Switcher Tip: Moving folders on Mac OS X

If you are coming to the Mac OS X from a Windows world, then here is a huge warning for you.

Don't move a folder on top of another folder with the same name.  Mac OS X replaces the entire destination folder.  It does not add/merge the content of the source folder you are moving to the destination folder.  It actually replaces the destination folder with the source folder.

This difference between Windows and Mac can really cost a switcher dearly.  Here is a scenario that is not unheard off.

You have a /Pictures/2005-10 folder (destination).  You just imported new photos from your digital camera to your /desktop/2005-10 folder 9source) so that you can discard the poor shots before proceeding to the next stage of your workflow.  Once you have deleted the bad photos, you are ready to move the contents of /desktop/2005-10 to your /pictures/2005-10.  But, alas, if you forget the warning above, and you drag and drop the /desktop/2005-10 folder into your /pictures folder all of your original photos will be deleted and you will be left with only the new photos.

Why on earth Apple thinks this is ever the intended behaviors we shall never know (other than the fact that this is how it is done in Unix since the 70s).

Think Differently.

Comments

[Grover Saunders]

Ummm...while I do see the convenience of this feature, this makes little sense from UI metaphor standpoint. Dropping a file with the same name as an existing file replaces the file, why wouldn't a folder do the same thing?

I would also point out that this is a new-ish feature in Windows as well and not the traditional behavior for any system.

[Cris]

I have my bias to the way Windows does it because that's what I am used to (new-ish feature dates back to Win 95 if I am not mistaken).

I am not saying one is write and the other is wrong, I am just trying to call out this difference to any other Switcher out there...

[Joe]

At the very least, it would be handy if it offered "Replace Entire Folder" and "Merge Contents" buttons, I agree. This behavior could completely catch switchers off-guard, even though the text gives a fairly accurate description of what will happen. Maybe in 10.5?