Folders on Mac cannot be moved

Why all of a sudden I cannot move folders?

iMac 21.5", OS X 10.11

Posted on Dec 17, 2019 9:53 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 17, 2019 10:14 AM

clinton133 wrote:

Thanks Leroy I have tried that and also Force quit relaunch ect.No result .


  To trouble shoot further you can:


  Try a SafeBoot https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262


  Takes noticeable longer to get to the login screen, does a 5-15 minute disk repair before it fully boots up, and certain system caches get cleared and rebuilt, including dynamic loader cache,  etc.  Login and test. Reboot and test will take a little longer as caches get rebuilt. Sometimes this alone is enough o resolve anomalies like yours.

This test will tell you if third party interference; extensions etc are not loaded in safe boot mode. 



  Test issue in another user (or guest user) account  https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204443

  This will tell you if it a universal issue or isolated to your user/admin account. 



Verify your software (macOS) is up to date—

You can always re-install the macOS on top of your existing macOS from  Recovery: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

8 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 17, 2019 10:14 AM in response to clinton133

clinton133 wrote:

Thanks Leroy I have tried that and also Force quit relaunch ect.No result .


  To trouble shoot further you can:


  Try a SafeBoot https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262


  Takes noticeable longer to get to the login screen, does a 5-15 minute disk repair before it fully boots up, and certain system caches get cleared and rebuilt, including dynamic loader cache,  etc.  Login and test. Reboot and test will take a little longer as caches get rebuilt. Sometimes this alone is enough o resolve anomalies like yours.

This test will tell you if third party interference; extensions etc are not loaded in safe boot mode. 



  Test issue in another user (or guest user) account  https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204443

  This will tell you if it a universal issue or isolated to your user/admin account. 



Verify your software (macOS) is up to date—

You can always re-install the macOS on top of your existing macOS from  Recovery: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

Dec 17, 2019 12:36 PM in response to clinton133

If you are talking about the order in which folders appear in a window or on the Finder desktop, that is controlled by the View command in the menu bar. If you are trying to arrange folders on your desktop, make sure you haven’t selected Use Stacks. If you are trying to arrange folders inside another folder don’t select Use Groups. In either case you can now select the Sort By option and select Snap to Grid. Now you can arrange your icons to your heart’s delight.

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Folders on Mac cannot be moved

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