Introduction: In this video, we’re going to take a look at how we use spring-loaded folders to move files on the Mac. Let’s go to My Mac.

I have my travel brochure here; what I want to do is move this into my Drobo. Where I want to move it to– Let’s go ahead and open up Drobo, this is an external hard drive, I double click on it. What I want to do is I want to move it into my training files. Then within my training files, double click on it, I have documents. Then within documents, I have pages because this is a Pages document. Then within pages, I have a folder for travel. What I want to do is I want to move that file, this travel brochure file into this folder here. I want to use spring-loaded folders to do this. Now, I’m going to close this window.

Moving a file using Spring-loaded Folders: Now, what I’m going to do is drag my travel brochure on top of my Drobo. Then what will happen is my Drobo will open up a window. I then drag it on top of my training files folder. Then that folder will open up. This is all done through spring-loaded folders, so now let’s go and do that.

I take my travel brochure; I drag it on top of Drobo. Now, it’s opening up. Now, I go over to my training files, and it’s opening up. I go over to my documents, I go over to pages, and then I go over to travel. I let go, and I’ve just moved that file there. I’ve copied that file there because this is an external hard drive. That’s how spring-loaded folders work. What we can do is we can quickly move a file within nested folders just by dragging that file on top of those folders.

Let’s do this a little quicker here. What I’m going to do is I’m going to delete this, and now we’re going to do it again. I’m going to do it a little quicker here because I know my folder structure. Now, I’m going to go to my travel brochure and watch what happens. This is how quickly you can use spring-loaded folders. I take it and drag it on top. I want to go to training files. I want to go to my documents. I want to go over to pages. I need to go to travel. I let go, and I’ve copied that.

Let’s take another look at this. I’m going to open a new window, and with this, what we’re going to do is go to my hard drive. I’m going to go to my computer here, and we have my Macintosh HD. Double-click on it, I have my users. Double-click on it, we have my home folder. Double-click on it, we have my documents. That’s where I want to move that file. Now, let’s go, we’re going to go over to my computer, we have my Macintosh HD.

Let’s do this using spring-loaded folders. I drag it over Macintosh HD. I go over to my users. I go over to my home folder. I go over to my documents, I let go, and now my travel brochure is in my documents folder.

Settings for Spring-loaded Folders: Now spring-loaded folders are on by default, which means that when you place your file on top of a folder, it’s going to open automatically. If you do not want to have this on by default, we can turn it off. Also, what we can do is we can set the speed for which the folders open up. To do that, we need to go to our system preferences. Now, I’m going to go down to my system preferences. I know that this is located in accessibility, but I’m going to show you how you can search in system preferences. Spring-loaded folders are buried in accessibility, so what I find easier to do is, go up to search here and search for it. I’m just going to go to spring, and you’re going to see I have ‘make mouse and trackpad easier to use.’ This is where I can find it. You’re also going to see that accessibility is highlighted.

Turning Spring-loaded Folders Off: Now, I go and click on this, and it opens up to where I need it to be, in my mouse and trackpad. If we look here, you’re going to see I have spring-loading delay. If I do not want to use spring-loaded folders, what I do is go and turn this off. Once I turn this off, spring-loaded folders will not work.

Setting the Delay for Spring-loaded Folders: I can also just set the delay, we can set it for a shorter time, or we can set it for a longer time. Now, let’s go and set this for a longer time so you can see this in slow motion. I’m going to drag this over too long. I’m going to create a new folder, so I’m going to go up to file here, and we’re going to go and create a new folder. What I want to do is I want to place this on my Drobo. We’re going to place it in my training files again. Now, I click and drag. I wait a few seconds; you can see it’s a longer delay. Then I go over to training files, longer delay again. I go over to documents, and then I can go over to pages. Then I can go over to travel, and I can place it in there. If I set it for a shorter delay, as soon as I placed that document on top of the folder, that folder is going to open up.

That’s how we use spring-loaded folders on the Mac.