Windows offers many ways to copy and move files. We’ll show you all the tricks for File Explorer, and how to use them in Command Prompt and PowerShell. You can even add “Copy to” and “Move to” to File Explorer’s context menus.
When you copy a file or folder in Windows 10, a duplicate is made of the selected item and saved in a destination folder of your choosing. However, when you move a file or folder, the original item moves to the destination folder instead of sending an identical copy.
How to Copy or Move Files with Drag and Drop
One of the most common methods to copy or move a file or folder is to drag and drop it into the destination folder. By default—depending on the location of the destination folder—File Explorer might move it instead of copying it, or vice versa. However, there’s a hidden method that overrides Windows’ default behavior.
- Open File Explorer by pressing Windows+E and navigate to the file you want to copy.
- When dragging files from one folder to another, you can use either the pane on the left or open another instance of File Explorer to navigate to the destination folder. For this example, we’re going to use a second File Explorer window to copy files.
- Open a second File Explorer window by pressing Windows+E, and navigate to the destination folder.
- Windows has two default actions when you drag and drop a file or folder into a new destination: copy or move. Copying happens when you drop the file or folder into a directory on a different drive.
- Moving occurs when you drop it on the same drive, as we’ll do below. However, there’s a hidden trick that forces Windows to perform a specific action.
- To copy files over to a different drive, highlight the file(s) you want to copy, click and drag them over to the second window, and then drop them.
- If you’re trying to copy the files to a folder on the same drive, click and drag them over to the second window. Before you drop them, though, press Ctrl to trigger the Copy mode.
- To move files to a different directory on the same drive, highlight the file(s) you want to move, click and drag them over to the second window, and then drop them.
- If the destination folder is on a different drive, click and drag them over to the second window just like before, but this time press Shift to trigger the Move mode.
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