In Mac OS and Mac OS X, what are spring-loaded folders?

Spring-loaded folders are a feature of the Finder that allow you to move through a hierarchical listing of folders with greater ease. They are especially useful if you wish to move a file, application, or even another folder, into a folder deeply nested within several other folders. For example, you could use the feature to quickly move an Adobe Photoshop plug-in into the Plug-ins folder, which is nested within the Adobe Photoshop folder, which in turn is nested within the Applications folder, which is at the top level of your hard disk. Below is an example of how to move a Photoshop plug-in to the Plug-ins folder:

1. Click and drag the plug-in's icon over the hard disk icon, but do not release the mouse button. The hard disk's icon will flash and then open.
   
   
2. Again, without releasing the mouse button, move the mouse pointer over the Applications folder. The Applications folder will open.
   
   
3. Repeat the process with the Adobe Photoshop folder and Plug-ins folder.
   
   
4. When the Plug-ins folder opens, release the mouse button; the plug-in will be moved into that folder. Also, the higher level folders will all close, leaving the Plug-ins folder as the only open window within that folder hierarchy.

Use similar steps to move other files into different folders. If you mistakenly open the wrong folder (for example, you opened the Adobe Reader folder instead of the Adobe Photoshop folder), you can close it by moving your mouse pointer out of the open window back into a parent window. Or, to close all nested folders, move the pointer so it is not over any window.

To modify how spring-loaded folders work, from the Finder's Finder menu, select Preferences... . To turn spring-loaded folders on or off, next to Spring-loaded folders and windows, check the box. Here you can also change how long the folders delay before springing open.

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