SPMUG 642 DRAG AND DROP

When you're working with a
computer mouse, the term "drag" means to hover the mouse pointer (arrow)
over an object, press-and-hold the mouse button down, then move the
pointer (with the object of interest "in tow") to a different location
on the screen before finally releasing the mouse button. So what's "drag
& drop"? It's really not much different, except that the phrase implies
that the item being dragged is finally "dropped" in a specific spot,
such as a folder icon or an icon in the Dock. Just to confuse the issue,
the terms "drag" and "drop" are sometimes used on their own to indicate
a "drag & drop" action; for instance, "Drag the file into the window,"
or "Drop the file onto the Apple Works icon in the Dock." With the
semantics behind us, we can look at the real reason for this article --
the fact that many folks don't realize how many things can be
accomplished by the "drag & drop" method, rather than using a series of
menu commands. Try the following to get your hand in, noting that the
success of some of them may depend on the particular programs you're
working with: ¥	Select (highlight) a block of text in a word
processing document. Then, drag it to a different location in the
document (noting that you need to pause a moment after first pressing
the mouse button and before starting to drag across the screen). This
can be quicker than cutting and pasting. It works with cells in a
spreadsheet, too. ¥	Drag a picture from a Web page onto your desktop
-- no need to go through any Save or Download menus. Then drag it onto
the icon of iPhoto in your Dock. iPhoto will open and import the
picture. ¥	Drag an attachment from an email message onto your desktop
-- again bypassing the Save dialog. If there's more than one application
capable of opening it, drag it onto the Dock icon of the one you want to
use. ¥	Open two document windows belonging to different applications,
say Apple Works and Pages. Select a block of text in one document and
drag it across into the other. This also works between two documents
belonging to the same application. ¥	If the above doesn't work with
your application(s), try an intermediate step -- drag the text block
onto your desktop, creating a special file called a "clipping." Then
drag the clipping into the second document. You can have picture
clippings, too. Note that you can't actually do much with a clipping
except drag it into a receptive document -- you can't edit it directly,
for instance. It's made by and for dragging. ¥	In Safari, while
viewing any web page of interest, locate the little icon just to the
left of the website address. Sometimes it's a globe; other times it's a
special icon connected with the page's content. Drag this icon to the
desktop where it appears as a larger icon with an @ symbol on it. Some
time later, simply drag that icon into an open Safari window and you'll
be taken straight back to the web page from which you originally dragged
it. ¥	Alternatively, drag that icon with the @ symbol into a word
processing or similar document, and it will appear as the web address of
the page in question. ¥	Open a word processing document in such a way
that you can also see a picture document somewhere on your desktop or in
a Finder window. Drag the picture into the word processing document. The
possibilities of "drag & drop" are bounded only by the cleverness of
application developers. Once you have the flavor of it, you'll soon find
plenty more places where you can use this technique.