Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Geoff777

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 17, 2020
228
144
I just copied a folder contents from my iMac to my MacBook Air.
Usually when a file already exists a warning comes up and asks if you want to Skip (Keep Both), Stop or Replace.

Today it didn't, it just dumped the whole lot and added a "2" to the filenames!

Now I have to go through and manually delete all those duplicates. 🥲 (managed that with "Find" created today!)

Can anyone advise why this has happened and how I get it back? I can't find anything in settings for either Finder or System.

Thanks very much.

Have also posted this query at Apple Support but no replies - doesn't seem as busy there now.
 

Bigwaff

Contributor
Sep 20, 2013
2,740
1,830
I just copied a folder contents from my iMac to my MacBook Air.
Usually when a file already exists a warning comes up and asks if you want to Skip (Keep Both), Stop or Replace.
Strange no dialog appeared. If it does, press the "Option" key. I think you'll get what you want.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Geoff777

Geoff777

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 17, 2020
228
144
Thanks for replying. I know about the option key but I can't figure out why the dialog box is gone.
I have an old iMac, new Studio and a MacBook Air and I have tried all combinations for transferring duplicate files between them - the warning doesn't appear in any combination, it's just gone.

I've opened a ticket with Apple and they have told me to update all OS systems, which I've done. Didn't help.
 

Geoff777

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 17, 2020
228
144
I've been using Universal Control to drag from one to the other.
 

chrfr

macrumors G5
Jul 11, 2009
13,707
7,277
Today it didn't, it just dumped the whole lot and added a "2" to the filenames!
This has always been the behavior I've seen when using file transfer over screen sharing or Universal Access. If you want the full dialogs you need to use file sharing, and then you'll get the normal dialog from Finder.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Geoff777

Geoff777

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 17, 2020
228
144
This has always been the behavior I've seen when using file transfer over screen sharing or Universal Access. If you want the full dialogs you need to use file sharing, and then you'll get the normal dialog from Finder.
Thanks, I tried it with Airdrop, which dumps files into the downloads folder, and when dropping them into the pictures folder, the warning came back. I'll avoid using Universal Control where there might be duplicates in future. Really appreciated, thanks all. 🍻
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.