How to put items into a folder in OS X?

By Bob Cavanaugh, 20 January, 2015

Forum

macOS and Mac Apps

I've had an iPhone for a couple years now and am pretty familiar with that, but am new to the desktop interface. I am trying to put sample files into folders as part of a class project. However, no matter how I select the folder, it always puts the item in the highest directory. For example, I am trying to put a new folder on my disk called 13 colonies in my CTEC103 folder on my USB drive. I press command shift N for new folder while the VoiceOver cursor is on the CTEC103 folder, and it creates the new folder, but that folder is one of the many on my disk, not inside the CTEC103 folder where I want it to be. How do I do this?

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Try This Article

I wrote an article on Finder which I recommend any new Mac user reads. It explains the different views, how to navigate, and why files or folders don't wind up where you want them.

Great

Hi Alex,
Great article! I'm sure I'll come back to that as a reference as I get further into this class.

Works but a little confusing

Thanks Alex, that eventually worked for me. I haven't tried putting any files in the folders yet, but I did find out how to open files and folders. One thing that could be made a little more clear in your article is that you can actually expand the folders in list view using the right arrow key, but if you're looking for a view similar to Windows Explorer, that's not what you want to do.

re: creating folders, the easy way.

goe in to list view. wiht cmd 2.
go in to the folder wher you want yoru class project to be.
hit cmd shift n.
type in the folder name and press enter.

You can also create folders using multiple items. here's how.

Go in to list view as in step 1 above.
Highlight the items you want to use. This can be consecutive or nonconsecutive selections.
hit control cmd N.
type in the new name for the folder and press enter.

hth.