The Drag and Drop functionality on Windows operating system gets used on an everyday basis by many users. This feature allows organizing your folders, files, and other stuff easily, using only the mouse movements and clicks. However, it causes issues when people can't drag and drop Windows 10. Simplify and improve drag and drop on your Mac and speed up your daily workflow. Featured on the Mac App Store under “Power up your drag-and-drop”, “Better Together”, “Apps with great Today widgets”, “Apps that look great in Dark Mode”, “New Apps We Love”, “Get Things Done”, “Essential Time Savers”, “Get Productive”, “New Year, New You”. Supporting Drag and Drop. In general, implement drag-and-drop support in your app. Drag and drop is an efficient, intuitive way to move and copy content throughout the system. Unless it truly isn’t useful in your app, such as in an immersive game, strive to support drag and drop anywhere it can add value. Make an installer (which, however, also has to be either in a.zip or.dmg because installers are folders on a mac, too) Since most apps are self-contained and do not need anything outside of the app folder, an installer is not only overkill but also slower than just distributing the app folder.
![Mac Mac](https://www.antlogic.com/sites/default/files/apps/screenshots/screenshot2.png)
Drag and Drop
Drag and drop lets people select source content, such as text, a file, or an image, and drag it from one location (source container) to another (destination container), resulting in either the movement or duplication of the content. Most macOS apps implement some level of drag and drop functionality, based on user needs and app-specific features. For instance:
- A read-only text field might allow its content to be dragged to other locations but not accept dropped content.
- A document list might permit dragging to reorder documents but not dropping new documents.
- A text editor might permit dragging text around as well as accepting dropped text from another app.
Your app can enable drag and drop within a single container, such as a text view; between containers, such as two text fields or windows; and even to other apps, such as Mail and the Finder.
For developer guidance, see Drag and Drop Programming Topics.
Supporting Drag and Drop
In general, implement drag-and-drop support in your app. Drag and drop is an efficient, intuitive way to move and copy content throughout the system. Unless it truly isn’t useful in your app, such as in an immersive game, strive to support drag and drop anywhere it can add value. If your app involves working with text, images, or files, it can benefit from drag-and-drop features.
Offer alternate ways to accomplish drag-and-drop tasks. Drag-and-drop operations may be difficult for some people to perform, such as when using assistive technologies. Finder and Mail are examples of apps that offer alternatives to drag and drop—they include menu items that can be used to copy and move items between destinations.
Determine whether a drag-and-drop operation should result in a move or a copy. In general, a move usually makes sense when the source and destination containers are the same, such as the same app, document (even when dragging between two windows that display the same document), or disk. A copy usually makes sense when the source and destination containers are different, such as two different apps, documents, or disks. If you drag a Mail message to the Finder desktop, for example, the message is copied to the desktop as a file. If you drag a Mail message to a mailbox, the message is moved from its current location to the new mailbox.
When possible, make drag-and-drop operations reversible. Occasionally, a user might inadvertently drag content to the wrong destination. When this happens, the user should ideally be able to use undo to restore the content to its previous location.
Responding to Dragging
When possible, let people select and drag content in a single step. In Finder, for example, you can click a file and immediately begin dragging it to a new destination. You don’t need to make a distinct selection, pause, and then start dragging unless you want to drag multiple files.
Mysql server app mac. Let people drag selected content in inactive windows. Selected content in an inactive window is known as a background selection and has a different appearance from selected content in the active window. In general, people expect to be able to drag a background selection—especially when it’s a range of content like text, images, or files—to the active window. In TextEdit, for example, you can drag selected text from an inactive document to the active document without bringing the inactive document to the front. To support such an action, you must maintain the user’s selection when a window becomes inactive.
When possible, let people click and drag individual items in inactive windows without impacting the background selection. For example, while using an app, you can click an individual file in a background Finder window and drag it to a new location without deselecting any previously selected files.
Providing Feedback During a Drag
Display a drag image beneath the pointer as soon as content is dragged a distance of at least three points. A drag image should be a translucent representation of the content being dragged. This appearance provides context, indicates that a drag is in process, and enables the user to see destinations beneath the dragged content. The drag image should be displayed until the user drops the content.
Expanded drag image
Display a multi-item drag image when multiple items are dragged. If the use selects and drags multiple items, the drag image should be composed of stacked images representing the individual items. For related guidance, see Multi-Item Drag Images.
Display an item count badge during multi-item drags. A badge appears below the pointer as a small red oval containing a white number indicating the number of items being dragged.Update the badge count when appropriate. If a destination can accept only a subset of dragged items, change the badge count to indicate how many items will be accepted.
