Factorio Forums

TL;DR

Change from the 'ghost' version of the pipette to the 'regular' version when you have the ghost active and pick one of that item.

What ?

Currently, using the pipette tool on an item that you don't have allows you to place down a ghost. However, if you then pick up one of that item, it continues placing a ghost, instead of the actual item. Instead, when you pick up an item that you previously pressed 'Q' on, it should switch to placing the actual item.

Why ?

Automatically placing the actual item instead of the ghost makes it much easier to move small numbers of machines/factories that you don't have on you, without having to dive back into the inventory or use the pipette tool an additional time on the ghost.

FYI https://mods.factorio.com/mod/CursorEnhancements implements this (and the other direction when you run out), as well as some other nice features.