Finder question, I always ask, never answered

[pseudobrit]

Cut, copy & paste are universal interface commands for putting
text and graphics in the clipboard.

To use it for file management would be a distortion and bastardisation of its
function and violate Apple's own program guidelines.

No copy and paste in Finder? It's greyed out so it must be there but disabled?

Nope, it's only enabled for its intended use: copying text:

 

[pseudobrit]

Re: unfortunately people like you...

Originally posted by Barbarism
To defend Explorer a bit, most will agree that its keyboard functionality is far more usable then Finder.

I wouldn't agree with that.

Column navigation in Finder is wonderful, fast, 100% keyboard based...

and you're not using a bloody web browser (quite possibly the most inefficient way of navigation I could think of, though it is prettier, which is why it's rightly used for websites) for looking around your local hard drive!

Again, such inconsistencies would violate the Aqua User Experience guidelines:

http://developer.apple.com/ue/aqua/

 

[rainman::|:|]

Good lord people, so upset over a simple question. The underlying issue here is that the Mac OS, since it's inception, does not support multiple clipboard items. So you can only have 1 image, or text clipping, or file on your clipboard. So if a user "cut" a file, then they went to a new file and "cut" that file, the original would be deleted by the rules of the single-clipboard. This would potentially cause users to delete items unintentionally, which is something Apple protects against... it's one of the reasons OS X is so stable, they've implemented foolproofs. Unfortunately sometimes they get in the way, like this.

So it comes down to either a) adopting a multiple-clipboard system, more commonly used in other enviroments, but against Apple's enviroment philosophy; or b) switchers losing the ability to cut files, rather just being able to copy and subsequently deleting a file. It's a judgement call, but it's not set in stone... Apple may well decide to add multiple clipboards to OS X in a later revision.

BTW, Aaron, there is a utility on versiontracker that does just what you're looking for. Unfortunately, i can't remember the name, hopefully someone else can elaborate... I seem to remember it being an incidental feature in some specific shareware...

pnw

 

[rainman::|:|]

Originally posted by pseudobrit
Cut, copy & paste are universal interface commands for putting
text and graphics in the clipboard.

To use it for file management would be a distortion and bastardisation of its
function and violate Apple's own program guidelines.

No copy and paste in Finder? It's greyed out so it must be there but disabled?

Nope, it's only enabled for its intended use: copying text:

Not quite. To be fair, in your image, the name of your hard drive is selected-- as text. What you need to do is click directly on an icon, make sure the name is not in 'edit' mode, and then try it. You will see "copy [filename]". Just trying to explain why you aren't seeing what we are, as it's actually trying to copy text

pnw

 

[applefan]

For those that require this feature and are willing to part with $15 for it click here

 

[pseudobrit]

Originally posted by paulwhannel
Not quite. To be fair, in your image, the name of your hard drive is selected-- as text. What you need to do is click directly on an icon, make sure the name is not in 'edit' mode, and then try it. You will see "copy [filename]". Just trying to explain why you aren't seeing what we are, as it's actually trying to copy text

pnw

Well, it certainly is a curious feature. I wasn't aware of Open Apple+C being a new feature for copying. All my Open Apple habits were formed in the days of System 6 and 7, and to this day I still would use have used Open Apple+D to make a duplicate of a file.

If I wanted to cut and paste, I'd simply move the file, which is simpler.

 

[arn]

Originally posted by pseudobrit
Well, it certainly is a curious feature. I wasn't aware of Open Apple+C being a new feature for copying. All my Open Apple habits were formed in the days of System 6 and 7, and to this day I still would use have used Open Apple+D to make a duplicate of a file.

If I wanted to cut and paste, I'd simply move the file, which is simpler.

Yeah... Apple introduced this feature at some point during OS X's revisions.

Can't find the specific reference. But I remember noting it. As I recall, I thought Cut was enabled. Don't know if it was in betas and then removed...

Anyhow... I do think people need to be aware of the perspectives people are coming from.

Different != Bad.

People go on and on, trying to justify why things are wrong -- when in reality, it's just because that's what they are used to. All the Mac OS X bitching from hardcare OS 9 users as a prime example, back when we were migrating.

That being said, I do think the concern for data-loss (with file cut) is a real one, and may be the reason the feature is not there.

arn

 

[pseudobrit]

Originally posted by arn
That being said, I do think the concern for data-loss (with file cut) is a real one, and may be the reason the feature is not there.

arn

I would hate it if it were a "feature" because I still make errors when trying to cut/copy & paste things. I'm not new to it either; I've been using cut & paste for as long as I can remember -- at least 15 years.

The most common one is when I'll cut or copy a bit of text that I want to paste somewhere else, then I get distracted, forget about having the item in the clipboard and eventually overwrite that item with something new.

It'd be disastrous if this were to happen with whole files/applications.