I like the way that Photoshop can drag and duplicate a layer by holding alt/option, dragging the layer, and finishing off the duplicate-and-move process by releasing the alt/option key BEFORE releasing the mouse click. It does not behave like that in Illustrator though. You MUST release the alt/option key AFTER the mouse click.
It often made me thought that I have duplicated an object, but in fact I have released the alt/option key first. I intended to save a backup copy by the above method, but many times the object was moved, edited and the original backup copy was gone. This happens quite some times while I am working hard on a design and I did not notice it until several steps later, and I could not go back without some extra copying/ctrl-z.
Is there a way to avoid this?
(I have asked it on Graphic Design and it was put on hold. Just want to make sure it is techicially wise not able to solve.) https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/51852/illustrator-drag-and-copy-behave-like-photoshop
(Edit: this is just something I wanted to know / technically avoid. It's okay if the only solution is to be more careful.)