Kevin Callahan

Q: How to drag and drop with Magic Trackpad 2?

I just got my new Magic Trackpad 2.  I plugged it into my keyboard and turned it on.  Worked right away (charging).  I changed a few settings in the System Preferences.  Everything is working great - fast, smooth.  I'm running El Capitan on an iMac Retina 27.  The only thing I haven't been able to do is figure out how to SELECT and DRAG an object.  When I do any sort of gesture I typical did to drag an object with my older trackpad, the new trackpad simply invoke ForceTouch and opens the file in QuickLook.   How do you select to drag a file?  I have my old trackpad still paired via bluetooth and it is working side-by-side with the new trackpad 2.

 

Thanks,

K

iMac with Retina 5K display, OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Oct 16, 2015 10:23 AM

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Q: How to drag and drop with Magic Trackpad 2?

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  • by k_ryan,

    k_ryan k_ryan Nov 2, 2015 11:49 AM in response to Derick Fay
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 2, 2015 11:49 AM in response to Derick Fay

    Derick,

    Here are the details about my "new" Magic Trackpad 2.  Compare with yours and see if any significant difference exists, such as firmware.

    MT2.png

      Address: D0-0

      Major

      Address: D0-03-4B

  • by Derick Fay,

    Derick Fay Derick Fay Nov 2, 2015 12:09 PM in response to k_ryan
    Level 1 (11 points)
    Nov 2, 2015 12:09 PM in response to k_ryan

    Nope, none.

     

    I did figure out that plugging / unplugging the lightning cable also resets the ability to drag and drop, which is faster than unpairing via the Bluetooth prefs.  And I filed a bug report.

  • by Jose In AZ,

    Jose In AZ Jose In AZ Nov 5, 2015 6:01 AM in response to Kevin Callahan
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Nov 5, 2015 6:01 AM in response to Kevin Callahan

    Wow, I thought I was going crazy with the drag and drop.  I do a lot of drag and drop in list view and finder.  I had to go into accessibilities and turn on 3 finder drag and drop just to do that.

  • by mjrippon,

    mjrippon mjrippon Nov 13, 2015 2:49 AM in response to Derick Fay
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 13, 2015 2:49 AM in response to Derick Fay

    I have found the same.  I use a 15" retina display MBP.  The old trackpad worked perfectly but I fancied the larger size of the new one (I wasn't convinced about the usefulness of Force Click).  I found I could not reliably drag and drop.  I "disconnected" the trackpad via the Bluetooth menu, switched the track pad off at the back, plugged it in to my Mac to re-pair it, switched it back on at which point it re-paired almost instantly.  That was a couple of hours ago and drag and drop has been working perfectly since.

  • by seyedhossein110,

    seyedhossein110 seyedhossein110 Nov 18, 2015 3:56 PM in response to mjrippon
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 18, 2015 3:56 PM in response to mjrippon

    El capitan 10.11.1

    system preference / trackpad/point & click

    uncheck force click and haptic feedback

    try drag and drop

  • by arw54,Helpful

    arw54 arw54 Nov 22, 2015 6:03 PM in response to Kevin Callahan
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 22, 2015 6:03 PM in response to Kevin Callahan

    from MacWorld online magazine:

     

    To enable three-finger drag, head to System Preferences > Accessibility > Mouse & Trackpad, and click Trackpad Options. Click the box for Enable Dragging, and select three-finger drag. Thanks to this feature, I’m tapping over clicking almost exclusively, which should be better for my hands, plus reduce the number of accidental Force Clicks.


    Hope this helps

  • by Tim Hill1,

    Tim Hill1 Tim Hill1 Nov 27, 2015 9:46 AM in response to poil66
    Level 1 (49 points)
    Nov 27, 2015 9:46 AM in response to poil66

    I've done a lot of testing, and can confirm the following:

     

    The trackpad appears to reset back to "light" click under some circumstances (not determined the exact cause), regardless of the setting in System Preferences (in fact, it might even be a "super light setting that is not visible on the options). This makes it impossible to do drag+drop type operations since even the lightest touch triggers a Force Click and then you are in Quick Look etc land.

     

    The fix for this (for some reason) is connecting the trackpad to the laptop via the charging cable, which apparently resets the click pressure to that set in System Preferences.

     

    --Tim

  • by commodorecrush,

    commodorecrush commodorecrush Nov 27, 2015 12:10 PM in response to Tim Hill1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Nov 27, 2015 12:10 PM in response to Tim Hill1

    I agree with you on one thing, it works far better when plugged in. I have so many issues with lag and the pointer skipping around my screen while using bluetooth connection that it's become unusable unless it's plugged directly into my macbook. The 1st generation worked flawlessly. What's the deal here, Apple? Sheesh.

