Rearrangements of monolayer islands on the (111) surface of Au films, grown epitaxially on mica substrates, are observed as a result of continuous scanning with either a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) or an atomic force microscope (AFM) under ambient conditions. With the STM, a contiguous monolayer as large as 150 X 150 nm2 can be moved from atop to the edges of underlying terrace in about an hour of continuous scanning at a rate of 2.0 mum/s. In general, islands coalesce, vacancies fill, and terrace edges become straighter as a result of the tip scanning over the Au surface. Crystal defects such as screw dislocations, however, are not modified appreciably with scanning, although rearrangements are seen in regions near the defects. Similar effects are observed with an AFM scanning, but to a lesser extent, and only on freshly grown films.