Mac - dragging is copying instead of moving

Question

Hello!

I'm setting up dropbox on an old iMac running Catalina 10.15.7.

The app is installed and there's a Dropbox folder amongst all the other folders in Finder.

However when I drag and drop those other folders into the Dropbox folder, it copies them instead of moving them - so, duplicating all the folders and files.

The permissions on the folders all seem to be the same - read & write.

When I click & drag any non-dropbox folders to other non-dropbox folders, it moves them.

I want my folders to be moved into the Dropbox folder instead of copied.

Help? Thank you.

Jay · Answer

Hi @Emily D.5, it isn't possible to manually move those folders since they're system folders on your device and are required to stay in the same position.

However, you can use Dropbox Backup to have the Dropbox app move the Desktop, Downloads and Documents folders into the Dropbox folder to sync to the site.

Emily D.5 · Answer

Update: I figured out it's only the system's official folders that will only copy instead of move - e.g. "Pictures", "Documents", "Music".

Will do some Mac OS research on this.

Thanks

Rich · Answer

@Emily D.5 wrote:However when I drag and drop those other folders into the Dropbox folder, it copies them instead of moving them - so, duplicating all the folders and files.

Dropbox has no control over that. It's controlled entirely by your operating system. I'm not a Mac user so it may be different, but typically, a drag and drop on the same partition results in a move, while a drag and drop across different partitions results in a copy. Holding a modifier key (Option?) alters the behavior.