Dock don't rearrange icons | Big Sur

I had the same issue. Try holding down the command key while dragging. The icon doesn't move at this point, but then can be moved like it used to. I am at a loss to understand why Apple made this change.

I was going (more) nuts trying to figure out how to move icons to new locations in the dock. The short answer is: no need for command or option key, just click and drag very quickly. If you pause, for example, to locate an icon or think about where you want to move it you are out of luck. My suggestion is to turn off auto hiding the dock, move the icons, turn auto hide back on. This is on a new M1 MacBook Air.

For my solution, all I had to do was move the icons near the base of the Dock for the apps to move freely.

My Dock is set up on the left, so I'd drag the icons to the very left side of the screen before moving it up and down between the other apps in its column. I assume that for horizontal and right side Docks, you'd drag the icons to whatever side of the screen it's closest to (the bottom, or the right side).

Before, I'd try to move the apps vertically and... within the center (?) of the Dock, and they wouldn't move at all, but this solution was something I discovered by accident and seems to be working well for me. (I googled this question too, because I was having the same issue.)

in Big Sur you can move icons in the dock by holding SHIFT and dragging the icon

(IMHO this is an improvement over the way it worked in Catalina - which was a very light touch drag i could never quite reproduce reliably)

Running Big Sur 11.3.1, but I found my solution to this problem in an old Catalina thread.

1) Open Launchpad

2) Click and drag the app you want from Launchpad to the desired position on the dock and release, then the apps will rearrange themselves accordingly.

Disable the "Show recent applications" option in Dock preferences. Solved it for me.

Thanks! Of course! Alt-d(apple)mn-it and drag. That works.

Dock does not re arrange, not able to drag, mail is also affected not able to re arrange folders in mail software, finder is affected too, not able to re arranage folder order in side bar at all. Nothing is customizable as before, major bug for a teacher and tons of folders I manage...

You should investigate your system to figure out what is interfering with the OS.

EtreCheck can help you identify what you have installed.

in big sur this menu is replaced by POINTER CONTROL then you check enable dragging and choose options: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/unac899/mac

Dock does not re arrange, not able to drag, mail is also affected not able to re arrange folders in mail software, finder is affected too, not able to re arranage folder order in side bar at all. Nothing is customizable as before, major bug for a teacher and tons of folders I manage...

Nobody would have posted if nothing had changed.

Well, a lot of people do not understand Force Touch in new Trackpads, and you can also press and hold. Both will prevent dragging.

People also install all sorts of crapware on their Macs which interferes with normal behavior.

There are probably other reasons why people can't drag that has nothing to do with Apple changing the drag and drop in the Dock.

If it were a system-wide change to the behavior, this forum would have a 300+ page thread on the problem. It wouldn't just be a couple people posting with the issue.

That would have helped. And maybe some kind of explanation of wtf is force touch.

I'm still unlocking the icons by holding the command key and trying to drag - it works but clearly isn't how it's meant to be.

Yeah, nah. This is not working. Using a MBP 13" M1. Big Sur 11.0 Icons on dock cannot be dragged, rearranged, or even removed. I have tried using an external mouse, I've tried holding down the command key, the option key, the control key, and even combinations.

Anyone with a working suggestion will be much appreciated!