How To Fix Drag & Drop Not Working On Mac.
The good old drag-and-drop method. It’s the foundation of GUIs and a super-intuitive way to move things from one virtual location to another. You pioneers of the GUI expected Apple’s macOS to handle this particular feature completely.
However, for over a decade, some unlucky macOS users have faced a weird situation where drag and drop suddenly stopped working on Mac. If you suddenly find that you can’t drag and drop on a Mac, here are a few things you can try.
We also made a short YouTube video covering some of the points mentioned below in the article, so watch it first and come back here if your problem persists:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axrJ7BEf3k0?feature=oembed]
Are you using the latest version of macOS?
Stop! Before we go any further, keep in mind that many Mac drag and drop issues have been fixed in newer versions of macOS. We haven’t included any fixes specific to versions such as High Sierra, so (if you haven’t already) consider updating to the latest macOS version supported by your computer. At the time of writing, this is macOS Catalina and should be abandoned by most people.
Did the problem occur after changing something?
Did your drag-and-drop problems start right after something else happened? Perhaps a system update, new hardware, or a new app? While it might just be a coincidence, one option is to use a Time Machine snapshot to roll back your Mac before the change was made.
Otherwise, you can try reversing the change manually by undoing the last change that was made before the problem occurred. Sure, this change and your drag and drop issues could have happened by accident, but that’s probably a good place to start.
–
Is the problem specific to the mouse?
It is always worth eliminating suspects in any computer diagnostic process, and the first question to be answered is the mouse or computer. For example, if you are using a MacBook, plug in an external mouse and see if the problem persists. This may be the key to where the efforts should be focused to fix.
Culprit Mouse: Battery, Maintenance and Bluetooth
What if a specific mouse isn’t playing ball? If you are using a wireless mouse, try turning Bluetooth on and off, disconnecting and pairing, or removing and reinserting the USB mouse dongle. Whichever applies to your model.
Check the buttons for dirt and dirt, and make sure the USB plug or cable is not damaged. Some mice, such as the first generation Apple Magic Mouse, are notorious for being permanently disabled during operation. This can interrupt the execution of mouse tasks, such as dragging and dropping.
Is the issue specific to the application?
Drag and drop doesn’t work on Mac between some apps, but works fine with others? Unless some applications do not work with this common mouse function, you should look for answers that are specific to the specific software in question.
If this happens all over the place, it is likely a system level problem. Assuming you’ve eliminated the mouse hardware itself as the culprit.
Restart the Finder app
The Finder app is the heart of your Mac’s file management system. If it goes up, you lose the ability to drag and drop files from one location to another. The good news is that restarting the Finder is quick and easy:
- Press command + option + escape.
- In the Force Quit Applications list, find Finder.
- Click the Restart button.
Now, just wait a second and Finder should restart. If you’re lucky, the drag and drop issue will be resolved.
Restart Your Mac
If restarting Finder isn’t enough, restart your Mac completely. For some people, simply putting the Mac to sleep and waking it up is enough. However, modern machines reboot so quickly that it can be a waste of time.
So do a hard reboot, but don’t forget to save any open work. Just in case.
Check Trackpad Settings
In some cases, it turns out that the magic trackpad on a MacBook may simply fail for no apparent reason. We’ve heard people complain about this after updates.
In any case, if your trackpad, in particular, seems to be causing the drag to not work on your Mac, check its sensitivity and other settings, returning them to their defaults, or more reasonable levels if something is wrong.
Just hold command + spacebar to launch Spotlight search. Type trackpad and press Enter.
Reset your preferences
If none of these fixes worked, we’re afraid you’ll have to resort to a moderately technical solution. macOS uses plist files to store your preferences for various aspects of the Mac. We’re going to remove these files by forcing macOS to rebuild and reset to their defaults. In particular, we will remove the mouse and trackpad related plist files.
Before you do that, we highly recommend that you back up your Mac using Time Machine This will ensure that you can always undo actions if something goes wrong.
Note. This solution no longer works for macOS Catalina because we could not find the corresponding preference files in the user-accessible portion of the system drive.
Launch Finder first and then go to Library Preferences. Once there, delete these .plist files:
- com.apple.driver.AppleHIDMouse.plist
- com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.trackpad.plist
- com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.mouse.plist
- com.apple.AppleMultitouchTrackpad.plist
- com.apple.preference.trackpad.plist
After deleting these files, restart your Mac and check if drag and drop is now working as expected. macOS had to restore these files with the unchanged defaults. Hopefully dragging and dropping issues will be fixed at the same time.
What a pull!
Large computer problems can be less stressful than small ones. Regardless of what you might think, at least when something serious goes wrong, you can reinstall everything or simply replace or repair the broken hardware. When such a problem arises, it can eat up hours of your life and defy explanation.
Hopefully these specific steps have resolved your problematic mouse disease and have you dragging things into place again.
–