Drag and drop

Drag and drop is a first-class workflow in Purrchiver — every action that involves a file has a drag-drop path. (Every action also has a button-based path, for cases where dragging isn’t convenient; see Keyboard shortcuts for those.)

Drop targets

The dock icon

The Purrchiver dock icon accepts:

The dock icon highlights when it accepts what you’re dragging.

The Purrchiver window

When Purrchiver is already open, drop anywhere in the window. Behavior depends on the current state of the window:

If the window is in the Welcome state (no archive open, no staged files):

• One archive → loads it in place.
• Two or more archives → opens the Batch Extract window with all of them queued.
• Loose files → switches this window to Staging with those files staged.
• Mixed (archives + loose files) → opens a Staging session with everything pre-loaded as files-to-compress.

If the window has an archive open (Loaded):

• Drop into the right pane → adds the dropped files as pending changes (window title gains (edited)). See Editing an existing archive.
• Drop into the left pane (filesystem) → navigates the left pane to show that folder.

If the window is in Staging (building a new archive):

• Drop into the right pane → adds the files to the staged archive.
• Drop an archive anywhere → opens it in a new tab. Your staged work is preserved.

Finder windows

You can drag entries OUT of Purrchiver into Finder windows or onto the desktop. Purrchiver uses a drag promise:

• The drag doesn’t extract the file yet.
• The destination shows the file with a “loading” appearance.
• On drop, Purrchiver extracts just the requested entry to the chosen location.

This means you can drag a single file from a 10-GB archive without extracting the whole archive.

(Drag-promise support is shipped for single-file drags out of the app to Finder. Multi-file drag-promises arrive in a future update.)

Finder right-click → Services

The Finder right-click → Services submenu has three Purrchiver entries (Open in Purrchiver / Extract using Purrchiver / Compress using Purrchiver) that act on the current Finder selection. They’re invoked from the menu — macOS’s Services menu doesn’t accept drag-drop, so these aren’t drop targets. To drag, use the dock icon or the Purrchiver window instead. See Finder integration for the full list.

Drag direction = intent

In the dual-pane Loaded window, drag direction tells Purrchiver what you mean:

• Right → Left (archive → filesystem) = Extract. Pulls files OUT of the archive.
• Left → Right (filesystem → archive) = Add. Adds files to the open archive (pending change until you save).

The same rule applies in Staging: drag left-to-right adds files to the new archive you’re building.

You never need to switch modes. Direction conveys intent.

Keyboard equivalents for everything draggable

Every drag-drop gesture has a keyboard alternative. If you’re on a trackpad without good drag affordances, or if you just prefer the keyboard:

Tips

• Drop multiple archives on the dock for batch extract. Faster than opening each archive individually when you just need everything unpacked.
• Drag-drop from the left pane. You don’t have to drag from Finder — the left pane is a full filesystem browser. Dragging from the left pane to the right pane is often faster than alt-tabbing to Finder.
• The dock icon accepts archives even when Purrchiver isn’t running. macOS launches Purrchiver and opens the archive in one motion.

Related

• Opening an archive
• Creating a new archive
• Editing an existing archive
• Finder integration
• Keyboard shortcuts