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I'm trying to figure out how closely the QGIS browser matches ArcCatalog functionality, and I am confused about whether it is supposed to be possible to move copy or move data files using the browser.

This page on the Browser panel (https://docs.qgis.org/3.10/en/docs/user_manual/introduction/browser.html) says,

The QGIS Browser panel is a great tool for browsing, searching, inspecting, copying and loading QGIS resources. Only resources that QGIS knows how to handle are shown in the browser.

which seems to suggest that copying should be possible, but when I attempt to drag-and-drop shapefiles and similar, the mouse cursor turns into a circle and slash icon when I hover over a possible destination directory, and right-clicking only seems to offer options for "Add selected layer to Canvas", "Properties...", and "Delete file..."

Am I missing something, or is does the QGIS Browser simply not offer the ability to copy files?

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  • Dont you have the option "Export layer to file" when right clicking, i do
    – Bera
    Commented Jul 17, 2020 at 16:10
  • I thought maybe opening the second browser panel (View... Panel... Browser (2) ) would let my copy from one to the other but that doesn't work either. So no, I don't think it has full file management capabilities. You can copy a spatial table from one geopackage to another using drag and drop between two browser panels, so maybe the documentation reflects that?
    – Spacedman
    Commented Jul 17, 2020 at 16:56

1 Answer 1

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The browser allows you to copy all kinds of layers to various containers / databases (GeoPackage, SpatiaLite, PostGIS, ...) using drag and drop. It does not allow you to copy to the file system using drag and drop, only by using Export Layer-> To File... in the context menu.

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