Drag and drop, resizing, moving open windows and highlighting with Big Sur

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Level 1

10 points

Drag and drop, resizing, moving open windows and highlighting with Big Sur

I am having issues with all of the above:

When I select and drag a file it "loses it hold" before I reach the destination and it returns to its original position.
When I go to the bottom of a corner of an open window and try to resize it it does not function or when it does it mirrors #1.
When I try to arrange open windows on my desktop the click and hold does not work at all.
If I am in a document and want to highlight a sentence, it may highlight the beginning but then "disconnect" and not complete the action.

This is occurring on a 2019 iMac running Big Sur 11.2.1. I have run EtreCheck with a no issue reported result. I have disconnected all peripherals, removed power cord and reconnected power cord, keyboard and mouse only with no change in behavior. Both the mouse and keyboard are wired. I switched form my wireless mouse to wired with no change in behavior. Tried trackpad with no change either.

I was reading a previous old post where this was happening with Yosemite and the suggestion was to run in safe mode. I have not done this. I did not see any commentary on results..positive or negative.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Posted on Feb 18, 2021 11:04 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

karina184

Community Specialist

Feb 21, 2021 8:38 AM in response to wacoed

Hello wacoed,

Thanks for posting in Apple Support Communities. We understand you're having several issues that seem to be related to your Trackpad functionality.

You've tried some great troubleshooting steps so far and have isolated this quite a bit. Next, we recommend trying the steps from If your pointer is jumpy when you use a trackpad, Magic Trackpad, or Magic Mouse which includes testing in safe mode which you previously mentioned. When you test in safe mode, let us know if the same issue occurs.

Next, we would recommend resetting the SMC since this might also be a power-related issue. You can use the guidance from How to reset the SMC of your Mac.

Take care.

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Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

215,298 points

Feb 23, 2021 1:02 PM in response to wacoed

Rerun Etrecheck, giving it full disk access, and post the result with your reply with the Additional Text button:

Copy the report

and use the Additional Text button to include the report in your reply.

IMPORTANT:

Before running Etrecheck assign Full Disk Access to Etrecheck in the Etrecheck's Privacy preference pane so that it can get additional information from the Console and log files for the report:

Also click and read the About info to further permit full disk access.

Then we can examine the report and see if we can determine what might be causing the problem.

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Answer 3

wacoed Author

Level 1

10 points

Feb 24, 2021 7:18 AM in response to Old Toad

Thanks for the additional help. Here is the latest.

I ran safe mode. Not sure what that accomplished since the problem as said before was intermittent. Interestingly, when I logged out and back in the problem has NOT reappeared! Of course, I have no idea why. When I ran safe mode, then turned the computer off then on did it clean something out? (can you tell I am not an expert at this?)

All is well for the moment. I normally do not turn my computer off but will begin doing so from this point forward.

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Answer 4

Old Toad

Level 10

215,298 points

Feb 24, 2021 9:36 AM in response to wacoed

Booting into Safe Mode does these things:

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

So it's a fix of sort for a lot of ailments.

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Answer 5

Leanne_68

Community Specialist

Feb 23, 2021 11:50 AM in response to wacoed

wacoed,

Safe mode can be very helpful in isolating an issue since it prevents some software from loading including login items and system extensions. So, if the issue does occur in safe mode, that can mean that the issue is system-wide and not related to user items. If the issue does not occur in safe mode, there may be user-installed software that is causing the issue with your trackpad. How to use safe mode on your Mac has information about how to proceed in both instances. We hope that helps.

Have a great day!

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Answer 6

wacoed Author

Level 1

10 points

Feb 21, 2021 9:04 AM in response to karina184

Thank you for your reply. It is the only one I have received which makes me believe that the forum is either irrelevant, from a help standpoint or, my question is so stupid that no one wishes to respond. If anyone is reading this and it is the latter, go ahead and say so. I can take it! Perhaps others are at a complete loss as to what the issue is and are not responding for that reason?

I do not believe I mentioned "jumpy pointer". That is not an issue. I have already tried resetting the SMC prior to the post. No change. I have already tried your suggestions and so noted in my original post. I am looking for some further insight into possible issues.

I did not mention that this issue is intermittent hence the frustration. That is why I have tried to eliminate peripherals and possible software issues. When I test in safe mode, it may or may not give me relevant feedback IF it is an intermittent issue correct? Therefore, my question is when I do the safe mode what will that tell me? If it eliminates the issue what next? If it doesn't, what next?

Thanks again.

P.S. I want to emphasize that I am not using a wireless keyboard/mouse or trackpad. I gave up on those weeks ago due to the issue. The problem does continue with wired.

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Drag and drop, resizing, moving open windows and highlighting with Big Sur

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