Question about Preview.app [drag selection?]

[james121515]

When you select an area with the rectangular selection tool in Preview.app, is it possible to then drag the selection to another area on the image, similar to MSPaint? Right now the only way I can seem to be able to do it is to cut and paste first, which is fine but it seems more intuitive to just drag the selection once you have it. Not really a big issue or anything, but often times some of the best tricks with OS X are hidden.

Thanks for your help!

 

[wrldwzrd89]

When you select an area with the rectangular selection tool in Preview.app, is it possible to then drag the selection to another area on the image, similar to MSPaint? Right now the only way I can seem to be able to do it is to cut and paste first, which is fine but it seems more intuitive to just drag the selection once you have it. Not really a big issue or anything, but often times some of the best tricks with OS X are hidden.

Thanks for your help!

Works for me. Are you grabbing the INTERIOR of the selection and not its border?

 

[Krazy Bill]

Works for me. Are you grabbing the INTERIOR of the selection and not its border?

How are you doing this? The selection rectangle is for "cropping" and copying. The selection doesn't move for me.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

How are you doing this? The selection rectangle is for "cropping" and copying. The selection doesn't move for me.

Opened a random PDF, switched to the rectangle select tool (which automatically made the edit toolbar appear), selected a region. Clicked inside the selection and dragged the selection elsewhere.

 

[Krazy Bill]

Opened a random PDF, switched to the rectangle select tool (which automatically made the edit toolbar appear), selected a region. Clicked inside the selection and dragged the selection elsewhere.

Are you sure you're doing this with a PDF and not a PNG/JPG file? Different toolbars appear depending on the file type. Regardless, I can't get any selection to drag like you say with any kind of file. (But with a PNG I can get the option to cut/paste)

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Are you sure you're doing this with a PDF and not a PNG/JPG file? Different toolbars appear depending on the file type. Regardless, I can't get any selection to drag like you say with any kind of file. (But with a PNG I can get the option to cut/paste)

Yup! Just tested with a PNG - works exactly the same way as a PDF for me. Note, though, that what I move is the selection, not its contents. To do that you have to do a cut and paste operation. I agree that this is a bit fiddly.

 

[Krazy Bill]

Yup! Just tested with a PNG - works exactly the same way as a PDF for me. Note, though, that what I move is the selection, not its contents. To do that you have to do a cut and paste operation. I agree that this is a bit fiddly.

Ok. We have some misunderstanding about the terminology. I think the OP wants to "drag" the contents inside the selection rectangle - not the rectangle itself. And no, you can't do that without using the copy/paste.

But I'd still like somebody to verify that one can "copy and paste" the contents of the selection rectangle in a PDF document like you say. Again, all I can do is crop with this kind of document.