Since 5.14, it is always possible to use drag&drop to move remote files to external applications, while copy is always the default operation.

martin wrote:

Would this article explain the behaviour you are experiencing?
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Yeah, that was really helpful, thanks.

I was dragging from the remote server to the C: drive of the local machine. That article explains, then, why it was moved instead of copied. Not knowing the mechanism, I assumed dragging from the remote server to any local drive would be considered the same as dragging from one local drive to another. After I deleted the file on the local machine, I then realised it was gone from the server, but luckily I had imported it into another application and could recover it.

I think the options outlined in the article will help me sort it all out. I'll give it a try and let you know if I have any problems.

Thanks both of you for your help.

Would this article explain the behaviour you are experiencing?
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Hi different guest

Be aware that in most of the cases you do not have the right to create a folder and move files in a another folder on an external server... So that would be a very very special solition.

I am using winsp 4.2.8. By right clicking on a remote file it is showing a context menue with "copy" and "move" as expected.
Some for local files.

If you left click on a local file and drag it to a local directory (same drive) it will be moved. This is the standard windows behaviour...

Maybe you have some more details about your data loss? (from where to where was your drag and drop...?)
We are using winscp since years without that problem...

Dirk

Yeah, this is a show-stopper for me because I will forget at some point that WinSCP is behaving differently and I will lose files.

I installed and tried WinSCP (4.2.8) for the first time yesterday and I almost lost a couple of files. I had dragged a file from the remote server to the local machine in order to have a look at it. I then deleted the local file without realising it had been moved instead of copied. Luckily, I had imported it into another application and I could recover it from that.

I think you should be able to right-click and drag too, like Windows Explorer, which would then give you a context menu so you can select copy or move.

A related issue is deleting files on the remote server. In Windows, if you select a file and press the DEL key or right-click and select delete, it moves the file to the Recylce Bin; holding shift while doing this deletes it permanently. WinSCP does this the other way round as well (though it uses the temp directory instead of the Recycle Bin).

Where do you drag the files from and where do you drop them to?

Drag&drop behavior differs from Windows standards and may lead to loss of data. In Windows, drag & dropping a file to a different disk will copy (duplicate) the file by default (press shift to move). WinSCP should do the same. Instead, WinSCP moves the file by default. If target application fails to handle the file, the file is lost. This is not acceptable. Aligning WinSCP behavior to Windows is safer, and more intuitive and consistent.

Using WinSCP 4.2.7 with Explorer interface on Windows XP Pro SP3.