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Unveiling the hidden wonders of macOS’s Finder is an ongoing adventure, even for those who consider themselves Finder experts. A recent discovery for me has been the concept of “drag, tab, drop” or “drag switch.” This feature opens up a whole new world of possibilities within the macOS environment.
In any macOS application, you can access the app switcher by pressing Command-Tab. This action brings up a visual display of all open apps arranged in the order they were last used, with the most recent on the left. By holding down the Command key and pressing Command-Tab or Command-Shift-Tab, you can cycle through the open apps in a forward or backward direction. Additionally, you can navigate the app switcher using arrow keys, a scroll wheel, touchpad, trackball, or mouse pointer. To exit the app switcher without changing the active app, simply press Escape while holding down the Command key.
The app switcher feature also allows for seamless drag-and-drop functionality between different apps.
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When selecting one or more items within the Finder or any app that supports drag-and-drop functionality between applications, you can utilize the app switcher to choose the destination app. Once you release the selected items, they are transferred to the target app where they can be copied, queued, or processed according to the app’s capabilities.
For example, when transferring files from the Finder to a file-transfer server, you can select the items in the Finder, switch to the Transmit app using Command-Tab, and release the items over the desired server window. This method proves to be more interactive, efficient, and precise compared to traditional methods involving multiple selections through an Open dialog box (although some users may still prefer this approach).
If you’re looking for answers to common Mac-related queries, check out our comprehensive FAQ section, which covers a wide range of topics. If your question is not addressed there, feel free to reach out to us at mac911@macworld.com with your query and any relevant screenshots. While we may not be able to respond to every inquiry or provide direct troubleshooting assistance, we are always eager to tackle new challenges and provide helpful solutions.