Drag and Drop
You can drag and drop to do just about anything on your Mac: move files and folders to new locations, add a photo to an email message, or move a chunk of text in a document. You can also drag items to the Dock or a Finder window sidebar so you can get to them easily.
Move and copy items between windows
- To move an item on the desktop or in a Finder window, select the item, and then hold down the mouse or trackpad button while you move it to the new location. Release the button to drop the item into place.
If you want to make a copy of the item instead of moving it, hold down the Option key while you drag and drop. - To add an item to the Dock, drag it to the Dock and release the mouse button. Notice that there is a separator (dashed line) in the Dock. Place applications to the left of (or above) the separator, and files and folders to the right of (or below) the separator.
When you drag an item to the Dock, an alias to the item is placed in the Dock. The original item is not moved.
To remove an item from the Dock, just drag it out. Only the alias to the item is removed from the Dock; the item itself is not removed from your computer. - To make an alias to an item appear in every Finder window, drag the item to the Favorites section of the Finder window sidebar. Or, drag the item to the top of a Finder window. When a green plus sign (+) appears on the icon, release the mouse button.
When you drag an item to the sidebar or top of the Finder window, an alias to the item is placed there. The original item is not moved.
To remove an item from Finder windows, press the Command (⌘) key while you drag it from the the sidebar or top of the window. Only the alias is removed; the item itself is not affected. - To move text or graphics within a document, select the text or picture you want to move, put the pointer over the selection, and then hold down the mouse or trackpad button while you drag the selected item to the new location. Release the button to drop the item into place.
Move and copy items between windows