Today I learned about an easy way to share files between Mac apps

drag and drops are handled very well by Apple's macOS. I often take a picture out of the Photos app and send it to someone via email or text. One of the things that has slowed me down is moving around more traditional files.

Many of the built-in apps have a quick way to get at the file you are viewing. If you use the proxy icon, you can do things like uploading a PDF you have open in Preview to Google Drive without having to look for it in Finder. It works this way.

GIF of someone dragging a file from Preview to a Safari window with Google Drive.

The title bar is where the traffic light-style window controls and the name of the file you have open are located. An icon appears to the left of the file name if you hover over it. Some apps don't need the hovering. We can do our magic with this. If you click and drag the icon, you will be able to click and drag the file as if you were using the file manager.

This is not a new feature in the latest version of the operating system. When someone mentioned it in the context of features that have been around for a long time, I knew about it. I'm a little late to the party. I use it all the time now that I know about it.

When I need to read through a PDF for work and then upload it to DocumentCloud so I can put it in an article, is one of my most common use cases. I used to minimize Preview and then hunt for the document on my crowded desktop using Quick Look to make sure I was uploading the right document. I can now drag and drop the thing I am reading straight from preview, like I did in the picture above.

There are many other ways to use the feature. I can use Finder to quickly copy the path of the folder I am in into Terminal. If you drag and drop a file into Terminal, you'll get the path to it. I used this feature to make the screen recorded GIFs you see in this article.

If you drag a file from the title bar into a Finder window, I have one word of caution for you. It will move the file from where it is currently to where you left it. It could be confusing if you assumed that it would copy and paste the file instead of cutting and paste it.

This isn't something that every app can do I couldn't find a way to get files from either of those programs. I've been able to use it with many apps, including Pages, Logic Pro, Nova, and Microsoft Word. You never know when this feature will come in handy, so you should check if the app supports it.

If you are still in the title bar, I have a last bonus tip, though I haven't used it in a long time. You can drag the file icon to see which folder that file lives in, as well as which folder the file is in, and so on and so forth. You can open a Finder window from the list.

I have been able to cut down on the amount of time I spend searching for files because of this system. Being forced to do that can be a drag.