your file will be back in its original place. Another thing you can do is an emergency
CTRL+Z, which is the keyboard command to
undo, and pretty much always will undo the last screwup you have made (if you remember to do it quickly enough).
Copying or Moving?
If you are left clicking and dragging a file from one hard drive to another, the file will automatically
copy when you let go of the left mouse button. If you
right click and hold and drag, you will have a
choice to either
move or
copy the file when you reach your destination and let go of the mouse button.
Mac Mouses?
Hey... Macs have mouses too, but with only one button. Clicking and holding and dragging is the same on a Mac. The single button is the same as a left mouse button for a PC user. To see choices, press the CTRL (control) key when you click something. When you let go of the mouse button you will see choices. Click on what you want to happen. Other than the control key for choices when you click, things are pretty much the same. When you drag a file from one folder to another on the same hard drive, it will automatically be
moved. Anything going to another hard drive (like from your Mac to your Kindle) will be
copied. The original will still be where it was to begin with. If you want to
copy something rather than move it from one folder to the other on the same hard drive, hold down the
command key when you are dragging it. The original will be left where it is and a nice neat copy will appear where you drag.
Macs have Undo also.
Yes they do. The keyboard command to
undo the last silly thing you did on a Mac is
command+z.
About Undoing
Now just because you know how to
undo something, it doesn't mean it is an unlimited option. Some programs let you
undo quite a few times, literally letting you step back to the beginning of whatever you are working on. It is best not to count on it though. You never know when, for one reason or another, it just won't work, and then you are up a creek with the proverbial paddle. Best to just be grateful when it
does work.