If it adds clarity, change the drag image when content is dragged over a destination. When dragging a photo into a TextEdit document, for example, the photo expands to show how it will look if the user drops it in the document. This behavior lets the user preview the result of a drag and drop operation before committing to it. Although changing the drag image can provide valuable feedback, avoid creating a distracting experience in which drag images are constantly and radically changing form.
Copy pointer
How to remove advanced mac cleaner app. Display a pointer that indicates what happens when content is dropped. For example, when dragging a new icon into a toolbar, the copy pointer is displayed. Other pointers that provide useful destination feedback include drag link, disappearing item, and operation not allowed. See Pointers.
Drag And Drop To Do List Mac App Windows 10
Clearly indicate when dropping isn’t possible. During a drag, users should know when they can and can’t drop content. Some apps communicate this by displaying an insertion point, highlighting, or acceptance pointer badge only when dropping is possible—in other words, the lack of visual feedback indicates when dropping isn’t possible. Other apps display an explicit not allowed badge, such as a circle with a slash.
Highlight a new destination when content is dragged above it. When there are multiple destinations, highlight one at a time. When the source and destination containers are the same, highlighting is unnecessary. For example, in Finder, moving a document icon to a different location in the same folder window doesn’t highlight the folder window because doing so would cause confusion. In some cases, highlighting may occur if content is dragged completely out of a container and then reenters it. Highlighting should be removed when content is no longer positioned above a destination.
Horizontal insertion indicator
In text, use a vertical insertion indicator to show where the dragged content will appear when dropped. An insertion indicator is separate from the pointer, which indicates to users whether a drag is valid and whether it is interpreted as a move or copy.
In a table, use a horizontal insertion indicator and highlighting to show where content will reside when dropped. The sidebar of a Finder window, for example, shows a horizontal insertion indicator when content is dragged between existing sidebar items. Folders and disks in the sidebar also become highlighted when content is dragged over them, indicating that dropped content will be moved or copied into them.
Automatically scroll a destination when appropriate. When content is dragged outside the bounds of a destination, your app must determine whether to scroll the contents of the destination or let the user continue dragging to an entirely different destination. If your app lets the user continue dragging, consider defining a region that causes automatic scrolling when the dragged item is positioned above it. For example, a Finder window automatically scrolls when content is dragged to the top or bottom of the window’s body area. Automatic scrolling should only occur in active windows. If the user attempts to initiate automatic scrolling in an inactive window, bring the window to the front.
Accepting Dropped Data
Check for the Option key at drop time. Favorite mac twitter app install. Users can force a drag-and-drop operation within the same container to behave like a copy by pressing the Option key while dragging. This behavior gives users the flexibility of making the move-or-copy decision while in the process of dragging. If the user stops pressing Option before dropping content in the same container, then a move occurs instead of a copy. In general, dragging between two different containers should always produce a copy.
Use the expected animation when dropping is unsuccessful. When the user drops an item on an invalid destination, or when dropping fails, the item should zoom from the pointer location back to its original location. This behavior is known as a zoomback.
Ask for confirmation before completing a drag-and-drop operation that can’t be reversed. For example, Finder asks for confirmation when a user drags a file into a write-only folder because the user doesn’t have privileges to open the folder and remove the dropped item.
Provide additional feedback when dropped content initiates a process. If the user drops an item onto an icon representing a task, such as printing, show that the task has begun and keep the user informed of the task’s progress.
Extract the relevant portion from a dropped item. For example, when users drag a person from the Contacts app to the To recipient field in a Mail message, only the name and email address are accepted, not the rest of the contact’s address information.
Update the selection accordingly after content is dropped. When selected content is dragged to a new location in the same container, it should remain selected in its new location. When selected content is dragged to another container, it should become selected in the new location and any previous selection should be deselected.
Apply appropriate styling to dropped text. If the destination supports the same styled text attributes, the dropped text should maintain its original font, typeface, and size attributes. Otherwise, the dropped text should assume the font, typeface, and size attributes of the destination.
Sharing Dragged Data
Consider letting people drag content from your app into the Finder. Ideally, output this content in a format that can be dragged back to or opened by your app. Calendar, for example, lets users drag events to the Finder as .ics files, which can be opened in Calendar or shared with others.
TIP Some apps output dragged content in a clipping, which is a temporary container for storing dragged content. After it's generated, a clipping can be dragged to a new destination. Most system apps let users drag text to the Finder as a clipping, and at a later time, drag the clipping into a text field or other location. Note that clippings have no relation to the Clipboard—generating a drag-and-drop clipping does not affect the Clipboard.
