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Cut disabled from Finder's Edit, how to move files on Mac?

When I select a file/folder in Finder and want to move it to another location, I click Edit but the Cut option is greyed out. Why it is disabled and how do I move files from one location to another? Right-click the selected item, the only move option is Move to Trash. Any help?

Best Answered by

Amanda Wong

Answered on Tuesday, August 27, 2024

The Cut option in the Edit menu is only available when you select a piece of text instead of a file or folder. This explains why you see the Cut option is disabled when you select a file and attempt to cut it from the Edit menu.

However, there are several ways you can choose from to move files/folders on Mac:

1. Copy and Paste files/folder. Select the desired items in Desktop/Finder, and click Edit > Copy, then go to the location where you want to move files to and click Edit > Paste Item. You can right-click the selected item to copy and paste using the context menu. Besides, you can use keyboard shortcuts Command X/C and Command V to copy and paste on Mac.

2. Drag and drop to change location. Open Finder from the Dock, find the file you wish to transfer, and then drag & drop it to the desired position on the left panel of Finder.

3. Move files using the title bar. Open the file, move your cursor over its name in the title bar, and then click the arrow button that will appear to its right. In the pop-up option that opens, select the file's location.

4. Use the Mac move command. Launch Terminal and run the command mv, such as mv ~/Downloads/MyFile.txt ~/Documents/Work/MyFile.txt moving a file from your Downloads folder to a Work folder in Documents.

5. Try a third-party right-click enhancer for Mac like iBoysoft MagicMenu.  It adds a Move To menu to the right-click menu and you can easily move the files/folder to Desktop, Downloads, or other folders via the Select Path option.