drag and drop issues in Monterey

I was able to solve this problem with hints from the Interwebs: I opened System Preferences > Trackpad, and unchecked the box labeled "Force Click and haptic feedback." This solved my problem! Good luck.

https://iboysoft.com/howto/drag-drop-not-working-mac.html

The Drag and Drop behaviour has certainly changed in Monterey most noticeably in the "Grab and drop" actions.

Factors that demonstrate this issue are:

• Using list or column view for folders - The select, drag and drop action works, in the same folder with same files when in Icon or preview view modes.
• Using a trackpad does not work but a magic mouse does work. You can have both plugged in at the same time and see the different behaviours.
• Accessibility options for pointer System preferences -> Accessibility -> Pointer control -> Trackpad options -> Enable Dragging
• Drag to move action seems to be a bit intermittent, sometimes works sometimes not.

Note that under "Pointer control" there are sub options "Trackpad options" and Mouse Options but only under trackpad is there an option to Enable Dragging. The Enable dragging choice has With drag lock, Without drag lock and Three finger drag.

Setting The enable dragging choice to Three fingers just upsets Mission control Desktop management. Enable dragging with drag lock seems to work best.

Workaround

When using a trackpad in list or column mode, after selecting the files to move briefly push [alt] key to grab and move the files. The [alt] key will trigger the "copy files on move" action but if you release the alt before dropping the files the action reverts to a move rather than copy (when moving with in the same disk volume).

Set the Trackpad option to enable dragging.

Mouse option

Context is Monterey on a Mac mini 2020 and seen on Mac book Air M1.

I found a solution for me. (I posted in Dec that couldn't "spring open" folders using basic drag and drop with a corded mouse in Monterey 12.1) All this talk about trackpads, which didn't apply to me, prompted me to search. Here's what I found:

Under System Preferences > Accessibility, there is a section for "motor" where I found the options for "Pointer Control".

The "spring-loading delay" was Unchecked. (the setting is for the time delay) When I checked the little box, my MacMini M1 now works like I expected it to. [and I certainly didn't turn that off on purpose]

Conclusion: no matter what your "pointer" method, I suggest you check the accessibility options. I appears to me that my previous settings were not carried forward in one of the system updates. So you may have to re-do some obscure settings that you haven't set in years. Hope this helps others.

I've got it! None of the other answers worked for me, but I found this instruction page in Apple Support after a little digging: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204609. Just wanted to add this on to the thread for the next person that finally upgrades after months of putting it off and is losing their mind trying to move literally anything at all on their screen since this option is hidden under accessibility instead of trackpad.

Thanks so much to RobertP - unchecking that "Force Click and Haptic.." box solved an incredibly annoying problem instantly

I've run into the same problem with my two-day old 16" MBP (12.0.1).

I am unable to reliably drag and drop files from one sub-folder to another, within my Documents folder, using the trackpad.

It works perfectly using a mouse.

Hi, for me the problem was sorted by, in the Finder, disabling "Group by...". This problem is solved. It wasn't a problem with the Trackpad or the Mouse, it seems to have been simply me fiddling with the settings on the new laptop :-)

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/432229/drag-drop-only-going-one-folder-deep-in-finder-on-monterey-mbp-2021

The fix from Robert is working for me. On my second day and it's working just great now. Thank you, Robert!!!

RobertPiston

I was able to solve this problem with hints from the Interwebs: I opened System Preferences > Trackpad, and unchecked the box labeled "Force Click and haptic feedback." This solved my problem! Good luck.

https://iboysoft.com/howto/drag-drop-not-working-mac.html

Don't return. It's an awesome super fast Mac. Below is a copy of a fix I got from Robert. Going on for a week with no drag and drop issues. Plz see below. Good luck!

The fix from Robert is working for me. On my second day and it's working just great now. Thank you, Robert!!!

RobertPiston

I was able to solve this problem with hints from the Interwebs: I opened System Preferences > Trackpad, and unchecked the box labeled "Force Click and haptic feedback." This solved my problem! Good luck.

https://iboysoft.com/howto/drag-drop-not-working-mac.html

Thanks, community! A bit more (New 16" MBP, trackpad and mouse available):

As suggested, the mouse worked for me. So did disabling haptic feedback in Trackpad preferences.

But what if you like the haptic feedback or long-press features? The long-press bit was the clue: I had been pressing too long at the start of my drag with the trackpad.

So I tried starting the drag immediately on he press. Et voilà! I got normal drag/drop performance.

I have had the same issue as everyone else on my 2015 MBP... I upgraded from a 2011 MBP and was able to "grab" a file(s) and then hover over a folder until it "sprang open" and do that with each level until I got to where I wanted to "drop" the file(s). Could not for the life of me figure out why it wasn't doing it Monterey...just seems like such a logical feature to have by default. Had disabled the "Haptic Feedback" setting that was mentioned early on to no avail. What did it was selecting the "Spring-loading delay" setting and adjusting that to my liking. I don't know why Apple tends to bury settings like that and make it so hard to figure out how to enable such great features. I live by grabbing and dropping files in Finder and am elated that I have figured out how to do it now in Monterey. Thanks all...

I also get this same issue happening randomly. A restart fixes it but it's not the ideal solution. NEW MBP M1 Max.

I was having the same problem. I couldn't even select text to copy. Unchecking System Preferences - TrackPad - Force Click and haptic feedback, fixed the problem for me, too. Thanks Robert.

I only got my M1 MacBook Pro yesterday and this bug has made it almost impossible to migrate to it.

Try trashing your trackpad plist files (search in your user Library). I just did that and drop & drag now works...will have to wait to see if the fix lasts.

Unchecking "Force Click and Haptic Feedback" worked for me too. (macOS 12.1 Monterey; iMac 24-inch, M1, 2021)