Option-drag to copy/duplicate

[thomaso 801]

An Option-drag of a selected object on Mac mostly causes the selected object to be duplicated after it gets released. I'd appreciate to use this GUI behave in Affinity. On document page view and in Layers panel, too.

[lenogre 89]

A duplicate function would be great. I use it every time in AI.

I dream of a duplicate function with a group function. In AI, it doesn't exist. You duplicate several times the same shape and you must after select them by hand to group them. Boring...

[MEB 8,452]

There's already a shortcut to do that: cmd + drag

[thomaso 801]

@ lenogre,

fyi, a duplicate function already does exist via menu 'Edit' and/or keys: 'command-J' or 'command-C'+'command-V'.

 

Whereas this topic requests for a duplicate function via mouse-drag + use of mac-like 'Option'-key while dragging.

 

@ MEB,

> There's already a shortcut to do that: cmd + drag

 

Aha, good to know. Any reason for 'cmd' instead mac-like 'option'-key to duplicate any object, intuitivly?

Edited August 12, 2014 by thomaso

[rui_mac 553]

I also found it strange.

Even in the old days of MacPaint, MacDraw, MacDraft, etc, the Option key was the usual duplicate/clone key.

But I'm already getting used to the Command key.

[Matthias 167]

The reason for this non-standard behavior seems to be the selection feature: Alt-dragging changes the way elements are selected. I suggest to switch the modifier keys in order to retain Apple standards.

[rui_mac 553]

I also agree that Apple-standards should be kept as much as possible.
And the Option+Drag action to duplicate goes way back to the start of Macintosh history (1984).

[thomaso 801]

I want humble recommend to develope Affinity strictly mac-like according GUI (shortcuts, key commands, buttons, windows, ...). It has been also consistency, consequence which made and makes mac applications so intuitive.

Less for my convenience but rather for marketing reasons. I definitly would feel sorry to see Affinities success risked or reduced by breakings with such 'rules'.

 

quote (Matthias, #6):

> "The reason for this non-standard behavior seems to be the selection feature: Alt-dragging changes the way elements are selected."

 

Agree. I'd exspect the cmd-key to alter a selection instead. For instance in mac finder to add/reduce in a bunch of selected files or in InDesign or Quark to jump between object selection of (child-)layers. – So it appears Affinity should simply turn cmd to alt/option and vice versa in affected cases.

[Andy Somerfield 2,836]

We agree with this - I think we will change the behaviour..

 

AndyS

[cheaze 3]

I really like that option drag has been added to duplicate selections!  Thanks for making that change.

 

However, it would be nice to remove the old command drag to duplicate.  I select objects that are grouped while holding down command and end up making duplicates on accident all over the place without realizing it until I look thru my layers.

 

There seems to be no reason to have duplicate on both option and command drag.

 

Thanks for all your hard work Affinity Designer team!  You have made an amazing product.

[Robert22 7]

I mentioned this in another request thread. Right click and release brings up the current context menu. Right click and drag duplicates the object. Simple, elegant no keyboard required.

[Alfred 5,200]

There seems to be no reason to have duplicate on both option and command drag.

 

I'm running into the same confusion in the beta version of Affinity Designer on Windows. I expect Ctrl-drag to give me a duplicate of the selected object, but I don't expect Alt-drag to do so.

[DJ_Jaybee 10]

Option drag to duplicate seems to be in my dna... 

[anon1 884]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbTVuqgXOKk&t=153s#t=2m22s

his reaction though 

[ShinKaiZen 0]

It works now but you need to click alt first before clicking the left mouse button in mac. it doesn't work the other way round unfortunately.

[R C-R 4,214]

25 minutes ago, ShinKaiZen said:

It works now but you need to click alt first before clicking the left mouse button in mac. it doesn't work the other way round unfortunately.

That is because the alt/option key is used to temporarily disable snapping when dragging objects. This is an "on-the-fly" feature that can be used anytime during a drag, which is very handy if you are moving something & it keeps snapping to a position you don't want.

 

Holding down the option key before you drag a selected object tells the app to drag out a copy. The CMD-drag always uses the snapping settings, even if you release the CMD key after beginning the drag, while the option-drag works as above, so as long as you keep holding down the option key during the drag no snapping will occur. Another, more significant difference occurs because the option key can also be used to prevent the object under the mouse pointer from being selected & dragged when you want to drag out a selection marquee instead of dragging (or drag-copying) any object. So to use the option-drag method to drag out a copy, you must first select the object(s) you want to copy, while the CMD-drag can be used to drag-copy single objects in one step, without the need to select them first.

 

If using the alt/option key with the Move Tool only provided a single function, the <ahem> alternate/optional ones would need to be provided by some other means; like adding more context toolbar buttons, additional menu choices or preference settings, or even other tools to the UI (or not providing them at all). As it is, even though it is somewhat unconventional & may take some time to get used to, it makes faster workflows possible by eliminating the time it would otherwise take to go somewhere else in the UI to enable those functions.

[ShinKaiZen 0]

58 minutes ago, R C-R said:

That is because the alt/option key is used to temporarily disable snapping when dragging objects. This is an "on-the-fly" feature that can be used anytime during a drag, which is very handy if you are moving something & it keeps snapping to a position you don't want.

 

Holding down the option key before you drag a selected object tells the app to drag out a copy. The CMD-drag always uses the snapping settings, even if you release the CMD key after beginning the drag, while the option-drag works as above, so as long as you keep holding down the option key during the drag no snapping will occur. Another, more significant difference occurs because the option key can also be used to prevent the object under the mouse pointer from being selected & dragged when you want to drag out a selection marquee instead of dragging (or drag-copying) any object. So to use the option-drag method to drag out a copy, you must first select the object(s) you want to copy, while the CMD-drag can be used to drag-copy single objects in one step, without the need to select them first.

 

If using the alt/option key with the Move Tool only provided a single function, the <ahem> alternate/optional ones would need to be provided by some other means; like adding more context toolbar buttons, additional menu choices or preference settings, or even other tools to the UI (or not providing them at all). As it is, even though it is somewhat unconventional & may take some time to get used to, it makes faster workflows possible by eliminating the time it would otherwise take to go somewhere else in the UI to enable those functions.

 

Cool! i didnt know it disabled the snapping when pressing it after drag! It sure is going to be useful to me someday in the future.

[yeffdaley 9]

Please switch to option+drag.

I want to command+click+drag to select and move a layer in a single gesture.

 

Thanks for considering it.

[R C-R 4,214]

1 hour ago, yeffdaley said:

I want to command+click+drag to select and move a layer in a single gesture.

Maybe I have misunderstood what you meant but you can simply click & drag a layer now -- no need for the CMD key -- so why would you want to add any modifier key to that?

[yeffdaley 9]

1 minute ago, R C-R said:

Maybe I have misunderstood what you meant but you can simply click & drag a layer now -- no need for the CMD key -- so why would you want to add any modifier key to that?

 

Command+click targets grouped layers.

[icecreamsocialist 0]

Nice to know that option disables snapping mid-drag.

I want to add a suggestion to this one — even though I replaced Illustrator with Affinity Designer years ago, I still find myself trying to use Illustrator behavior. Namely, being able to option-drag to copy not just for move, but for other transforms like rotate. It's incredibly handy to be able to quickly create a bunch of duplicates around a common center.