WARNING: DEFAULT APPLE MUSIC DRAG BEHAVIOR IS NOW "MOVE" (not copy)

This post was "Keep Media Organized in Tahoe...doesn't.", until I figured out that it's a more insidious issue (i.e., accidentally deleted a bunch of files in my library). I am posting this as a warning to others.


Amongst the many (many, many, many) issues in the new version of Apple Music (some of which have been posted here), the default behavior of dragging a bunch of files from Apple Music to a folder has changed from Copy (which is correct and has been the case in every prior version of iTunes/Music) to Move (which is so very, very bad).


Why is this bad? Well, for many reasons, but the primary one is that if you do the following:


  • Drag a bunch of files/MP3s to another folder expecting them to copy (from a non-synced library)
  • Delete those files in an external folder because Apple Music is acting weird (e.g., not renaming files when you change the track numbers/disc) and you want to try copying them again
  • Empty the trash (which, you know, is kind of a normal thing to want to do)


...you have now deleted all of that music from your music library. Forever.


So that's not awesome. Just thought I would post a warning for other folks who happen to be looking here.


MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 26.0

Posted on Oct 9, 2025 1:07 PM

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WARNING: DEFAULT APPLE MUSIC DRAG BEHAVIOR IS NOW "MOVE" (not copy)

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