My Documents - Stop XP Copying Files instead of Moving

[AnotherMuggle]

I am using a separate partition on my hard disk as the My Documents storage area and have simply redirected My Documents to use the entire D: drive.

Is it possible to make Windows XP move files when dragged and dropped with a left mouse button, rather than creating a copy. I know I can right button and choose move but it can be somewhat of a pain.

Regards,
Tom Kear.

[Statica]

I dont think that the behavior for those file operations can be changed through a setting. By default, when dragging files within the same partition a 'move' operation occurs and when moving to a separate partition the files are copied.
You can, however, press the shift key when dragging your files and it simply moves the files. On the other hand holding the control key makes it into a copy action.

Having said that, its much simpler to change the target of My Documents to your new partition location - that way the folder you're using is going to be the default Documents location. You can do this by right clicking on My Documents (on the desktop for example) > Properties and click the Move button to point it to your particular folder.

[TwoRails]

When using Windows Explorer the default characteristics are to move a file if you're dragging it within the same (logical) drive, and to copy it if it is going to another drive. Use the Control Key when dragging within the same drive, and the Shift Key when going to a different drive. Why you can't use the same key to toggle the action is one of those little mysteries of Windows.

[Statica]

Originally Posted by TwoRails Why you can't use the same key to toggle the action is one of those little mysteries of Windows.

Because there are 3 actions .. the ALT button create a shortcut. It would be easy enough to create a toggle if there were just 2 choices, but it makes more sense to assign standard keyboard shortcuts to assign COPY, MOVE and CREATE SHORTCUT to keys that dont keep changing around. Of course, some people also like one key for just one action ... very subjective though.