Mac OS Big Sur - Dialog box not responding to mouse clicks

Having this problem as well, it isn't a trackpad problem because my external mouse has the same result; it's clicking, the window/dialogue box/system preferences just aren't responding to the clicks.

It's in a user account, and it's not the app's solution.

I have the same issue too, no dialog boxes respond to mouse-clicks, in every app, although occasionally frenzied and repeated clicking finally works. This is on an iMac 2020 running Big Sur but also on my 2017 MacBook Pro running Catalina. SOOOOO annoying !! How this hasn't been fixed yet is truly mind-boggling !

I had exactly the same issue, but after restarting the system it was resolved. I have a 16 inch 2020 MacBook pro, i7 16GB RAM. I use two external monitors, with the MacBook closed, an external Bluetooth keyboard and mouse.

Was experiencing the same issue as described above. Inspired by @psmarcin 's idea of resizing, I tried to minimize (the yellow dot on the top-left of the dialog) the System dialog and then revive it from the dock. At this point the buttons get enabled and start to respond to mouse clicks again!

This issue is happening for me as well. I have a brand new Mac mini M1 with Big Sur 11.2.2.

The problem seems to only happen with dialogue style boxes: Apple ID sign in, Create New Contact pop-up, etc.

This seems like a pretty critical bug that needs to get fixed in the next OS update.

I am having the same issue since updating to Big Sur. I was waiting for Apple to fix the bug in the software updates, but it is very frustrating to see that it has been persisting for several months. The workaround by "slightly resizing" the dialog window works for Open/Save type boxes, but several dialog windows do not have resizability, and so it is rendered completely disfunctional. Please fix this ASAP.

I have a mid-2015 retina display MacBook Pro that had this problem. I shut down the computer and did a SMC reset (Power off computer, hold Shift-Opt-Control-powerabout 10 seconds, then turn on). That completely resolved the issue for me.

I was having the same issue and mine seems to be related to iCloud Drive. I store all my documents on iCloud and I noticed that everything I would open or save, the grey circle icon would appear next the the iCloud icon. I signed out of iCloud in the Internet Accounts panel. I then signed back into iCloud. Things have since been working well. I have not moved all of my documents to iCloud yet and am only storing those locally at this point. Hope this helps!

No changes for me after update (11.2.3). Dialog boxes still aren't working or are working selectively.

I really can't believe it's not solved till now by Apple since it's such an obvious thing.

Minimizing a dialog box works f.ex. in Preferences for me, but as it was mentioned earlier - sometimes you can't minimize a box. Very annoying in Mail app when trying to add an attachment. Appears also in other 3rd party apps whenever a Finder dialog box pops out.

I have MBP 13" Touch Bar 2017

Having the same issue now for a Month on macOS Big Sur 11.2.3. My File dialogs (open file, save file, etc) are not responding to clicks. I can use the tab sometimes and they respond to key inputs. Same goes for the Settings App. I can open like Security settings but not click on the tab selectors or buttons.

I need to restart the computer then it works again for some time.

I had the same issue and in my case I think it was related to an external, bluetooth Apple mouse.

Check that the battery in the external mouse is charged or remove it via the bluetooth settings.

I recharged the mouse, restarted the mac and (so far) haven't seen the problem re-appear.

I was able to clear up the issue on my Macbook Air M1 running Big Sur 11.4. went to Library/Preferences, there I deleted all 247 xx.plist files. I rebooted and had to re-setup my mac, but it is now working. I can click in any box now without issue. this may be more of a brut force way, but it works for now.

The resize solution works for me.

I had a problem with the reset dialog of gitk sometimes becoming non-responsive. It sometimes came good by closing gitk and opening it again, but that was far from reliable - the resizing trick seems to work much better, so thank you!

HI All,

I am yet another user that has file dialog issues. I have returned my first M1 and been sent a new replacement and guess what, it is doing the same.

I have been with Apple support for three months trying every type of fix - and nothing, they believe it is software related.

They now want me to re-install IOS and add one software programme at a time and see whether the issue is triggered. I have argued that I am not a test user and so I am returning this machine. Had enough.