Command-dragged files into black hole

[rbtroj]

I was trying to move a few files from one folder on a Windows network to another by shift-selecting and then command-dragging them to the new folder.

However, as I was moving them a new finder window magically opened and swallowed them up never to be seen again (apparently). I've done a search in Finder locally and on the network and cannot find the files anywhere. Also checked my trash and they're not there either.

Any ideas? I'm a Mac (re)newbie.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

These things happen. Finder's buggy. Thank goodness for Undo! ( +Z )

 

[rbtroj]

Unfortunately Undo doesn't seem to work for errors made on network resources.

I have a little bit more of an idea of what happened. I guess if you continue to hold command while dragging over the folder it will open a new instance of finder if you hover over that folder too long. I don't even know if you need to hold command when dragging the files - I thought that could copy them instead of moving them.

So, still no idea where the files landed since the mouse was no longer over its intended destination when the new finder instance opened. I would figure they'd show up in a search, but no such luck so far.

 

[adnbek]

I was trying to move a few files from one folder on a Windows network to another by shift-selecting and then command-dragging them to the new folder.

However, as I was moving them a new finder window magically opened and swallowed them up never to be seen again (apparently). I've done a search in Finder locally and on the network and cannot find the files anywhere. Also checked my trash and they're not there either.

Any ideas? I'm a Mac (re)newbie.

Welcome to spring-loaded folders. It's actually an amazing feature of OSX but can be annoying if you do it unintentionally. Your files are definitely still somewhere. Keep backtracking your steps to see what folder they may be in or try using spotlight to find which folder they're in.