When you download an app on Android or Windows, you get an option, or it automatically creates a shortcut on the home screen or the desktop. On Mac too creating a folder or app shortcut is extremely easy. It hardly requires four clicks. We first make an alias and then move it to the desired location.
You can add shortcuts for folders and apps to the desktop or Dock of your Mac. The first method below is the one I prefer. The second method is also quick, but it at times copies the folder instead of making the shortcut. Anyways, here are two easy ways to create desktop shortcuts on Mac running macOS Catalina.
How to Create Desktop Shortcuts on Mac
Step #1. Decide which folder’s or app’s desktop shortcut you want to create. Find where the folder is located. If you cannot find it, see the end for instructions.
Step #2.Right-click on the folder or app name and click on Make Alias.
Step #3. You will see that a shortcut is immediately created for that folder or app. Press enter key. It has the word alias at the end of the name.
Step #4. Drag this shortcut to your desktop or Dock. You may also copy the shortcut and paste it on the desktop.
This is it!
You have successfully created the desktop shortcut for a folder or app. Now you may quickly use this to open that folder, or launch the app. You may repeat this with as many folders and apps you like.
If you wish, you may select the shortcut, press the enter key, and rename it to remove the word ‘alias.’
Finally, if you wish to see the original folder, right-click on the shortcut icon and click on Show Original.
Note 1: Even if you move the original folder to some other location, the shortcut you created still works. Beautiful! Isn’t it.
Note 2: You may use this method to create shortcuts even for files like image, document, zip, music, movie, etc.
Not able to Find the Folder Location?
Finding applications is clear. You click on Finder → Applications, and there you have all your applications. Knowing the location of the Folders you create is also straightforward.
But for some folders, especially system folders like Downloads, Documents, etc. it may be a bit tough to know the path. Here are some ways to know it.
#1. Bucket list app mac. From Sidebar: Launch Finder, place your pointer on the folder name in left Sidebar, and then right-click. Finally, click Show in Enclosing Folder. Now follow the above steps.
#2. Using Path Bar: Be inside Finder and click on View from the menu bar. Now click Show Path Bar. A tab will be added to the bottom of the Finder. It has the location/path for the folder you click or select.
#3. Use Spotlight Search: Launch Spotlight Search by clicking the search icon in menu bar or press Command (⌘) + Space Bar. Now type the folder name and then scroll to the bottom of the search result and click on Show all in Finder… Click on the folder and follow the above steps to make its shortcut.
#4. Use Siri: I do not like Siri on Mac, notably older Macs. Anyways, you may ask Siri on Mac to ‘Show Download Folder’ (or any folder) and then go to the bottom of the result and click on Show all results in Finder… Now you may follow the above steps. Please note that this does not always work.
Create Desktop Shortcuts on Mac Using Drag and Drop
The above method is swift and simple. It is the one I prefer. However, there is an additional way to create folder and app shortcuts on Mac.
Step #1. Be at the location of the folder or app you want to create the shortcut of.
Step #2. Press and hold Option (⌥) + Command (⌘) key together. Do not leave the hold. Now click on the folder or app and drag it to the desktop.
Note: When you use this method, there are chances that you may unwillingly and unknowingly copy or move the folder instead of making its shortcut. Don’t worry. Press Command (⌘) + Z to undo and try again, or use the first method.
Add Folder Shortcuts to Dock on Mac
I recently wrote a post where I explained how to add website shortcuts to Dock on Mac. It is an interesting article. Similarly, you may add shortcuts to your Dock too.
Follow any of the above methods and make the shortcut of the folder or app (you may directly add an app to Dock, but anyway). Now drag that shortcut from Desktop to the rightmost part of Dock (Second left to the Trash icon).
Wrapping up…
These were two easy ways to create shortcut icons on Mac. There is a third method that I know of, which requires Terminal and some command lines. However, it is tricky and beyond the simplicity of the average user. Also, if you change the folder location, the shortcut stops working. So I did not mention this method.
Best To Do App Mac
Secondly, on Macs running OS versions before Catalina, you may also click on a Folder or App and then press together Command (⌘) + L. It will instantly make the alias. It works on my old MacBook Pro running macOS Sierra, but on a different MacBook Pro running the latest version of macOS Catalina, this quick method does not seem to work.
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What are your thoughts regarding shortcuts on Mac? Have you used it on Windows? How was the experience there? Share your opinion in the comment section below.
Suraj is a digital marketing expert on the iGB's team. He contributes to the social media section along with tips and tricks for iPhone, Apple Watch. Apart from blogging, he likes to work out as much as he can in his gym and love to listening to retro music.
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