Big Sur Can't Drag & Drop Files Across Spaces with Trackpad

edit 4/09: did you try this solution below? I applied it and it worked perfectly and it keeps working perfectly!

Jun 30, 2021 6:05 PM in response to KazukiCHEN

Dear Mac-users,

My Mac: 1 week old, MacBook Air M1 chip (so not the pro version)

I had this problem too and tried to solve it by rebooting, force quit/relaunch Finder, etc.

This is the solution to solve this issue permanently:

settings/trackpad > tab “point and click” > untick the first box “searching and datadetection”

Once I had done this, drag and drop was no longer an issue, works perfect all the time.

Hope it helps (it should!)

Good luck!

Hey guys, this is an old issue with spaces and dock. Last time I ran into this issue was back a few years ago. The culprit is in-fact the dock, which controls the "spaces" feature. There's a bug in the code that seems to have reared it's ugly head in Big Sur, that was squashed (at least for me) in Catalina and Mavericks toward the end of the cycle.

The fix is:

open activity monitor and quit the "Dock" (if needs be, force quit) it will re-open right away, but your stuck frustration that infuriates me to all ends, should be fixed.

Can confirm on MacBook Pro End 2013 and MacBook Air M1. So i think it is across the board.

My workaround:

Click and hold the object, with the left hand index finger on the bottom left of the trackpad and keep it pressed.

Then, perform the 3-finger-swipe with the right hand. This way, it seems to work like before. But as soon as you move the left index finger up a notch, it breaks again and the Screen halts in-between two virtual spaces. When you move the finger down again, the Screen gets "released".

Feels freaking broken to me.

Hi all,

This problem has been doing my head in but I have found a solution!!

When moving files, press on the file with your thumb first and then you use your other fingers to navigate to it’s intended destination.

Hope it worlds for you.

charles

Here’s an update.

• I tried all the options for dragging: 3 fingers, w/ and w/o lock and nothing worked.
• I called Apple, got a knowledge Tech, screen-shared and showed him what was happening. He had not seen it before but agreed he should report it.
• I updated to the latest Big Sur version, screen sharing with the Tech, tested again and it was still broken.
• We did further testing and saw that some folders worked, whether they were Aliases or original and some didn’t.
• Conclusion: some folders and aliases (not all) created awhile ago on my second MacBook Pro running Mojave (I have the two computers synced across through iCloud) were broken in Big Sur. I’m in the process of deleting old aliases and creating new ones to make all uniform. It seems to be working.
• Last note: even with the drag and drop problem I could drag and drop 1- if I opened the folder first; 2- if I dragged and dropped within the Documents Folder.

Hopes this info helps.

Jun 30, 2021 6:05 PM in response to KazukiCHEN

Dear Mac-users,

My Mac: 1 week old, MacBook Air M1 chip (so not the pro version)

I had this problem too and tried to solve it by rebooting, force quit/relaunch Finder, etc.

This is the solution to solve this issue permanently:

settings/trackpad > tab “point and click” > untick the first box “searching and datadetection”

Once I had done this, drag and drop was no longer an issue, works perfect all the time.

Hope it helps (it should!)

Good luck!

:

That is an extremely complicated way to move a file to another space

You can just drag the file to the edge, and then wait, then you'll be in a new space, that is to the direction of the side of the edge.

Just found a workaround online - reset the finder. hit COMMAND-OPTION-SPACE to bring up a window of apps running, select finder, and FORCE QUIT. It resets then drag and drop mysteriously works. I've read you can turn bluetooth off and on again except that doesn't work since I have a bluetooth mouse and can't re-pair it without bluetooth. Anyway try the finder reset.

Hey, that happened to me too after restarting old friends mac and installing Big sur. Firstly, I thought it was laptops's fault, but when I got my new MacBook Air M1, the same problem occurred.

I found a workaround:

Drag file and place it on the right or left side of the screen, the macdesktop will toggle to that side and you can drop the file on the desktop. It's not very practical when you need to select a certain folderor application

On my machine, I have this drag & drop issue only when the files are display as list. It's work when I have the finder display the file in other format (icons, columns, etc...). Don't know if it's a bug or a feature form apple but it's effectively annoying! Hope this help. Thanks

FWIW, I CAN do those things in my 16” MBP running Big Sur. So the functionality has not been removed.

In the rare occasions when it seemed to not work I think the problem was that was pressing too hard on the trackpad and thus engaging the force-touch thing that my previous 2014 mac did not have. It took some training but now it works just about all the time.

Glad to know it works on your computer. Yes. I had to deactivate the three-finger dragging (or the checkbox automatically unchecked) in Accessibility>Pointer Control>Trackpad Options because of the conflicting setting. It is annoying because I like the three-finger dragging. The dragging with drag lock can work without conflict, but not the way I was used to.

I've gone to trackpad settings and don't see this as an option of any kind.

That's because Apple seems to think dragging with a Trackpad is an Accessibility function.

Open Accessibility System Preferences.

Select Pointer Control

Select Mouse & Trackpad tab

Click on Trackpad Options… button

Enable Dragging, with or without drag lock (drag lock requires you click again to drop the items).

I was having the same problem. I think I fixed it by going to System Preferences - Trackpad - (Disabled) Pressure Click.

If someone tries it out, please give me feedback.

Control-left arrow, control-right arrow are instantaneous and also work while dragging a file...