How to cut and paste in Mac OS X

Cutting & Pasting Files and Folders in Mac OS X is Easy, Here’s the How To

What you need to do first is select files in the Mac file system browser, known as Finder, and then combine a series of keyboard shortcuts. The keystrokes necessary for cutting and pasting files on the Mac are as so:

• Command+C copies the files or documents, note they won’t be ‘cut’ yet
• Command+Option+V pastes the documents into the new location, cutting it from the prior locating and moving it to the new location

Remember, you must have a file selected for the cut & paste to work.

If you just hit Command+V you will only move a copy of the files into the new location, as in a true copy and paste, rather than a cut and paste function. Notice holding down the Option key also changes the menu text to show “Move Items Here” to further signify the difference.

You can see this directly by pulling down the menu itself to see the keystrokes:

This is a feature many Windows converts have been wanting for a long time. Prior to this, users would drag and drop items into their new locations to move them, or use the command line mv tool. Those methods still work too though, obviously, but the cut and paste methodology is a very welcome addition.