  • by MalenySteve,

    MalenySteve MalenySteve Nov 27, 2015 12:29 PM in response to commodorecrush
    Level 1 (11 points)
    iCloud
    Nov 27, 2015 12:29 PM in response to commodorecrush

    Mine seems to be working okay now. It was, for me, more about me learning to use it correctly. I agree however that the style of finger movement and pressure has to be quite accurate. I don't think Apple did enough testing with the wider community of all finger sizes and with people of different skin types. Some people get sweaty hands, other don't, etc etc...  I user the bottom right corner for the alternate click.

  • by James Hassinger,

    James Hassinger James Hassinger Nov 28, 2015 12:23 PM in response to poil66
    Level 1 (79 points)
    Desktops
    Nov 28, 2015 12:23 PM in response to poil66

    Don't know if this will help, but I was having the same problem, but when I went to the Tablet preferences in System Preferences, I found somehow I had unchecked the two-finger click, which is part of a one-to-three-finger "tap and click". One-finger click, change slides, etc. One finger click and hold, drag the file or folder where you want. Two-finger press and hold, pop to preview on an icon. Two finger click now gives me the right-click menu, and a three finger tap gives me the data detector view. Once it works for you, you get the feel.

  • by msinykin1,

    msinykin1 msinykin1 Nov 28, 2015 3:50 PM in response to Kevin Callahan
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 28, 2015 3:50 PM in response to Kevin Callahan

    I spent some time with multiple Magic Trackpad 2's at a Genius Bar, and think I understand the issue, which is in software, not hardware.

     

    First of all, if you can live without force click (which doesn't do much yet), turning it off in System Preferences > Trackpad will make this issue go away.

     

    To understand the problem, make sure force click is on, pick something to drag (e.g., a Finder Icon), and do the following:

     

    Press with your thumb just hard enough to get a regular click; you should then be able to drag with your finger. Now start again and gradually press harder, but not hard enough to generate a force click. As you press harder, you will see the selected icon start to grow larger and throb in size. This is apparently supposed to be a hint that if you press even harder to get a force touch, the icon will expand into a Quick Look. Unfortunately, as soon as you have engaged this feedback, your finger will no longer perform a drag. When working at a normal speed, pressing just a little harder than a normal click will disable the dragging before you even see the throbbing start.

     

    I think Apple should fix the driver so that dragging still works until you actually engage the force click. 

     

    For now, workarounds seem to be:

    - Turn off force click.

    - Learn a different kind of drag, such as the three finger drag described elsewhere in this thread.

    - Try to train yourself to push just hard enough to get a click, but not hard enough to initiate the "approaching a force click" feedback.

  • by Derick Fay,

    Derick Fay Derick Fay Nov 28, 2015 3:58 PM in response to msinykin1
    Level 1 (11 points)
    Nov 28, 2015 3:58 PM in response to msinykin1

    Well the issue I have is that once the throbbing icon has appeared once, dragging no longer works even if I release that item altogether and try to drag another.  I can drag and drop all I want before I've triggered a throbber but after that the trackpad no longer works as expected and has to be disconnected/reconnected.  Certainly seems like a driver bug to me.

  • by Tim Hill1,

    Tim Hill1 Tim Hill1 Nov 28, 2015 4:29 PM in response to msinykin1
    Level 1 (49 points)
    Nov 28, 2015 4:29 PM in response to msinykin1

    msinykin1 wrote:

     

    Press with your thumb just hard enough to get a regular click; you should then be able to drag with your finger. Now start again and gradually press harder, but not hard enough to generate a force click. As you press harder, you will see the selected icon start to grow larger and throb in size. This is apparently supposed to be a hint that if you press even harder to get a force touch, the icon will expand into a Quick Look. Unfortunately, as soon as you have engaged this feedback, your finger will no longer perform a drag. When working at a normal speed, pressing just a little harder than a normal click will disable the dragging before you even see the throbbing start.

     

     

    Not quite. What's happening to me (and others apparently) is the amount of force need for a Force Click seems to be getting reset to some very very VERY low value, so that it's nearly impossible to do any kind of click without a Force Click occurring. This makes it impossible to do any gesture like drag+drop. Re-connecting the trackpad to the Mac via the lightning cable seems (why i do not know) to reset the force to the setting chosen in System Preferences (I have mine on Medium, the default).

     

    it's pretty dramatic: With it working normally, I can easily (for example) drag an icon around in the Dock. Then, when the trackpad loses its mind, it is quite literally impossible to so this. Plugging in the cable for a moment restores drag+drop (even after the cable is removed) with NO changes to any preferences. I've yet to determine exactly what causes the trackpad to lose it's settings, but this really looks like a firmware bug in the trackpad.

  • by msinykin1,

    msinykin1 msinykin1 Nov 28, 2015 4:51 PM in response to Tim Hill1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 28, 2015 4:51 PM in response to Tim Hill1

    OK, looks like there are multiple problems. I'm trying to get some friends in Apple Software Engineering to take a look, and will refer them to this thread for details.

  • by jpaulpve,

    jpaulpve jpaulpve Dec 3, 2015 10:38 AM in response to arw54
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 3, 2015 10:38 AM in response to arw54

    This solved the problem for me.

     

    Thanks.

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