# Copy and move files

Select items and drag them to a destination folder or provider. Choose whether to copy or move. Review both the source and destination, especially when two providers contain folders with the same name.

## Copy

A copy creates destination content while retaining the source. Strive streams the content and verifies destination bytes against the transferred content. The copy covers file contents; it does not carry over provider access lists, sharing settings, comments, or version history.

After a cross-provider copy, apply any required sharing permissions in the destination provider. Do not assume the destination inherited the source's collaborators or link settings.

## Move

A cross-provider move copies and verifies the destination before it attempts to remove an ordinary source file. Source cleanup also checks that the source revision is still the selected revision. If the file changed, cleanup is refused rather than deleting the newer version.

Google Drive and OneDrive can use native same-provider moves with revision checks. An operation is refused if the provider cannot enforce the required revision condition. Dropbox moves and renames use verified copy-and-remove behavior, so they can take longer than a simple name change.

A move can leave source content behind. Native Google document exports retain the source, and cloud source folders can remain after their recorded files move. Those outcomes are reported rather than hidden. See [folder cleanup](/docs/storage/folders-and-cleanup) and [native documents](/docs/storage/native-documents).

## After the operation

Inspect the job's completed, retained, skipped, and failed items. A partial result is not equivalent to a rollback. Confirm the destination and the reason for any retained sources before manually deleting anything. Cancellation stops further work but leaves already completed results in place.