A transfer error is when a person used to one systems or device incorrectly uses similar patterns for a different one. This is especially problematic if the old patterns appear to work, but actually have subtly different behaviour.
To avoid transfer errors one can try to copy patterns of use from old systems; for example, the majority of spreadsheets still use the A1,D7, etc. cell labelling system introduced by VisiCalc in 1979. This can accelerate adoption of the new system, but can lead to features being frozen where a more radical redesign would eventually work better if one can create a suitable path of change.