A hotkey to move a file through directories (MacOS)

Question

Are there any hot keys to move folders up or down through parent folders and subfolders in MacOS?

e.g. In this simple example I want to move File 1234.pdf to Folder A, which would leave Subfolder A empty. Ideally I'll be able to do this using just keyboard. Bonus points: A hotkey to re-select the last selected subfolder (so that I can delete, rename, etc.).

- Folder A
   - Subfolder A
      -File 1234.pdf 
- Folder B

Answer 1

I apologise for the delay in getting back to you with my answer. It's been more challenging than I had anticipated.

But it is possible to achieve what you want by creating a service in Automator, which will then become accessible via a keyboard shortcut (hotkey).

You'll need to follow this guide on Making a Systemwide Service.

---

Start by creating a new service in Automator. It will need to receive files or folders as input, and be made available in Finder.

Add a Run AppleScript action to the workflow. In the text area of that action, the following AppleScript can be copied and pasted:

    use Finder : application "Finder"

    property F_ : missing value -- The previous folder
    property f : missing value -- The files that we moved
    property home : Finder's home as alias


    on run {f, _}
      get its ParentFolderOf:(some item in f)
      set there to the result -- The destination folder, one level up

      -- We won't navigate any higher up the folder tree than
      -- the home folder
      if (its ParentFolderOf:home) is in there then return

      -- Also don't apply this service to other folders that aren't
      -- in the same branch of the folder tree as the home folder
      if (there as text) does not begin with (home as text) then return

      -- The folder we're currently at
      tell Finder to set F_ to ¬
        (the container of some item in f) as alias

      -- Check to ensure there are no files in the destination folder
      -- that risk being overwritten.  If there are, we won't move
      -- the files who share the same name, i.e. only move those that 
      -- are safe to move.
      tell Finder to ¬
        repeat with _g in f
          get name of _g
          set g to [there as text, result] as text
          if not (g exists) then set end of f to _g
          set f to the rest of f
        end repeat

      -- Move the files
      tell Finder ¬
        to set f ¬
        to (move f to there) ¬
        as list as alias list

      -- Reveal them
      reveal f
      activate Finder
    end run


    to ParentFolderOf:(f as alias)
      local f

      set F_ to [f, "::"] as text as alias

      if (f as text) ends with ":" then return F_

      return its ParentFolderOf:F_
    end ParentFolderOf:

Save the service as whatever you like. Automator automatically saves it in the right location (~/Library/Services). I saved mine as "Ascend in Finder".

Next, you have to create a keyboard shortcut. This is done through System Preferences:

Under the services list, you'll need to scroll down to the section marked Files and Folders, under which your service name should appear. You can see mine highlighted. I created the shortcut ⌃▲ for mine (Ctrl+Up).

Now, every time I select files and/or folders in Finder and press ⌃▲, those files and folders ascend one level up the hierarchy into their parent folder. If I want to move them back, I can press ⌘Z to undo the move.

I put a safeguard in so that files and folders wouldn't get moved any higher up the folder tree than your home folder. It's unlikely you'd need to anyway.

Answer 2

If you work in Column view, you can navigate just with the Arrow keys.

For your example, assuming you start with your file selected...

• Cmd ⌘ C to Copy

• Left Arrow [this will select subfolder A], so for bonus points...

  • Enter ⌅ will allow you to rename it, or Cmd ⌘ Backspace ⌫ to delete it
    [This will not lose your file currently in the copy buffer]

• Left Arrow [this will select folder A]*

• Cmd ⌘ Opt ⌥ V to Move

This is the structure as it appears at the beginning.

and again at the end [after having deleted Subfolder A on our way past]

*Because it doesn't get mentioned anywhere in the answer, at this point the down arrow would select folder B