Win Copy/move files/folders

The Explorer file manager is used to copy and move files and folders, and there are several ways to do it. The following methods are presented in order of difficulty. To launch Explorer, right click the Start menu and select Explore. If you are not at all familiar with highlighting icons, see Win Highlighting icons. See also Win Explorer.

Cut, Copy and Paste
Method 1 - Left Button Highlight
This method works just like cutting, copying and
pasting text and graphics. You highlight the
icons of the source files or folders and select
Cut or Copy from the Edit menu (or press Ctrl-X
for cut and Ctrl-C for copy from the keyboard).
Then highlight the destination icon and select
Paste from the Edit menu (or press Ctrl-V).

Cut, Copy and Paste
Method 2 - Right Button Highlight
This method is a little faster than Method 1.
Instead of using the left mouse button to select
an icon, you use the right mouse button. When
you let go of the mouse, a menu appears letting
you scroll down and select Cut or Copy. Then,
just as in the previous method, you highlight
the destination icon and select Paste from the
Edit menu (or press Ctrl-V).

Drag and Drop
Method 1 - Right button drag
In this method, you drag and drop an icon or
group of icons onto a destination folder.
After highlighting the items, use the right
mouse button to drag them. When you drop the
icon, a menu option lets you Copy or Move.

Drag and Drop
Method 2 - Left button drag
This method is faster than Method 1 above,
because it does not prompt you for a choice.
You use the left button to drag as is customary,
but when you drop the files, different actions
take place depending on the type of file you
dragged. If you drag and drop a data file, it
is always moved. If you drag and drop a program
file, a Shortcut (pointer) is created and placed
there.

                                   File at
    File                           Original
    Type       Action taken        Location

    Data       Move                Not there
    Program    Shortcut created    Still there

Drag and Drop
Method 3 - Copy only - Left button drag
If you hold the Ctrl key down while dragging
(using the left mouse button), the files and
folders will be copied to the destination.

Dragging and Dropping

This shows three highlighted files being dragged into the WORK folder on the left. The outline of the three icons guides you while moving, and you let go of the mouse button only when the desired folder is highlighted. You don't have to be directly on top of the folder to highlight it, as you can see in this example.