Moving files between apps without dragging at all

Almost every drag on a Mac has a route that needs no held button. Copy a file in Finder with Command-C and paste it into Mail, Messages or Notes with Command-V. Send it to an app from Finder’s File menu with Share or Open With. Or start from the app’s side with File > Open and type where the file lives with Shift-Command-G. For the few places that only accept a drop, Mouse Keys and Dwell can drag for you without holding anything down.

If you have a tremor, wrist or hand pain, or simply prefer the keyboard, these are worth learning as a set.

Copy in Finder, paste into the app

This is the route that covers the most ground.

1. In Finder, select the file. You can do it without the pointer: type the first few letters of its name and Finder jumps to it. Command-Down Arrow opens a folder and Command-Up Arrow goes back up.
2. Press Command-C.
3. Switch to the app with Command-Tab and click (or tab) into the place the file should go.
4. Press Command-V.

In a Mail message, the file becomes an attachment. In Messages, it is attached to the message you are writing. In Notes, it is added to the note. Many other Mac apps behave the same way, because Finder’s copy carries the file itself and the app takes it.

Not every destination does. Some web pages and plain text boxes take only the file’s name, or nothing. When that happens, use the app’s own attach command instead (below).

Moving between two folders works the same way with one change: copy with Command-C, open the destination, and press Option-Command-V to move the file rather than copy it. How to cut and paste files on a Mac covers that properly, including why Command-X does nothing in Finder.

Send it from Finder with Share or Open With

Finder’s File menu has two commands that hand a selected file to another app.

• File > Share… opens the share sheet, where you can choose Mail, Messages, AirDrop, Notes and other apps that take files. Choosing Mail starts a new message with the file already attached.
• File > Open With lists the apps that can open the file. Pick one and the file opens there, in place, without being copied anywhere.

You can reach both without aiming at a menu.

• Search the menus. Press Shift-Command-/ (Command with the question mark key) to open the Help menu’s search field, type “Share” or “Open With”, use the arrow keys to pick the command, and press Return.
• Walk the menu bar. Control-F2 moves keyboard focus to the menu bar; on many laptop keyboards you also hold Fn. Then the arrow keys move through the menus and Return chooses. The shortcut is listed in System Settings, under Keyboard, Keyboard Shortcuts, if you want to change it.

For moving around inside the share sheet and dialogs without the pointer, turn on Keyboard navigation in System Settings, under Keyboard. Tab then moves between controls. Full Keyboard Access, under Accessibility, Keyboard, goes further and lets you reach almost everything on screen.

Start from the app: File > Open and Go to Folder

Instead of carrying the file to the app, ask the app to fetch it. Nearly every app has File > Open (Command-O), and many have an attach command of their own, such as File > Attach Files… in Mail. Web pages have an upload or attach button that opens the same Mac file dialog.

In that dialog:

1. Press Shift-Command-G. A field opens asking where to go. Typing a slash or a tilde in the dialog opens the same field.
2. Type or paste the path, such as ~/Downloads/agenda.pdf, and press Return. The dialog goes to that folder with the file selected.
3. Press Return again to open or attach it.

To get a file’s path without typing it, select the file in Finder and press Option-Command-C, which copies it as a pathname. How to copy a file’s path on a Mac has the other ways.

When the destination only takes a drag

A few places accept nothing but a drop: some web upload areas, layers and timelines in creative apps, a particular spot in a list. macOS has a few built-in ways to drag without holding a button.

Mouse Keys turns part of the keyboard into the mouse. Turn it on in System Settings, under Accessibility, Pointer Control. On a keyboard without a number pad, the keys 7, 8, 9, U, O, J, K and L move the pointer, I clicks, M presses and holds the button, and the period key releases it. So a drag becomes: point at the file, press M, move with the keys, and press period over the destination. On a number pad, 0 holds and period releases. While Mouse Keys is on, those keys do not type. Its options include “Press the Option key five times to toggle Mouse Keys”, which makes switching quick.

Dwell performs a mouse action when you hold the pointer still for a set time, so there is nothing to press. It is part of the Accessibility Keyboard: turn that on in System Settings, under Accessibility, Keyboard, then use the Panel Options button at the top right of the keyboard to choose Dwell. Its actions include left click, double click, right click and drag and drop. It was designed for head and eye tracking, and the dwell time and movement tolerance can be adjusted to suit you.

On the same Pointer Control page, Alternate pointer actions lets a switch or a facial expression stand in for the mouse button, with drag and drop among the actions.

Where Ledge helps, and where it does not

Ledge is a shelf that drops from the notch at the top of the screen (or sits at the top center on a Mac without a notch). It opens from the keyboard with Option-Space and closes with the same keys, so you never have to aim at the notch to open it. But files go onto the shelf by dragging them up and come off by dragging them down. It does not replace the drag, and if every drag is the problem, the routes above are the better answer.

Where it does help is when long drags hurt and short ones are manageable. Moving a file from a folder in one corner to an app in the other is one long, held movement. With the shelf, it becomes two short ones with a rest between: drag the file a short way up to the top of the screen and let go, take as long as you like getting the destination ready, then drag it a short way down. With Mouse Keys, that is two brief runs of key presses instead of one long one. The top edge also stops the pointer (unless another display is arranged above it), so the first drop is hard to miss.

When the file comes off the shelf, each destination gets the form it can use: a Finder folder receives the file itself, a terminal gets the path as text, and a chat app gets the file as an upload.

Questions

Does copy and paste work in every app?

No. Mail, Messages, Notes and many other Mac apps accept a pasted file, but some apps and web pages take only the name or nothing. File > Open or the app’s attach button works almost everywhere, because it uses the standard Mac file dialog.

Can I use Mouse Keys and still type?

Not at the same time. While Mouse Keys is on, the keys that move the pointer do not type. Turn on the Option-five-times shortcut in the Mouse Keys options so switching back and forth takes a second.

Is there a keyboard shortcut for Share in Finder?

Not by default. Help menu search (Shift-Command-/) reaches it in a few keystrokes, or you can assign your own under System Settings, Keyboard, Keyboard Shortcuts, App Shortcuts.