Error moving file or folder you may not have permission

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I tried to cut and paste a folder in some other directory using Matlab's "Current Folder" pane but now I get this message:
"Error moving file or folder you may not have permission"
when I try to paste. When I try to paste in the folder back in its original directory, nothing happens. I am using a 2017 Macbook. What can I do to avoid losing this folder?

Answers (1)

Will Grant
Will Grant on 20 Sep 2019
This just happened to me! At 5pm, after having spent the whole day perfecting my function and a few helper classes, I did a Ctrl+X on the files intending to move them to another location to check into source control. Imagine my horror when I was greeted with this exact message.
I looked all over for the files. I tried Ctrl+V back in the original directory (in Matlab and File Explorer).
Out of desperation, I did a whole-disk file search for the files.
EUREKA! I found them! Turns out they had been pasted in an unexpected subdirectory of the original paste location. I'm pretty sure I didn't do this.
Takeways for those stumbling across this lonely page in the future
  • NEVER use matlab's builtin copy-paste functionality.
  • This error message effectively means "your files aren't there anymore!"
  • Look in any directory anywhere close to where your files originally were, or where you intented to paste them.

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