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General discussion

How Do I Move and Copy Files (like I did in XP) In Vista?

Mar 22, 2007 8:59PM PDT

Hello,

I'm hoping someone can help me please. In Windows XP, whenever I'd selected a file or multiple files an option opened up on the left side of the window that allow me to select "move" or "copy", then a browse window would open to let me select where I wanted to move or copy the files to. I don't see that option in Vista. I'm assuming it's just some place else. I don't want to have to right click and copy, then paste.

Any info on moving and coping files in Vista would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for your time,
John

Discussion is locked

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It's no longer in the same form...
Mar 23, 2007 8:10AM PDT

The shortcuts you're referring to are no longer present in Vista. However, there are a couple things you can do:

1.) Instead of right-clicking and then selecting copy or paste, use the keyboard shortcuts ctrl + C and ctrl + P. This is my preferred method, keeping one hand on the mouse and the other on those keys, making for fast manipulation.

2.) Go Organize->Layout->Navigation Pane to turn it on/off. With it on, a tree view of your computer will appear, making it easy to browse to another location while in the current folder and drag files/folders from one spot to another.

3.) Open two windows at a time and tile them. (Right-click the taskbar and select "Show Windows Stacked.") That makes it easier to view two locations at once and then drag-and-drop between the two.

John

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Thank you
Mar 23, 2007 8:40AM PDT

Thank you so much for the info!

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Copying and Pasting
Mar 23, 2007 12:26PM PDT

I never did so much of that in my life, but it worked well and quickly when I had to move files from the external drive to the new computer. I still miss XP but I'm learning to live with Vista.